In an attempt to solidify its leadership team and better serve higher-level clients seeking strategic services, Toronto-based creative agency Elemental has promoted Justin Haberman to VP of client services, and Scott Fess to creative director.

Fess’s promotion to creative director marks the first time someone has held that title under Elemental partner and head of creative Brent Wardrop since the agency formed.  Fess will continue his duties on the Elemental creative team, but will also be overseeing the entire creative suite at the agency.

“Scott [Fess] has been a part of the agency for over a decade and has been a key part of the creative transformation of the agency,” says Elemental partner and head of strategy, Dustin Brown. “Recently, he has overseen creative and design teams and has demonstrated the ability to grow and foster a team that delivers great work and even better results.”

Formerly an account director with the agency, Haberman’s responsibilities will span across all of the agency’s current clients, overseeing the growth of the Elemental account services’ team as well as “deepening and growing existing clients,” and play a key part on the new business team, Brown notes.

“Justin has been a great leader internally with the client services team and has been a key contributor to the growth of key accounts,” he adds. “The agency has been experiencing some significant growth over the last few years and we recognized that a main contributor to the success of the agency has been the continued leadership of Scott and Justin.”

Brown says that the agency has seen its strategic services sought after the past couple of years, but especially in 2019. He adds that, to allow him and Wardrop to “carve out the time necessary to better serve” the agency’s higher-level client needs, team management with accounts and creative responsibilities have been delegated.

Brown has led the Elemental client services team for more than half a decade, while Wardrop is the only lead creative director the agency has known.

“As we continue to experience growth and scale, it made sense to promote two known, respected leaders in the agency to continue to bring leadership and continuity to all accounts as we look to continue to grow,” he says.

Elemental has done work for clients such as Scene, Dyson Canada and Starbucks, among others.