Hires and promotions
Toronto agency LP/AD has promoted Erin Rodness to creative director. Serving as an art director for the last two years, Rodness has already held expanded duties for some of the shop’s clients, including Maserati, Amdocs, Tabasco and the Toronto Raptors. She will continue working on those accounts in her new role. Before joining LP/AD, she was a creative director at Grace & Gordon, a fashion line that she started, and a graphic designer at HAS Marketing.
The Palmerston Group has named Colleen Berg as director of strategic insights for the agency, adding to the agency’s depth in qualitative research. She has conducted focus groups, ethnographic interviews and “digital diaries” across North America during stints at market research firms The Sound and Fresh Squeezed Ideas, and has already worked on projects for Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire and RBC Ventures, while at Palmerston.
Montreal agency Bob has named Laura Delamarre as an account manager. She arrived at the shop as a digital and content specialist, and has since worked on projects across disciplines for clients including Lise Watier Foundation, Saputo, KPMG, Metro, Sésame restaurants and Rona.
Robin Ryan has been promoted to VP of sales operations at Jones Media, where she formerly served as senior director of project management. She will continue to work on initiatives across the pre-sales, voice and client success teams. Prior to joining Jones, she worked in media and account direction at Yahoo!, AOL and Bell.
Vancouver-based TTG Canada has appointed Jana Madill as general manager of its corporate sponsorship subsidiary TTG Partnerships, where she will help clients optimize their commercial rights and diversify their revenue streams. She previously served as director of sponsorship sales and client service, and before that, ran her own consulting firm, Digg Marketing.
New business and other news
Toronto-based PR company 1Milk2Sugars has been chosen as AOR for Marriott Hotels Canada’s social media activity through 2019. The shop, picked from a pool of seven other agencies, becomes the official social media partner for all Marriott properties, including The Ritz Carlton, W Hotels, Sheraton Hotels, Delta Hotels, St-Regis Hotel and Resorts. Duties include content creation, community management, analytics, monitoring and influencer relations.
Sleeman-owned Quebec brewer Unibroue has picked Quebec firm FDM to manage media relations in 2019. The shop will support several new launches over the coming year, including some in the Ontario market.
Toronto production and design shop Jam3 has unveiled a new visual identity in a rebranding effort. The changes are meant to reflect the shop’s evolution from a production studio into a hybrid agency. The visual refresh follows a year of changes with respect to its positioning, values and mission.
Media
Media veteran Joe Strolz has left his role as Snap country manager for Canada, according to a memo obtained by MiC and confirmed by the company. Strolz had been in the job for just over a 18 months. His departure follows the exit of several executive and senior staff globally (full story for Media in Canada subscribers).
Havas Media has added Reckitt Benckiser (maker of home products like AirWick, Lysol and Jif and health brands like Durex, Clearasil and Veet) to its list of recent client wins. A source tells MiC that Havas’ media arm was named AOR for RB’s hygiene and home brands and as well as the planning portion of its health portfolio (full story for Media in Canada subscribers).
Axel Dumont, formerly GroupM president for Quebec, has taken up the post of SVP and GM of Quebec and East regions for Cossette Media. He will oversee operations for Cossette’s media division east of Ontario and report to Vision7 Media president Joseph Leon (full story for Media in Canada subscribers).
