Toronto-based market profile specialist Compusearch Micromarketing Data and Systems and its list management sister company Prospects Unlimited are now part of an American credit-reporting giant following a $260-million deal earlier this month.

Equifax signed an agreement with R.L. Polk to acquire Polk’s consumer information solutions (CIS) group, which includes Compusearch and Prospects Unlimited. The deal is expected to close by the end of April.

‘We are very excited about it,’ says Jan Kestle, president of Compusearch. ‘Equifax is a very large player in the financial information business around the world. This deal won’t have much effect on our day-to-day operations, but it does put us with a group that is extremely large.’

Compusearch provides geodemographic and market analyses for marketing organizations across Canada. Prospects Unlimited manages four major Canadian consumer databases for direct marketers, including the 12-million name TotaList Canada and Prospects Canada, which numbers 7.5 million.

Equifax, which is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., says it will use the companies’ databases to help its clients conduct more targeted marketing efforts.

In a statement, Equifax president Lee Kennedy said his company is poised to take advantage of Polk’s CIS management team and its presence in the consumer goods manufacturing industry.

One of the anticipated benefits for Equifax is that the deal will allow it to overlap Compusearch’s consumer lifestyle and demographic databases on its credit information database. However, both Equifax and Compusearch made a point of saying that the Equifax consumer credit database will remain separate from the acquired lifestyle and demographic databases.

‘Last fall, we announced that Compusearch’s neighborhood cluster system, PSYTE, has been linked to aggregated credit information from Equifax,’ says Kestle. ‘This product is an example of how Compusearch and Equifax can work together to create information products that benefit our mutual customers, while ensuring that the privacy of Equifax’s consumer database is protected.’

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.