Tadiem is launching a new division called HiFi, which is intended to address the unmet – and specialized – needs it has identified within the financial services sector.

“Market conditions have started to make financial services companies – especially those who typically don’t market at all and relied on their performance to speak for itself – realize that they need to offer something beyond that,” explains Erin O’Connor, managing director and EVP at Tadiem agency Bensimon Byrne, who conceived of and will be leading the new division.

“We have been offering our services to them on an informal basis for a number of years,” she adds. “This is a combination of wanting to formalize that service offering so we could market it to more prospective clients, while responding to the increased demand we’ve seen as we work with more financial services companies and are seeing their more specialized pieces recognizing the importance of building a brand in today’s market.”

Comprised of “a core team made of of a few people within the agency,” the new division will fall under a similar model to health and pharmaceutical specialists, O’Connor says. The team of experts will provide strategy and project management services based on their deep understanding of financial services, and then the division will draw upon the expertise of the almost 200 employees across Tadiem to “cast based on the needs of the client.”

O’Connor herself brings lengthy experience working in the sector alongside brands such as TD Bank, Scotiabank, Tangerine and Great-West Lifeco, and anticipates that the greatest challenge facing the new division will be showing senior executives at some of these brands that there is power in marketing beyond just mass-market campaigns.

“While most agencies are capable of doing communications for mass-market bank accounts or credit cards, there is a level of knowledge, strategy, and creative sophistication needed for the vast group of clients who operate in more specialized areas of finance,” she says. “HiFi is the right partner for those clients.”

Among the division’s foundational clients are the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO, or formalic IIROC and MFDA), Picton Mahoney and Aviso Wealth. HiFi is already working on projects that span from helping to develop an investor day to assisting with a brand redesign. But the division has also seen additional interest from former clients and others in the financial services sector while performing due diligence.

“We spoke extensively with people across the financial services sector, from CEOs and CMOs to fintech founders, and heard overwhelmingly that this model addressed an unmet need for these clients,” explains Sarah Spence, CEO of Tadiem. “With the credibility of 30-plus years of financial services experience across Tadiem, the initial reaction has been very positive.”

“They could immediately see applications for our services within their own businesses,” O’Connor adds. “We see organic growth potential to be very substantial, which is really exciting, especially when you’re launching something brand new.”