Three execs that helped establish FCB/Six are taking on a new challenge as it launches a data-driven creative and CRM agency named Performance Art.

Andrea Cook will helm the new IPG agency as CEO, while Ian Mackenzie will serve as CCO and Elizabeth Sellors as COO.

At launch, Performance Art has offices in Montreal, New York and Toronto, with plans for expansion to Europe, Latin America and APAC regions. The agency launches with a founding roster of clients that includes existing FCB clients BMW, CIBC, J&J and Black & Abroad, with which the team behind Performance Art won the Creative Data Grand Prix at Cannes in 2019 for its “Go Back to Africa” tourism campaign, which reframed a racist remark to promote travel to the continent. Cook also tells strategy that the agency recently won its first pitch, to be announced at some point in the near future.

FCB/Six, meanwhile, will remain its own integrated global unit within the FCB network and report to Tina Allan, recently appointed as global partner of data science and connections. On the ground in Canada, the agency has appointed three long-time staff to lead the agency: Priyanka Goswami, SVP, general manager and 1:1 practice lead; Rob Sturch, ECD; and Grace McCann, SVP operations and agency development. They will work closely with Allan, serve on the management teams of both FCB/Six and FCB Canada and report directly to Bryan Kane, president of FCB Canada.

Both FCB/Six and Performance Art are focused on data-driven creativity and CRM, but launching the new group as a specialist agency separate from any other agency network is meant to expand on and work with the existing data and technology expertise across all of IPG, which, according to Cook, is part of “a big bet made on data and tech” by the company.

“[Performance Art] will allow us to take advantage of ‘open architecture’ collaboration to scale and grow faster in support of all of our IPG agencies and clients,” Cook told strategy. “We really have the best of both worlds where we will pitch for our own business and partner closely with a range of IPG companies to build on the company’s foundational data and technology layers at [IPG-owned data and technology companies] Acxiom and Kinesso.”

In launching this specialized agency, IPG is aiming to meet a growing demand in the market.

“Many clients feel they need to choose between high performance and high creative,” Cook says. “We believe, and feel we have a track record of proving, this does not have to be the case. Clients want hard-working, accountable programs that also build their brand. They want platform-level creative ideas that are connected and enable fluidity and effectiveness across the funnel.”

Correction: A previous version of this story stated that FCB/Six’s leadership team had moved to Performance Art, when it is three members of a broader leadership team that remain with FCB Canada. strategy has updated the story and regrets the error.