Ginty Jocius established Ginty Jocius & Associates in 1978, an ad agency specializing in agricultural products and services across North America. Ginty was well-known to the national agricultural community as a man who was always looking for the “next big idea.” He founded Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show in 1993 and built it into the largest agri-business exhibition in the country. He went on to launch Agribiz.net in 1998, Canada’s first attempt to assemble the country’s agri-businesses on-line. Agribiz.net survived the tech meltdown in 2000 and served as the forerunner to Farms.com, Canada’s pre-eminent website for agriculture and food. Ginty also formed Strategic Research Associates (SRA) - a market research company based in Guelph, which frequently does projects for GJA.

Over the years, GJA became one of the most respected agricultural agencies in North America with clients like DuPont, Shur-Gain, and Dekalb. The agency gradually expanded outside the agriculture category, developing complete branding strategies for companies like Casino Niagara and Aberfoyle Springs (now Nestle Pure Life).

In 2003, Frances Marciniak, Vice President and Creative Director, took on Ginty’s role as President. Frances, who has been with the company over 25 of those 30 years, has had a creative hand in most of GJA’s major account work. In 2005, Frances and the team re-branded GJA to help it move into a new era and capturing a wider client demographic.

Ginty’s untimely death in 2008 removed a vital voice from the Guelph business community but the energy he instilled at GJA can still be felt through our enthusiastic approach to each new project. Over the years, our full-service approach has attracted many new clients including Maple Lodge Farms, Canadian Tire Financial Services, ontariocolleges.ca, and Duke University.