Toronto’s Studio M has split into two companies, spinning its production services into a new entity dubbed Unified Content.

Unified Content will be working with agencies to provide production and post-production services for TV, photography, animation, motion graphics, digital and social content, while Studio M will focus on creative and strategic services for brand clients.

Unified Content will occupy Studio M’s current production and post-production facilities, while Studio M will move to a new office space. While launched by Studio M’s partners, Unified Content will be managed by a separate leadership team from Studio M. It will be led by executive producers Michi Lepik-Stahl, most recently an executive producer at Kith and Kin and Suneeva, and Laurie Kerr-Jones, who was most recently executive producer and general manager at Red Lab.

Studio M launched in 2004 and has since defined itself by integrating production and content creation with branding and creative service, working with brands including Under Armour, Quaker, CP Rail, Telus, Tostitos and, for its most well-known work, WestJet.

Mike Mills, CEO of Studio M, said in a press release that the agency has always been focused on fostering “deep relationships with a handful of brands at a time.” Splitting into two companies, he says, will allow both to take that approach even deeper. “With Unified Content, we are building a model that is very much in demand and designed with today’s production challenges top of mind,” he said.

Lepik-Stahl added that Unified Content will be integrating content creation services, an approach that is both in reaction to client demand and predictive of future needs.

Back at Studio M, Grant Channer has been hired as head of marketing and business development as the agency moves forward with its new focus. Channer was most recently VP of marketing and communications at private school Blyth Academy, but has also held leadership positions at MediaCom and Geometry Global, in addition to working as a marketing consultant.