Toronto agency The Hive has hired Dustin Rideout as its new CSO to oversee strategy across its Canadian and U.S. business.

The move comes three months after Jared Stein was appointed president and CEO of the agency. Stein and Rideout previously worked together at Sid Lee.

The agency is in the midst of a “revitalization,” creating “valuable encounters” for its clients to help them become more culturally relevant, said Stein. The agency positioning recognizes that reaching consumers through traditional advertising can be difficult, and brands need to add value to peoples’ lives—they should “entertain, excite, inform, improve, impact or involve” consumers.

“Trying to pinpoint the people that I’ve wanted to work with….  Dustin was always one of those strategists who, for me, when I look back at my career, that was when I was having the most fun,” said Stein. “That was when we were scrappy and pushing brands and doing work that was culturally relevant and impactful, and the intention is to push The Hive to do more work in that space.”

At Sid Lee the pair worked together on the Toronto Raptors (“We The North”), Toronto Maple Leafs, Coca-Cola and Sport Chek. Rideout has been in the industry for more than 16 years, and was most recently CSO at Juniper Park\TBWA.  The strategy team at The Hive is currently only three people, but growing that department is a priority for Stein.

“If there’s talent that I think is going to be additive to the business, that’s an investment that we’re going to make,” he said.

“Jared and I have always believed in creating ideas that satisfy people’s preference for experience-led brand relationships,” said Rideout in a release. “The Hive has begun to codify this conviction through its ‘Valuable Encounters’ planning approach. It’s incredibly exciting for me personally to lead its expansion in both practice and scale.”