Montreal-based marketing and branding firm BrandBourg is joining the Humanise Collective.
The move brings BrandBourg’s deep expertise in branding and brand architecture into the Humanise fold, adding a new skill set to the Collective’s overall offering that it didn’t initially possess, according to Humanise Collective co-founder and CEO of member agency Bleublancrouge, Sébastien Fauré.
“Most agencies can do branding and create brands, but managing a portfolio of them and evolving them properly requires a deeper knowledge of the field,” he explains.
In addition to their branding expertise, BrandBourg brings “a group of seasoned, senior people with client experience in different sectors” into the Collective, Fauré says. “This is a way for us to expand our client base by tapping into some experts from different fields.”
One such field is packaged goods, where much of BrandBourg’s experience lies – it has worked with major players in the sector, including Bimbo Canada (which owns the Vachon, Villagio, Hostess and Stonemill brands) and Lactalis Canada (Astro, Lactancia, Black Diamond, Cheestrings and Beatrice, work for which is pictured above).
For BrandBourg, the arrangement gives them access to additional talent to help meet new mandates and seize new opportunities.
“We often say that size does not matter, but sometimes it does. From their point of view, there was an opportunity to go further and faster, with a group that thinks alike,” Fauré explains. “Our collective model, which is very entrepreneurial, lets them do their own thing, but team up when pertinent and necessary. It gives them that latitude, but also the liberty they want to protect.”
BrandBourg joins a roster of agencies that already includes Bleublancrouge, as well as Alice & Smith, Fieldtrip, Glassroom, L’institut Idée, Tulipe, U92, and Youville Haussmann Park. The Collective now has nearly 320 employees in its Montreal and Toronto offices.