The marketing world never sleeps, which means there are bound to be things that fly under your radar. To make sure you’re up to speed, here’s some news you might have missed over the last week:

Hires, promotions and agency changes

Universal Music Canada’s Rise Branded Entertainment has hired James Fisher as group account director, starting June 1. Fisher was previously senior director of strategy and client development at Mosaic.

Nurun Montreal has hired Sandra Salcioli Dirat (pictured right) as its new VP of strategy and experience design. She previously spent four years at the agency, last holding the title of strategy and content director, before leaving last July for a VP of brand strategy position at Havas.

Mary Fraser has joined Hill+Knowlton Strategies as VP of the PR agency’s corporate communications team. Fraser joins the agency world with 17 years of experience managing communications for Canadian brands, having been communications director for Lululemon Canada, director of communications for the Rick Hansen Foundation, media director for the Vancouver Olympic Committee and manager of media relations for the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association.

Environics has a pair of new senior consultants on its government relations team in the Ottawa office. Barb Wright has spent the last four years as manager of government relations at the Canadian Nurses Association. Louis-Charles Roy was with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority since November 2010 as a communications analyst and spokesperson.

New business

Korrelation Communications has been named public relations AOR for fair-trade coffee brand Doi Chaang Coffee following a competitive pitch. The agency will support marketing and PR campaigns through national media relations, content development, social media and events.

Human Equation has been tasked with redesigning the site for Micoach, Adidas’ personal training advice blog.

Quebec’s Marie-Annick L’Allier PR will handle media relations for the Parapan Am Games Torch Relay events from Halifax to Montreal.

Around the globe

Last week, Interpublic Group announced it was merging Lowe and Partners, which operates Lowe Roche in Canada, with U.S. agency Mullen to form Mullen Lowe Group. Former Mullen head Alex Leikikh is CEO of the new group, with former Mullen offices now being known as Mullen Lowe, Lowe offices worldwide reporting into MLG, and Campbell Ewald, which merged with Lowe in 2013, operating independently within the new group. Though Lowe CEO Michael Wall (pictured, right) helped organize the merger, he did not stay on at the new group, and announced yesterday he would be the new global CEO for Mother.

Media

Vision7 Media is searching for a new head, as president David Jowett prepares to head back to his native England at the end of the month.

Play Taxi Media co-founder Steve Lowry has launched Discover Media House. Describing itself as an “Expedia for media,” the programmatic marketplace combines buying across several different media platforms and is backed by DDB chairman and CEO Frank Palmer’s investment capital firm Palmer Rogers Encore.

The industry responds to the launch of Facebook’s Instant Articles, a new product that aims to capitalize on the rapid sharing of news stories and content on the social network.

Dive Networks, Touche! and Carat represented Canada with award wins at the Festival of Media in Rome.

Verizon announced it will acquire AOL for $4.4 billion. The deal is expected to close some time this summer.

Evolve Media has hired Khatir Soltani as VP of strategic partnerships as it looks to expand relationships in French Canada, France and elsewhere in Europe.