Michael Walters Is Running For Mayor Of Edmonton

Michael Walters was elected to Edmonton City Council twice, in 2013 and 2017. Both times he was a Berlin client for those campaigns. He was thinking of running for Mayor in 2021 but ultimately decided against it. Instead, he came and worked at Berlin. The deal was he would do a year as an employee and if after a year we all thought he should be a partner then he would become one. 

Many times over the past four years people have told Michael he should run for Mayor, and many times he told them no. However, in June of this year the stars aligned in his personal life and there seemed to be an opportunity for a candidate like him, so along with his wife Kara he decided he would just go for it. He spoke with the other shareholders in Berlin and of course we said we would support him wholeheartedly if this is what he feels called to do. This development had not been in our plans, but life often doesn’t go just how you planned it – it’s the ability to improvise that really counts. 

He’s our dear friend, colleague, and business partner. He’s a wonderful person and a truly gifted politician. We have seen him up close for the past four years and we know how great he would be at leading the City.

A few folks have asked if it is weird/hard/uncertain to have a leader in our agency running for mayor. Maybe a little, but whatever. Everything about running an agency is weird/hard/uncertain. This is certainly an unusual situation. We are not familiar with a past instance of a Mayor in Edmonton or Calgary coming out of an Advertising and Communications agency straight to City Hall. But in any case, we love Michael, we support his campaign, and whatever happens in the election and afterwards, we will deal with it as it comes. He is welcome back here anytime, either to resume his client work or to show us the cool Mayor necklace you get if you win.