Cossette has hired Cat Wiles as its new chief strategy officer for Toronto, while Rosie Gentile has been appointed to a newly created role as SVP, experience design.

Wiles joins Cossette from VCCP London, where she was head of planning and was part of the agency’s win of the global Shell account last year. Daniel Shearer, Cossette’s EVP and GM in Toronto, says Wiles’ global point-of-view and experience will help elevate the strategy team and clients it works with in Toronto (Florence Girod remains chief of strategy and integrated product for Cossette in Montreal).

Gentile, meanwhile, has been with Cossette since Jan. 2017 as SVP of strategy. Shearer tells strategy that Gentile has been overseeing the strategy department in Toronto on an interim basis since 2018, following the departure of previous chief strategy officer Jason Chaney.

Shearer says Gentile is being brought over to the new experience design role to tap the potential of disciplines including social, content, technology, media and design, bringing a one-to-one perspective on brand experiences. He adds that Cossette is lucky to be able to ask one of its most senior thought leaders to “step up and tap the full potential of truly integrated brand thinking.” Her new role, he says, will allow the agency to deepen consumer engagement with its work.

“At Cossette, we have not been quiet about our belief that brand experience is the critical next chapter in how winning brands will connect with consumers,” Shearer says.

Gentile has worked on brands like SickKids, Flight Centre and TD Canada Trust.