Edelman has added creative talent in Vancouver with the hiring of Mike Shackle as VP and creative director of the west-coast office.

Shackle arrives with more than two decades of global experience and has been hired with the goal of strengthening Edelman Vancouver’s creative chops. He will lead the office’s creative team and support the agency’s broader communications and storytelling work for clients including BC Doctors of Optometry and the Calgary Zoo.

He was previously CCO for the Middle East and North Africa region at Grey, where he “restructured the creative department, leading the traditional agency into more digital-led, integrated work for clients such as BMW, Samsung, Subway, Duracell and Shell,” according to a press release. His experience includes stints at Gyro London, the New York offices of Y&R, Deutsch and BBH, and TBWA Singapore. Most recently, he has focused on his own strategy and creative shop Ronin, for which he served as creative director.

Since hiring Andrew Simon as ECD for the Canadian market in 2015 – he was promoted to Canadian CCO in 2016 – Edelman continues to evolve from its roots in PR towards becoming a creative communications agency. Most recently, it named Leo Burnett veteran Judy John as its first global chief creative officer, getting oversight of the agency’s growing creative network, comprised of more than 600 creatives and strategists. The agency also named Ryan Semeniuk as its first Vancouver CD back in 2015, though he left the position to go freelance in 2017.

Edelman recently put its creative skills to work in a February campaign for Osteoporosis Canada, which involved launching a “Bübl x David Dixon” fashion collection incorporating elements of bubble wrap to represent the two million Canadians affected by the disease.