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 industry changes
The Canadian Marketing Association, fresh off naming a new president and CEO, has announced the new additions to its board of directors for 2015/2016. Bryan Pearson (pictured, right), president and CEO of LoyaltyOne/AirMiles, has been named chair of the board, with Chris Stamper, SVP corporate marketing, community and environment at TD, being named vice-chair. New members on the board this year are Brent Cuthbertson, SVP and CMO at the BCAA, Janine Keogh, VP marketing at Mondelez Canada, and Uwe Stueckmann, SVP marketing at Loblaw Companies.
Lifestyle brand-focused Rooftop Agency has strengthened its team as it embarks on a rebrand. Account director Filipe da Luz has joined from Cundari and social media manager Desirée Gadea joined from Zenergy Communications. Tonisha Bath has been hired as experiential manager, having previously been an account manager at Strategic Objectives. The rebranding includes a new logo, updated social channels and a pending redesign of its website.
Digital development shop Normative has hired Kamal Syan as its new general manager, who once again finds himself working alongside Matthew Milan and Jon Tirmandi, co-founders of the agency. Syan was previously VP and group account director at Klick Health, which he joined in 2013 after more than five years as VP and managing director at Critical Mass, where he first met Milan and Tirmandi.
Experiential agency Smak has hired Jonny Crozier as its new creative director in Toronto, leading all creative. Crozier joins from RPMpromotion, where he was a regional account director, and has worked in several creative capacities in radio programming for Corus and Astral. The agency has also hired Anastasia Chapman as a junior account manager in Vancouver, bolstering a team now led by Clay Dubé, who had been promoted to national account manager to lead account teams in both of Smak’s offices.
Quebec’s Marrow Communications has rebranded, becoming MW3. The move reflects the agency bringing all of its services together to provide an integrated offering to clients.
New business
Montreal digital agency We Are has been retained by Quebec event promoter Evenko to develop new apps for three of the province’s top music festivals: Ile Soniq, Heavy Montreal and Osheaga.
NKPR has made its annual IT Lounge during the Toronto International Film Festival official. As part of a new partnership, the lounge and its celebrity photographers move from inside NKPR HQ to inside the TIFF Bell Lightbox during the festival, and the PR firm will be working as an official strategic partner with the festival to develop the experience.
Media
At Facebook Canada’s Brand Summit last week, Instagram announced it would be launching carousel ads in Canada, allowing multiple images per post. Major brand partners at launch include Rogers, Air Canada and Canadian Tire.
CBC continues to add to its media solutions team, hiring Robyn Sullivan as director of digital revenue optimization, to work with digital innovation partners as the company continues its shift to more digital content. She most recently led the financial planning and analysis team for healthcare at Compass Group Canada.
IPG Mediabrands has announced three new additions to its C-suite, hiring a new global chief operating officer and chief creative officer, while promoting its former head of PR to global chief communications officer.
