It’s taken three months, but Globe Information Services and Torstar have finally consummated their improbable marriage with the launch of Workopolis.com, a jointly owned Internet job board that’s being flogged with a $7-million multimedia campaign.

The redesigned Web site, which replaces the clunky-sounding Globecareers.com, is being positioned as an online ‘community’ for job seekers, one that offers tips on writing resumés and preparing for interviews, in addition to housing the biggest stockpile of Canadian job postings on the Web.

The communal theme is echoed throughout the launch elements, including a billboard execution that has been designed to resemble a road sign. The poster, designed by newly appointed agency of record Ranscombe & Co., reads, ‘Welcome to workopolis.com, Canada’s biggest job site,’ and lists the ‘population’ as 15,000 jobs.

‘The personality will be welcoming, friendly, fun and light,’ explains Jim Ranscombe, president of Ranscombe & Co., which also came up with the name for the new site. ‘We’re not taking the negative approach that Monster [does],’ he adds, referring to the dot-com company’s critically acclaimed ‘When I grow up’ spots that debuted during last year’s Super Bowl. ‘We’re going to be talking to people who are happy with their jobs and want to be happier.’

But if Workopolis hopes to stem the flow of classified ad revenue to Internet job giants like Monster.ca and JobShark.com, it will have to keep up with them on the marketing front – a proposition so costly that it impelled the shotgun marriage of The Globe and Torstar last October.

Torstar, whose holdings include The Toronto Star and The Hamilton Spectator, paid $19 million for a 40% slice of Globecareers.com, giving The Globe the cash it needed to promote the site more aggressively. Just as importantly, the deal doubled the number of job postings on the new site to 15,000 – the most on any Canadian job board – and boosted the online resumé bank to over 160,000, which still trails the 210,000 resumés posted at JobShark (Monster, by comparison, houses 5,000 jobs and 100,000 resumés).

The campaign officially kicked off Jan. 26 with full page ads in The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star, plus transit ads and billboards. A series of 30-second television spots are also being produced, and will air in early February.

Credits:

Client: Workopolis.com

Agency: Ranscombe & Co.

Budget: $7 million

Creative Directors: Jim Ranscombe, Tony Miller

Art Directors: Rick Mayzis, Mark Spalding, Jason Kinsella

Writers: Jim Ranscombe, Tony Miller

Media Direction: Anne Wood

Interactive Strategist: Craig Thompson

Account Service Team: Greg Cromwell, Paul Baillie

Media: Newspaper, television, transit, out-of-home, online, Elevator News Network

Launch Date: Jan. 26, 2000

Length of Run: One year (heavy weights in first two months)

The Garden promotes two creative directors

ACDs Lindsay Eady and Francheska Galloway-Davis have taken over responsibility for day-to-day creative leadership at The Garden after being promoted to creative director roles.

The pair will also help develop the agency’s creative talent, formalizing mentorship and leadership activities they have been doing since joining the agency four and three years ago, respectively. In addition to creating the agency’s internship program, the pair have worked on campaigns for Coinsquare, FitTrack and “The Coke Challenge” campaign for DanceSafe.

Eady and Galloway-Davis will continue to report to The Garden’s co-founder and chief creative officer Shane Ogilvie, who is stepping back from daily creative duties to a more high-level strategic role, allowing him to focus on client relationships and business growth.

Naked Creative Consultancy names new creative and strategy leadership

Toronto’s Naked Creative Consultancy has hired Yasmin Sahni as its new creative director. She is taking over creative leadership from David Kenyon, who has been in the role for 10 years and is moving into a new role as director of strategy, leading the discipline at the agency.

Sahni is coming off of three years as VP and ECD at GTB’s Toronto office, where she managed all the retail, social and service creative for Ford Canada. She previously managed both Vice Media and Vice’s in-house ad agency Virtue.

Peter Shier, president of Naked, says Sahni’s hiring adds to its creative bench and capabilities, as well as a track record of mentorship, a priority for the company. Meanwhile, Kenyon’s move to the strategy side, he says, makes sense because of his deep knowledge of its clients, which have included Ancestry and The Globe and Mail.

Digital Ethos opens a Toronto office

U.K. digital agency Digital Ethos is pursuing new growth opportunities in North America by opening a new office in Toronto.

Though it didn’t disclose them, the agency has begun serving a number of North American clients, and CEO/founder Luke Tobin says the “time was right to invest in a more formal and actual presence in the area.” whose services include design, SEO, pay-per-click, social media, influencer and PR,

This year, the agency’s growth has also allowed it to open an office in Hamburg, Germany, though it also has remote staff working in countries around the world.

Moray Hickes was the company’s first North American hire as VP of sales, tasked with business development in the region.