March 10
Toronto production company Someplace Nice has opened a new outpost in Montreal with Sach Baylin-Stern as executive producer. “Sach has experience operating a production company and managing a roster of directors, so he is well connected and well aware of the Montreal market,” said the company’s co-founder and executive producer Estelle Weir, right in photo with co-founder Chilo Fletcher (left) and Baylin-Stern).
Baylin-Stern, who also runs the production services company Chemistry and previously ran production company Antler, has experience in commercials, film, TV, print, music videos, stunts and installations, work that has earned him an Emmy and a Grammy nomination.
EQ Works has acquired Juice Mobile from Curate*. The deal, which was announced last week, brings together two platforms with deep expertise in data, analytics and media.
“Data continues to be the main driver in delivering better customer results and this acquisition enhances our value proposition even more,” said Geoffrey Rotstein, president and CEO of EQ Works.
Longtime Canadian digital media executive Joe Strolz will assume the role of chief operating officer at EQ. “Translating data into actionable intelligence is the new marketing productivity frontier, and the addition of Juice Mobile to the EQ portfolio offers brands a more complete set of tools to compete effectively on this frontier,” said Strolz.
Reitmans marked International Women’s Day by temporarily changing its name to Reitwoman. The name was used on Reitmans’ website, social media and e-mail newsletters, as well as at two brick-and-mortar stores: Carrefour Laval and Bayshore Shopping Centre in Ottawa.
“Women are the most important part of our brand and we want to empower them, to give them confidence,” said vice-president of marketing, Valérie Vedrines. “We think it is important to take any opportunity to shine a light on this. It is also a way to unite our amazing community of women and show the strength that comes from gathering together and standing up together.”
Meanwhile, woman’s underwear brand Knix (one of The Message’s favourite marketers of 2019) got a lot of attention online for its fierce celebration of women 50 and older.
“We’re done with women over 50 being treated like they’re invisible. Women over 50 still exist. And they’re as sexy, confident, and badass as ever,” said Knix about the video it posted last week. “At Knix, we try to live every single day like it’s #InternationalWomensDay. It’s always been right there in our mission statement: that we believe it’s time all women lived totally, unapologetically free. And we mean ALL women.”
Knix also shot the ad using a female production team led by director Soleil Denault (L’eloi), along with assistant director Sarah Kravitz; DP Nina Djacic; editor Jackie Roda (Married to Giants); producer Kari Hollend (Heyd Saffer); colorist Roslyn Di Sisto (Darling) and casting by Jules Fitzsimmons (Jules Casting).
Vancouver creative and digital agency Colony Digital has added two new clients. For Steve Nash Fitness Clubs, Colony will handle creative execution, marketing strategy, digital advertising, social media management and production for the 30-location fitness chain. And for White Spot and Triple-O’s, Colony has been hired to grow the brand’s digital presence and footprint through social media management, creative execution and production.
Colony opened in 2018 with a team of five, and has since grown to a staff of 30, expanding its offering to include graphic design, branding, digital marketing, website development, social media management, videography, and photography services.
*This story has been updated and corrected. The original post stated that EQ acquired Curate, including Juice Mobile. In fact, EQ only acquired Juice Mobile from Curate, which continues to operate as an independent company.
