Hires, promotions and other news
Branding and design shop Shikatani Lacroix has added Jonathan Faria as senior director of brand implementation. Faria was most recently associate, brand implementation management with The Consultants Company and has held various consultant roles working with clients such as Eversource Energy, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Tervita, Novant Health and MedStar Health. Shikatani’s clients include Cineplex Entertainment, Toronto Blue Jays, Regions Bank, Tata Global Beverages, Cable & Wireless Communications, PepsiCo Canada and Moosehead Breweries, among others.
Diamond Integrated Marketing has hired Mike Smith as director of sponsorship, after seeing growth with that part of its business. Smith most recently led the sponsorship practice at Lumency (formerly Desperado), and has held roles with the Heart & Stroke Foundation, iSport Media & Management and Sports Management Partners. Diamond has recently worked with Pride organizations across Canada on sponsorships for clients including TD, TJX, General Mills and Church & Dwight. Ongoing demand for larger, ROI-based sponsorship initiatives has led to its investment in the business, according to a press release.
Ariad Communications has added four to its team. Sonia Canonico has joined as senior account director. She was most recently manager of sports partnerships at Canadian Tire, a role she held for three years. Tara Glazer has come on as an account director on Ariad Health. Glazer has previously worked in various brand management roles for Nestlé Baby, Lean Cuisine, Biotherm and Lindor. Most recently, she was with Johnson & Johnson, working on both pharma and consumer brands. Meanwhile, Aven Santo Domingo and Patrick Fallarme have joined Ariad’s digital messaging team as solution consultants. Santo Domingo was most recently with Shop.ca, where he led the marketplace operations team, while Fallarme comes from various senior roles within TC Media, working with brands including Aeroplan, Air Canada and BMO.
Cossette Lab is now accepting applications from entrepreneurs focused on tourism-related tech for its accelerators in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. The accelerators aim to be incubator programs for the startups’ development for six to 12 months. It will also establish a relationship with Cossette and look for opportunities with the agency’s tourism clients, which include Tourisme Montreal, Via Rail, Aeroplan and Tourism Yukon. Applications are being accepted through the Cossette Lab website until Sept. 15.
New business
Following a competitive review, Pomp & Circumstance has been selected as the AOR for the Scotiabank World Cup of Hockey Fan Village, a 10-day festival held in downtown Toronto this September. Open to the public for free, the event is meant to be the epicentre for fans of the World Cup of Hockey 2016. It will feature activations from partners including Molson Canadian and Rogers Communications, plus food and musical performances.
Media
Initiative Canada has added to its senior client team, hiring Noah Vardon as VP, client business partner. Most recently, he worked at MediaCom Canada, spending the past year as a group account director.
CNN has appointed Adspace Sales to develop branded content and expand sales for Canadian marketers and agencies. Along with branded content, it’s tasked with sales for CNN’s associated sites, which include Great Big Story, CNNMoney, CNN Style, CNN Travel and CNN Sport.
Toronto’s Wattpad has introduced a new ad tool for brands to reach engaged readers between chapters. The move comes after a successful beta testing period with the in-story ads.
