A shift towards “precision marketing” and the growth of its content and design arms has led to Juniper Park\TBWA bringing on more than two dozen new faces.

The growth in recent months is being attributed to new client work, especially when it comes to “recovery-and-revival efforts” in response to the pandemic. These projects include this year’s virtual Canadian Cancer Society CIBC Run For The Cure, as well as the launches from Cadillac Fairview’s Ravel by CF innovation division, the rebrand of Groupe Média TFO,and soon-to-launch work for Sweet n’ Nice ice cream. Jill Nykoliation, CEO at Juniper Park\TBWA, adds that the growth is also attributable to a transformation focused on delivering precision marketing – which the new talent will help “fast-forward” – as well as growth in content production through Bolt Content and design with Le Parc. The agency also says that a very limited number of “talent adjustments” have had to be made because of this shift and, indirectly, the impacts of the pandemic, but says it has not had to make “a large number” of these decisions.

She also says the hires are part of a commitment to having a more diverse agency. One third of the new hires are BIPOC, one quarter originate from another country and two-thirds are women. Nykoliation says that since it took “deliberate action” following movements like MeToo and Time’s Up, 57% of its agency and 50% of its leadership team are now women, and hopes to ensure further racial diversity at the agency with a similar commitment. Currently, 42% of employees were born in another country, and “is above average with the Canadian national statistics on visible minorities.”

In the strategy department, the agency has added Aviva Frenkel as VP and director of strategy. Like recently hired chief strategy officer Dustin Rideout, Frenkel joins from McCann Canada, where she worked with clients such as Nestle and co-authored the agency’s Truth About Canadian Women study.

A number of other senior staff have joined Juniper Park’s strategy department, including director of strategy Shipra Chauhan and director of strategic planning Julien Coulter. In recent months, it has also hired customer journey and communications planner Matthew Wright and new strategist Glenesha Grant. In the media department, David Udolloress has been hired from OMD as group director of media strategy, who will lead the agency’s precision-led media strategy, a function that is fully integrated with the agency’s marketing science team.

On the content team, the agency has hired Nadia Dunn (formerly of Union and Leo Burnett), who will lead in-house production arm Bolt Content as executive producer, working closely with Steve Emmens, managing director of integrated production. The division has also built up its talent with the hiring of Cynthia Cyr as senior integrated producer and Eleanor Strelkov as content producer.

In the creative department, Juniper Park\TBWA has hired the creative team of John Ricciardella (from Rethink) and Dylan Verwey (from Zulu Alpha Kilo). It has also brought on Hayley Hewitt as director of creative operations, with Alison Parke joining as creative coordinator.

In response to an influx of projects, the agency has also add nine to its client service team. These include Matt Barnes as senior account director and Mathieu Khaled as account director, as well as account executives Paige Mackey, Zain Kazi and Aida Haddad, and account coordinators Carly Livingston, Carla Gomez and Sara Thibeau. It has also hired Gaya Ravi as its newest project manager.

Rounding out the new talent is Alex James, the agency’s new director of finance and operations, who joins alongside Johnathon Luu, accounts payable administrator, and Presheta Shilesh, client finance analyst.