New business and other news

LP/AD, a Toronto-based brand consultancy and creative shop, has won the business of biotechnology and consumer products company Folium Labs Inc. The agency will help the nutraceutical company develop and launch its new cannabis wellness supplement brand, Livli. LP/AD will work with Folium Labs Inc. on brand mapping, messaging, packaging and digital assets, including online e-commerce stores and influencer programs.

Chartwell Retirement Residences is on the hunt for a new full-service agency partner offering strategic planning, creative development, media planning and execution. The company has worked with Montreal-based Alfred Communications and OMD since 2014. The search comes as Chartwell’s shifts from having its marketing led out of Montreal to out of its national corporate office in Toronto.

PR agency The Siren Group has won MCI Group Canada and will help the events planning company generate awareness and brand recognition across the B2B and B2C sectors through media relations, content development, social media, special events and a leadership opportunities strategy. The program kicked off this week with the announcement of MCI Group’s acquisition of Montreal events planning firm Conferences, Groups & Incentives.

Skincare brand Elizabeth Grant International has selected Brill Communications to help “reinvigorate” the 60-year-old company’s brand in Canada. The agency has been given a mandate that includes public relations, digital and social media and influencer relations across the English and French markets.

The One Club for Creativity has announced a new partnership with beverage alcohol company Diageo North America to promote diversity, inclusion and gender equality among young creatives. As part of The One Club’s Young Guns program, one of 16 global finalists will receive the new Diageo-Young Guns Diversity & Inclusion Award during the awards show on Nov. 15.

Media

Facebook has given advertisers more control of ad placements in response to brand safety concerns. Advertisers now have more insight into where their ads appear on several of the social platform’s verticals, including Instant Articles and in-stream video (for Media in Canada subscribers).

Hires and promotions 

Gillian Smith, who was most recently a PC provincial candidate in the riding of University-Rosedale, has joined Hill+Knowlton Strategies as an associate in its Toronto office. Prior to running in the election, she was CMO for the Toronto Region Board of Trade, and before that, served as CEO of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and head of communications at RBC Capital Markets.

Experiential and event marketing agency Prime Marketing has named Mario Brossard as its new VP of operations and business development.

Junction59 has expanded with the addition of Alison McDougall as an account supervisor and  Natali Lasky, whose background is in videography, returns to the agency as a digital project coordinator. McDougall, who has served with U.K.-based digital agency TUG and the DAC Group, will work on the SiriusXM account.