Diamond has hired Wendy Bairos (pictured) as group head of PR as the agency launches a new division to add to its multidisciplinary offering.
Bairos is coming to Diamond from Eighty-Eight, which she joined in March as its new general manager, and also brings experience from ecommerce platform Hubba, agency Pilot PMR and ten years on the communications team at Google. Joining Bairos is PR strategist Jenna Illies, who also comes from Eighty-Eight and has other agency-side experience at Swerve PR.
The launch of a PR division at Diamond comes following the hiring of Max Valiquette as the agency’s first chief strategy officer in May.
David Diamond, CEO of Diamond, describes the addition of PR to the agency’s service offering as “a natural progression.” The agency operates under a “centre of excellence” model that includes divisions for strategy, creative, content, experiential, sponsorship, events, influencer, design and data, giving clients access to thought leaders in each area as their needs dictates.
Diamond says having a multidisciplinary team has been a differentiator for the agency as it helps clients craft their brand experience across channels, and Valiquette adds that the addition of a PR department at Diamond offers the agency “an opportunity to integrate earned media execution and consultancy to our services and to bolster our proposition to the market.”
Diamond’s clients include OverActive Media Group, TD, General Mills and the LCBO.
