Tribal DDB has appointed Dino Demopoulos as its first VP strategy and innovation, responsible for growing the integrated planning department. He’ll work with clients, including Canadian Tire, Cialis, Johnson & Johnson and McDonald’s.

Demopoulos has worked in the industry for 10 years, most recently as head of strategy at MacLaren/MRM. In his new role, which he began in September, he’ll lead cross-channel strategy for both Tribal and DDB to help create integrated and seamless campaigns.

The position is an evolution from the VP strategy, previously held by Jason Chaney, now VP strategy LG2, with more emphasis on integration between departments.

“We created this position to address an identified need to drive integrated strategy and innovation-fuelled thinking throughout the agency, starting right at the inception of the creative development process,” said Andrew McCartney, managing director, TribalDDB Canada. “By arming our teams with a deep understanding of our target consumer’s behaviour and bringing our innovation agenda upstream in the process, our clients will benefit from creative output built on a strong, fact-based foundation and insightful strategy.”

His first order of business will be to shape the way the department operates, Demopoulos says. He’s begun by hiring two planners to his team, and will begin exploring new disciplines, such as user experience and deep research into the mix.