MARKETERS

The dust has finally settled following the November merger of Sony and BMG. Denise Donlon, head of Sony, has been replaced by BMG Canada’s Lisa Zbitnew. Shane Carter, from BMG, is VP marketing and Dave Toomey, from Sony, becomes VP domestic marketing and international exploitation for the company now referred to as Sony BMG Canada.

Some streamlining is also happening

at HBC. Marc Chouinard, previously president and COO of the Bay and Home Outfitters, becomes president

of the HBC merchandising group, responsible for merchandise

and marketing.

Thomas Haig becomes president of Hudson’s Bay Company stores and specialty divisions. He was previously president and COO of Zellers.

AGENCIES

Mark Mason, previously with Saatchi & Saatchi in South Africa, has been named VP, ACD at BBDO in Toronto. ‘Mark is one of those rare talents who can play at the highest international stage,’ says Jack Neary, BBDO’s president and CCO. Indeed. He’s won some of the biggest awards in the biz. Mason will work mainly on Parmalat, which the agency just landed, as well as other big accounts like Pepsi and RBC.

Six years after opening, Bos Toronto finally has creatives. Chad Borlase and Gary Watson, previously VP group creative directors at MacLaren McCann, will help the agency have a more national profile, says partner Claude Carrier. ‘We’re interested in building a reputation in Toronto for creative equal to that of Montreal,’ he says. (Until now all creative was done in Montreal.) While at MacLaren, the pair’s work included Rogers, General Motors and Coca-Cola. Carrier hinted that a new client is on the horizon.

Marketing vet Goodwin Gibson has stepped into the role of divisional president of MacLaren McCann Direct & Interactive. He was previously Cossette Communication Group’s SVP operations. Gibson has worked for such clients as GM, Petro-Canada and McDonald’s.

Look out for a few hires in the new year at Leo Burnett’s Arc Worldwide, (née iLeo), which will now include work in direct and database marketing, interactive marketing, shopper marketing and promotional activities. Richard Bernstein, who was MD at iLeo, will lead the new division.

Soon after Paul Wales was announced as president and CCO at Toronto-based Enterprise Advertising (Tim Hortons AOR), it was revealed that former president Alison Simpson is the new MD at Venture Communications’ new Toronto shop. Wales was most recently Enterprise’s VP/ECD. Venture’s clients include Unilever and Subway.