Broken Heart Love Affair’s sister agency Lifelong Crush has new leadership at its helm, naming Caroline Kilgour as EVP and managing director.
Kilgour will be responsible for leading growth and day-to-day management at Lifelong Crush. She joins from Doug & Partners, where she spent more than two years as managing director, but also brings senior client services leadership from BBDO Canada and Red Urban.
Beverley Hammond, partner and CBO at Broken Heart Love Affair, pointed to Kilgour’s experience working with clients and track record when it comes to great work and team-building as assets the agency was particularly excited about. Kilgour says Broken Heart Love Affair’s emphasis on “brand love” and work on building an efficient model around top talent was “crucial” to independent agencies taking advantage of their unique position to foster change in the industry.
In August, Broken Heart Love Affair opened Lifelong Crush as a subsidiary agency, complementing its parent agency’s work on higher-level brand transformation projects with a focus on engaging with consumers throughout the purchase journey.
“It’s a different model altogether,” Hammond told strategy at the time. “Our belief is that when you try to put them together, you don’t do either as well as you could. For us, we just feel like we need to keep these things separate so that it’s more cost effective for clients.”
Kilgour told strategy in an email that it is on track to meet its projections to be a 10-person shop in the near future, and is currently looking to fill senior digital strategist and client services roles with talent that is “obsessive about CX and have a deep belief in the profound impact rigorous customer journey management can have on a business.”
Though she didn’t name them, Kilgour said Lifelong Crush is working with five clients that span CPG, retail and healthcare, and discussions are underway with several others.
“Day five at the agency, I was a part of a new business pitch,” she said. “So there continues to be wonderful momentum and positive feedback on the model we have imagined for modern day marketers.”
