Clearmotive is shifting gears as it doubles down on opportunities in the Toronto market, announcing a number of hires and a new strategic direction for the office.

The Calgary-based shop has had a Toronto outfit since 2014, serving as a satellite office that offers boots-on-the-ground support to existing clients, which today include Honda Canada, Valvoline, Hopewell, Group23 Sports Medicine, Carrot Insurance, Lammle’s and Herbert & Frye (a new cannabis brand). But in recent months, Clearmotive has sought to build those operations up under new managing director Cam Finlayson, whose mandate includes leading a new shop strategy focused on holistic “marketing operations.”

Finlayson (right), who joined in October 2018, has focused on developing Clearmotive’s new agency strategy, optimizing its internal processes, building out a partner network and hiring new talent for the Toronto office, including account director Sean Mayers, junior copywriter Kyle Woods, production manager Lauren Bialas, and graphic and digital product designer April Moskal.

A focus on marketing operations means Clearmotive will seek to help clients understand how best to leverage subject matter experts, process and planning and technology, says CEO and managing partner Tyler Chisholm (below). As such, the firm is developing new service offerings, such as customer experience planning and marketing technology.

The idea, Chisholm says, is to help clients work more efficiently and, ultimately, help them save time, effort and money. “You rarely hear an agency talk about helping their client partners save money and be more efficient. Everyone is trying to sell the ‘big idea’ instead,” he said in a release. “But I’ve seen countless big ideas flop because the execution isn’t there.”

A number of agencies have sprung up over the last year with a focus on keeping costs low for clients, such as Round, Good&Ready and Agency Inside, either through working with freelance networks or helping clients build in-house teams. The difference Chisholm sees between agencies like those and Clearmotive’s focus is that they are focused on creative.

“We believe creative is only one piece of the puzzle today. We are building an agency to help clients with their overall marketing operations – in other words, all aspects affecting the marketer’s world.”

Clearmotive’s new focus has necessitated structural changes as well, Chisholm notes. In recent months, it has moved away from a “traditional team structure” to one focused on developing custom teams. It has also begun looking for international agency partners across disciplines that help complement its existing offering. Its first such partnership is with Fountain Partnership, a media agency based in the U.K.

“The reality is that some of the top talent that our clients could benefit from resides outside of our organization, most traditional creative agencies and their holding companies, and in some cases, our country,” Finlayson noted.

This week, Clearmotive is moving into a new space in Toronto’s Liberty Village to facilitate further growth and collaboration with its clients.