When Pierre-Luc Paiement left CF Montreal in 2020 to co-found his creative content agency, Frank, he couldn’t have anticipated how long the COVID-19 pandemic would last.

The agency, which is based out of Montreal, was conceived a few months before the pandemic began. It launched in June 2020, just a few short months into the new reality. “Obviously, that brought some uncertainty, but it also created major opportunities as mostly all businesses switched their focus to digital platforms and our philosophy is mostly driven by a social media first approach, where many people spend most of their attention today,” Paiement tells strategy. “We felt there was a limited offer in the market in terms of balancing arts and science in creative platform development.”

The agency has grown during the pandemic, acquiring clients such as tonic maker 1642, for which it handles social media, and Radio Canada, for which it handles PR and content strategy. Over the course of the pandemic, the agency has grown to a headcount of 15 full-time employees.

It has also just won a new assignment with hockey equipment manufacturer CCM through an RFP. Frank will help the company develop upcoming communications campaigns that will run across platforms in North America and Europe, where the agency also has a presence in France. That assignment is open-ended, with the first work expected to hit the market in summer 2023.

“Our job is to create strong emotional connections between CCM and their audiences through the information that digital data provides us and the creativity of our teams, while exploiting the full potential of the different platforms on which hockey players consume their content,” explains Paiement. “On the business front, it’s a great brand with a solid internal marketing team who have a great vision that will allow Frank to create engaging content for a passionate audience at the global stage and work hard to maintain and reinforce CCM’s leadership position.”