Calgary-based Trigger Communications and Design’s marketing services will be under new ownership come June 1.

Larry Bannerman, president of Trigger, divested from the marketing division of the agency, with managing director Geoff Hardwicke and creative director Todd Blevins assume ownership of it after a management-led buyout. Bannerman will hold on to sole ownership of Trigger Communications and Design Ltd., which is now solely comprised of it financial communications division and will undergo a rebrand later this spring. Bannerman said in a release that, as the financial communications offering at Trigger grew, it required more of his dedicated attention and, ultimately, is better served as a stand-alone company.

As leaders of the “new” Trigger, which will be keeping the agency’s name, Hardwicke and Blevins will be focusing on brand strategy, all levels of advertising and design work. The pair have already been in charge of the daily operations of the agency’s marketing and communications’ division for more than three years, but Blevins tells strategy that the buyout means both he and Hardwicke could build on what they love about Trigger, as well as have the ability to evolve the business in order to meet the needs of their changing market.

“We’ve worked really hard to grow Trigger into the kind of agency that we wanted – with a great culture and the right list of clients,” Blevins says. “Neither of us wanted to lose that.”

“In order to thrive, both business units had to evolve,” Hardwicke says. He says Bannerman has overseen the development of Trigger’s financial reporting division and “has really set it up for success in the regulatory reporting space. But the evolution led to two very different entities with two distinct value propositions. So, it really just made sense for both brands to stand on their own.”

In terms of what type of work they anticipate Trigger doing in the near future, Blevins says it’s “a tough one to answer” in the middle of a global pandemic. “We are lucky to be at the early stages with a number of our clients in re-imagining their brands. It’s an exciting time. So once all this craziness settles, we will be back at it.”

Trigger’s brand clients include Enmax, Fountain Tire, Imperial Oil, Parkland Fuels, Calbridge Homes, Tommy Gun’s Original Barbershop and Melcor Developments.