Pictured: Innocean Worldwide Canada’s new creatives in Montreal, Arnaud Deneux (left) and Nicolas Baudry.

Innocean Worldwide Canada is expanding in the Quebec market with an office in Montreal.

Set to open on June 1, it is Innocean’s first standalone office in Quebec, though the agency has had a small number of staff in province prior to this. Opening a permanent, standalone foothold was done to better serve the needs of Innocean’s national clients.

“Local Innocean staff have serviced the regional needs of our clients for over five years,” Leslie Kross, EVP of client and business development, said in a press release. “However, business growth, including the acquisition of media buying for Kia this January, and the addition of a local creative team, has required us to move into a larger centralized space.”

Staff in the new office include ACD and copywriter Nicolas Baudry, who has been working as a freelance CD since September but has experience at agencies including Tank, Havas, Marketel and Cossette, along with senior art director Arnaud Deneux, who joins from DDB Montreal. They join a media team of buying supervisor Kimberley Davies and print buyer Freddy Fernandez, who both come from ZenithOptimedia. All local staff will report into the agency’s Canadian leadership, based in Toronto.

Innocean Worldwide was founded in 2005 by Hyundai Motor Group as an in-house agency to handle marketing communications for both Hyundai and Kia. By early 2010, it had opened an office in Toronto to serve its two “founding clients,” though it has since done work for non-Hyundai brands, such as a campaign last year for Cycling Canada.

Last month, Innocean hired Kross to lead its Kia business and further explore areas for agency growth.