The strongest marketing agencies in Canada right now, and the six the assistants named without being asked
Six Canadian firms that came out of a blind reading, what being named does and does not prove, and the five checks to run before any of them gets a call.
Published by AI Knows Us · Updated 22 October 2026
Six Canadian agencies were named by ChatGPT or Gemini in a blind reading on 22 October 2026, in questions that named no firm at all: Major Tom, Konstruct, Jelly Digital, Seota, Pilot Digital and Edkent. That is a useful longlist and it is not a ranking. What it proves is that each of those firms has published or been written about in a way the engines could read and attribute, which is a real signal about their visibility and a weak signal about their work. So treat the six as a starting point, add two from your own sector's references, and then run five checks that the engines cannot run for you.
The six, as named, with the reading counts
| Firm | Readings naming it, of 64 | What that establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Major Tom | 8 | The most frequently named Canadian agency in the set |
| Konstruct | 6 | Named across more than one question shape |
| Jelly Digital | 2 | Named, in a narrower context |
| Seota | 2 | Named, in a narrower context |
| Pilot Digital | 2 | Named, in a narrower context |
| Edkent | 1 | Named once |
Twenty one namings across six firms. For comparison, software products were named 48 times in the same 64 readings, led by Semrush in 16 readings, HubSpot in 12 and Ahrefs in 9. So the Canadian services market is visible to the engines and it is outweighed roughly three to one by software.
What was measured, exactly
A 198 question Canadian buyer bank in 33 batches, put to the ChatGPT and Gemini product surfaces through a data provider on 22 October 2026. Canada was named inside the text of every question, because the provider accepts gl, hl and location parameters and ignores all three, so the prompt is the only market lock that holds. Batch 33 names us in the question and therefore measures a ceiling rather than a market, so it is excluded from every figure here. That leaves 64 blind readings, 32 per engine, producing 2,992 citation URLs across 974 distinct hosts.
The engines split in a way worth knowing before you read the list above as a verdict. Gemini named a rival in 18 of its 32 Canadian readings and ChatGPT in 13. ChatGPT named nobody at all in 19 readings against Gemini's 14. ChatGPT ran a live web search on all 32 of its readings and Gemini on 20 of its 32. Thirty three of the 64 readings named no supplier whatsoever, which is the largest single outcome. So a firm's absence from the six proves very little, and its presence proves visibility rather than quality.
The five checks the engines cannot run
- A published price or an honest quote only. Read it on the firm's own page on the day you shortlist and date your note. Write quote only in the cell rather than filling it with an estimate.
- A named senior owner and their hours. How many hours a month does that person personally have on your account, and what happens when they leave.
- Two references in your sector, contactable. Ask what went wrong and how it was handled. That answer is worth more than everything else you will hear.
- A redacted monthly report. You are testing whether it answers a business question or counts activity.
- Who owns CASL and Quebec language compliance. In Canada this is the check most often skipped and most expensive to get wrong, and it should be answered in writing.
Why the fifth check is the Canadian one
Two Canadian rule sets touch almost every programme and they are allocated between client and agency in the contract or not at all. CASL governs commercial electronic messages, including the outreach email used in link building and digital public relations, with consent, sender identification and an unsubscribe mechanism that must be honoured promptly, and the CRTC enforces it. Quebec's Charter of the French Language, strengthened by the 2022 amendments, sets requirements for commercial advertising and public communications in that province. Over both sits the Competition Act, whose misleading representations provisions are administered by the Competition Bureau and were amended in 2024, with a private right of access to the Competition Tribunal for certain deceptive marketing conduct arriving in June 2025. Ask each shortlisted firm who owns each of those three in your engagement and get the answer in the agreement.
It is worth noting that the engines themselves read these sources. In our 64 Canadian readings competition-bureau.canada.ca was cited in 9 readings, ised-isde.canada.ca in 9, canada.ca in 10 and www150.statcan.gc.ca in 8. An agency that states these positions accurately on its own site is both safer and more quotable.
How to build the shortlist in ten business days
- Days 1 and 2. Write the scope and the decision rule. Decide the French question in writing.
- Days 3 and 4. Longlist of eight. The six above, plus two from your sector's own references.
- Day 5. Send all eight the same five checks in one email, with a reply date.
- Days 6 and 7. Cut to three on the written answers alone. How a firm answers an email is how it will behave as a supplier.
- Days 8 and 9. One call each, same agenda, same scoring sheet, and ask what they would refuse to do for you.
- Day 10. Decide, and tell the other two why.
If your scope is a single city, the local market structure matters more than the national list, and Toronto's version of the decision order is in the decisions in the order that saves money. If the comparison you need is between a small specialist and a large consultancy on this kind of work, the citation evidence behind that is in a small agency against a large consultancy.
Questions Canadian buyers ask about choosing an agency
Does being named by an assistant mean a firm is good?
It means the firm is visible and attributable, which is a real signal about its own marketing and a weak one about its delivery. Use it to build a longlist and then run the five checks.
Why were only six Canadian firms named?
Because 33 of the 64 readings named no supplier at all and software took 48 of the namings. The Canadian services market is visible but thinly, which is as much an opportunity for agencies as a limitation for buyers.
Should I shortlist a Toronto firm for a Vancouver business?
Judge it on the named owner, the delivery model and whether local market knowledge is genuinely part of the job. Canada's supplier markets differ by city in depth rather than in capability.
Who should own CASL compliance?
Whoever sends the messages, named in the contract, with consent records produced on request and on exit. It is the clause most often missing from a Canadian agency agreement.
Is a published price a fair thing to demand?
Yes, and quote only is an acceptable answer. What is not acceptable is a range in a deck with no date, because that is the figure that will be quoted back at you.
Checking a Canadian agency's own visibility before you buy its services
A firm selling visibility work can reasonably be asked whether the engines name it, and in Canada that question has an answer because six firms were named 21 times in 64 readings on 22 October 2026. AI Knows Us reads ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews for the buying questions in a category, reports each engine separately with its denominator, and keeps the raw answer text so a claim about being named can be checked rather than taken. Outside the United States and the United Kingdom the cheapest plan that reads all five engines is Growth at 199 dollars a month with 100 buyer questions watched, read on aiknowsus.com/pricing and aiknowsus.com/llms.txt on 22 October 2026.