Promotions—Fuse Create
Fuse Create has promoted both managing director Aleena Mazhar and executive creative director Steve Miller to senior vice-president.
Already partners at the agency, the promotions reflect the “positive impact their leadership has had on the agency,” said a release.
“As the founders of the agency, we’re aware that our future success relies more and more on the incredible talent we attract to join our family,” said Fuse Create CEO Stephen Brown. “Aleena and Steve have continually demonstrated the values that allow us to ‘turn heads’, build a great culture, foster strong client relationships, and steer this company in the right direction.”
Promotions—Zulu Alpha Kilo
Zulu Alpha Kilo has promoted both Heather Segal and Maxine Thomas into chief strategy officer roles.
Segal has been with the agency since 2016, and was instrumental in its Gold Effie-winning “Feed Imagination” campaign for Goldfish crackers, the launch of Subaru’s “Welcome To Uncommon” brand platform and Pizza Pizza’s “Fixed Rate Pizza” campaign.
Thomas has a reputation for building longstanding brand platforms going back to her time working at Taxi with Zulu founder and creative chairman Zak Mroueh, where they built brands like Canadian Tire, WestJet and Viagra together. Prior to joining Zulu, she was a partner and head of strategy at Rethink. She joined the agency in 2019 and has worked on clients including Bell and Interac.
“Heather and Maxine are simply the best there is and I’m ecstatic to shine a spotlight on these two brilliant leaders,” said agency president and CEO, Mike Sutton.
New Hires—Creative Guild
Hamilton-based Creative Guild has made three additions to its creative team following new business with Arby’s Canada, WOW 1 Day Painting, and Flightpath Charter Airways
Jeff Blay joins as creative director after previously working with Enterprise. He has worked on top brands including Labatt, McCain, Sobeys, Metrolinx and The Beer Store.
New digital marketing lead Aaron Brown was most recently at Scotiabank, where he was senior digital marketing manager and team lead, with experience in digital acquisition, ad operations, product management, product marketing and media planning and buying.
Nicolas Mertens is the agency’s new social media strategist. Mertens has experience leading social media and PR programs for organizations like the Canadian Mental Health Association, Delta Commercial Faucets, and L’Occitane en Provence Canada.
“We’re always looking for talented and agile people who share a vision to do innovative work, and fit with the culture we’re working to build—and I think we’ve hired exceptionally well for these roles,” said Creative Guild’s managing director, Evan Livermore.
New Hires—Rethink
Fernando Hernández is joining Rethink as group creative director in Toronto. Hernández was most recently executive creative director at R/GA New York, where he won the Grand Prix for Good in Cannes’ Health Lions in 2014.
“We’re so proud to have such a talented and globally recognized creative like Fernando join our team,“ said Rethink’s chief creative officer Mike Dubrick. “I’m a big fan of his work and excited about the type of leadership and creativity he can bring to the team.”
Born and raised in Colombia but currently living in New York, Hernández will be moving to Toronto. “After my first meeting with Mike I didn’t have to think twice about joining the team,” he said.
“The work that I see coming out of Rethink on the weekly is the type of work that I want to be doing, and the culture is something that I want to be a part of.”
New Hires—Dentsu Canada
Maxime Sauté has joined Dentsu Creative as executive creative director, with the remit of “delivering modern creativity” through its agency model. He reports into chief creative officer Jordan Doucette, and will partner with recently hired chief strategy officer Rafik Belmesk on the strategic vision for clients.
Sauté was most recently at Rethink, working his way up to partner, creative director on clients including Fondation Emergence, IKEA, Molson Coors, Coors Light, A&W, McDonald’s Canada, Mentos, United Way and the Canadian Red Cross. He started his career at a production house in Belgium, with previous agency stops at Sid Lee and Cossette.
“We have tremendous momentum at Dentsu Creative right now; the work, the clients and the next generation of creative leaders that we’re attracting—it’s an exciting time to be at our agency,” said Doucette. “In Max we have a bold, thoughtful, and innovative leader that will push our clients and teams to have a real impact in the communities that we live and work.”
Business Expansion—Citizen Relations
Citizen Relations has announced the expansion of its global digital capabilities with the creation of a new division called dComm3.
In a release, Citizen said that by boosting earned media with the power of digital, dComm3 will enable the agency to more effectively influence audiences through more personalization, performance and dynamic content to better connect marketing, sales and data.
Led by chief digital officer Crystalyn Stuart-Loayza, it brings together more than 15 technical experts across strategy, activation and intelligence, embedding digital across the way earned programs are built, executed and measured.
“While Citizen has been providing social and digital communications services to its clients for years, we felt there was much more to be done,” said CEO Nick Cowling. “We wanted to build an offering that would drive conversation surgically, bring our campaigns to life online in a truly connected fashion and deliver performance like never before—our new digital team is doing just that.”
New Business—Arrivals+Departures
Pet products company Earth Rated has selected Arrivals + Departures as its AOR for Canada and the U.S. following a review. The agency will be responsible for developing the brand’s strategic and creative platforms in an effort to bring a new voice to their U.S. and Canadian markets through a series of omni-channel campaigns.
“From the moment we started, we’ve made it our mission to create high quality, thoughtfully designed, responsible products that positively impact everyday life with a dog,” said chief marketing officer Yael Grimman in a release. “As we move through our next phase of transformation and growth, we want a partner that shares the same philosophies and isn’t shy to push the envelope.”
“When we first met with the Earth Rated team, we instantly saw a like-mindedness in both our entrepreneurial roots as well our attitudes towards how we work and how we behave”, said A + D partner and president Mike Bevacqua. “We were impressed with their pet experience led, easy-to-use product design and by their deep commitment to their community of brand advocates.
New Office / New Brand —M5
Atlantic Canadian agency M5 has just unveiled a new brand identity and a new office in St. John’s. The new space has an open floor plan to “foster an interdisciplinary approach to client services,” according to a release. M5 offers full-service marketing communications including strategy, creative, media, and website development, as well as research, consulting, public affairs and video production. Along with St. John’s, M5 has offices in Halifax, Saint John, Moncton and Charlottetown.
“Our new brand is more than just a look,” said M5 partner Heather Dalton. “It’s a representation of the evolution of our approach to the work that we do. If a business has a goal or a problem to solve, we believe we are best positioned to help. We have the interdisciplinary team, the insatiable curiosity, and the track record of success that our clients—current and future—deserve.”
