New Hires — Cossette
Jessica Borges has been named vice-president, business leadership at Koo, Cossette’s internal multicultural agency. Borges has more than 20 years of experience, most recently as chief creative officer/chief strategy officer at Maple Diversity Communications. She was also previously VP, creative at Dyversity Communications; creative director at Impact Y&R in Muscat, Oman; and ACD at McCann Worldgroup in Mumbai.
“Her understanding and experience in both the strategy and creative sides of the business will be invaluable in helping us elevate Koo’s existing service offering, while also ensuring that inclusivity remains at the core of the work we produce across Koo and Cossette,” said Daniel Shearer, president, Ontario and West at Cossette.
“I’ve made a career advocating for inclusivity within creativity, and I’m thrilled to be part of the Cossette family and Koo team to help shape the way that both our agencies and clients communicate and grow within this space,” said Borges. “EDI-centered campaigns go beyond diverse casting and adaptation for diverse market segments; it’s about leveraging insights with a heavy dose of nuance.”
New Appointments — lg2
lg2 has appointed two new partners: Ryan Crouchman, VP, ECD, branding and design in Toronto; and Sophie-Annick Vallée, VP, strategy in Montreal.
Partner, CEO and chairman Claude Auchu said that their leadership and important contribution to the agency’s creative and strategic product were key factors in their appointment.
“These appointments prove that our journey of employee ownership is paying off,” said Auchu. “We encourage agency talent to contribute to the company’s development, and top talent are rewarded with a truly inspiring career path that exemplifies our vision of sustainable entrepreneurship.”
New Business — doug&partners
doug&partners has added two clients to its growing roster, with handbag maker preneLOVE enlisting the agency for a social campaign, and the Ontario Craft Distillers Association tapping it for a brand design.
preneLOVE makes neoprene totes, handbags and accessories that are sold throughout North America, and the social campaign comes as it experiences what president Chad Brooks described as “explosive organic growth,” particularly in the U.S. “[W]e decided it was time to place some marketing investment dollars in a few key geographic areas like the great state of Texas with a paid campaign in online and social,” he said.
The agency will lead a brand naming exercise and new visual identity for the OCDA that will debut this summer. “Our design team is incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to develop a new visual identity from scratch,” said doug&partners ECD Marta Hooper. “This is exactly the type of assignment every designer is thirsty for—a chance to showcase our passion and design craft to help celebrate and elevate local products we love.”
New Business — Mixtape
Following an RFP process, Niagara-based brewer Bench Brewing Company has selected Toronto independent Mixtape as its first agency of record.
Mixtape will lead creative development and brand strategy for a campaign driving awareness, consideration, and trial of Bench’s core SKUs, and will also have a hand in launching the new SIP Botanical Hard Seltzer, as well as building on the brewer’s existing partnerships, such as that with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
General manager Anthony D’Aprile said that brewer, which launched its first beer in 2016, wants to extend its reach across the province. “[Mixtape president and founder]Joe Myers and the Mixtape team blew us away with their passion, strategic vision, and creativity, and are the perfect plans to help us reach our goal,” he said.
New Hires — Allvision
Digital out-of-home company Allvision has hired Stuart Garvie as CEO for Canada. Garvie was most recently CEO for GroupM Canada, and before that was president, media sales and marketing at Bell Media, including Bell’s integrated multi-platform sales force and Astral out-of-home.
Allvision has more than 50 faces, delivering more than 30 million daily impressions across Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
“Stuart’s incredible C-level expertise in all aspects of the Canadian media industry, coupled with our rapidly growing large-format digital out-of-home business in Canada, is a dynamite combination,” said Greg Smith, chief executive officer North America, for Allvision.
Allvision also announced that Maria Girimonte has joined the company as vice-president, head of sales. Girimonte was most recently director of smartmail marketing at Canada Post.
New Appointments — Rethink
Rethink has promoted three strategic planners to group strategy director in its Toronto office (from left): Julian Morgan, Crystal Sales and Nicole Rajesky.
“Across the entire agency, we’re committed to fostering growth from within. These are three emerging leaders that represent exactly that,” said Sean McDonald, managing partner and chief strategy officer. “Our agency continues to grow with local and global opportunities, and these three will be leading our Toronto strategic practice while helping us to grow everywhere.”
Morgan has been with Rethink since 2017 and has been leading all Kraft-Heinz brand work at the agency. Rajeksy joined the agency in 2020, and has been the strategic lead for Molson-Coors and RXBar, and will also be focused on work from Rethink’s new New York office. Sales joined in 2021 and has been leading the repositioning and new creative work for Scotiabank.
