Mississauga-based agency BTI Brand Innovations has added to its creative leadership, hiring Craig Markou as executive creative director.

Markou joins a creative team that includes agency founder and CCO Parveen Dhupar and CD Mike Woodgate.

Markou most recently worked as a freelancer, with assignments at Bleublancrouge, Lg2, Ogilvy and Rethink, the last of which included a project that resulted in the agency picking up the WestJet account.

Prior to that, he was ECD and co-founder of Wooden Hill Communications, an agency with offices in Toronto and Detroit that worked with clients including Activision, Advance Auto Parts, the American Marketing Association, Coca-Cola, Johnsonville, PepsiCo and Toyota. Markou has also been a creative director and art director at agencies including The Mars Agency, JWT and DDB, working with clients such as Canadian Film Festival, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé and Walmart.

BTI’s previous work has included campaigns for brands including Whirlpool, Cashmere, Maytag and Nexera Law. In a blog post on the agency’s website, Markou says part of his goal at BTI will be to raise the agency’s creative profile, including more of a presence in industry award shows.