Tank’s Montreal office continues to grow with 12 new hires, including two creative directors.
Christian Ayotte and Martin Martinez are the agency’s new CDs. Ayotte was previously CD in charge of interactive at Bleublancrouge, a position he took in November 2013 after a long stint as CD at Sid Lee. Martinez comes over after being ACD at Ogilvy CommonHealth.
While Ayotte has digital expertise and Martinez has a background with health clients, Marc Lanouette, president of Tank, says they will be working across disciplines and categories, bring their “culture” and way of thinking to the versatile mix the agency has been striving for.
Also on the creative side, Chryssa Katsigiannis has been added as art director, following more than three years as a designer at Gallant Leaman Group. Nathalie De Angelis, formerly of Brad and DentsuBos, has joined Tank’s production team.
Most of the hires, however, have come on the account side, with most having expertise working client-side with health and pharma brands or health-focused agencies.
Lisa Dame, who spent a year as account manager at Tank before going client-side at United Natural Foods, returns to the agency as account supervisor. Julie-Noëlle Joannette and Akwanne Onuoha, both of whom also have client-side experience working at health and pharmaceutical companies, join as senior account directors. Joyce Thuss has come on as account director, having previously worked at health-focused agencies including CDM, Jeffrey Simbrow Associates and Anderson DDB. Emilie Geoffroy has been hired as account manager, having also previously been at Jeffrey Simbrow. Mathilde Fresne comes over from Palm + Havas and Alicia Brennan from Sid Lee as account coordinators.
Lanouette says the new hires are the result of a new national account win for the office that can’t yet be announced. He adds the agency has had a number of previous wins in the health sector over the last five months, including Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and with Tank opening an office in New York last November, hopes to be able to give clients from that office the wider scope they are looking for.
“What we’re hoping we’ll be able to accomplish over the next year is being able to, from Montreal, service accounts that are global,” he says. “Both [Ayotte and Martinez] have worked outside of Canada, and we have been looking at thinking globally and across North America in scope.”
Tank’s other health clients include Merck, AstraZenica, Abbott Laboratories and retailer Uniprix. It also works with Audi Canada and Telus, and has been working with Heritage Canada leading up to Canada’s 150th anniversary celebration.
In September, Tank went on another hiring spree. Those 11 new staff included creatives but were heavier on the account side as well, including Julie Simon as group account director. Lanouette says the agency recently acquired new neighbouring office space and can now accommodate up to 100 staff members.
H/T Infopresse
