Ever since he was a kid, Guillaume Mathieu considered advertising a dream job. “It was just something that fascinated me,” says Mathieu, who was captivated by the profession’s mix of business and creative.
The dream for the Montreal-area native turned to reality shortly after he graduated from Drexel University in Philadelphia and landed a job at Cossette in Quebec City in 2007, briefly as a coordinator before becoming an account executive and eventually transferring to the Montreal office.
The Quebec City experience gave Mathieu the chance to work on major accounts as part of a small team, and to even lead strategy for clients like the poultry brand Exceldor. “I was a kid, but working on the insurance company SSQ, Metro and Sepaq. I was going on set for TV shoots by myself.”
In 2013, Mathieu decided to explore the client side of the business and became a brand manager at Agropur, where he was in charge of digital for its Natrel brand. A year later,
Melanie Dunn, (president of Cossette Quebec at the time and now president and CEO of Cossette Canada) came calling with the job of creating a new agency for the Quebec market.
Mathieu answered and now heads K-72, the new Vision 7 shop in Montreal that launched officially in April and is seen as the little sister of Cossette (pronounced in French, K-72 sounds like Cossette 2).
As senior director, account services and strategy, Mathieu, 29, oversees a team of 12 in Montreal and Quebec City. In its short lifespan, K-72 has landed accounts like insurance firm Promutuel, home improvement chain BMR, Quebec creative for Koodoo and more are in the works. “I’m pretty proud of the fact that we’re gaining many accounts under my leadership,” Mathieu says.
“Directing a shop at his age is out of the ordinary,” says Katia Robillard, vice-president, public relations and marketing communications at Citoyen Optimum, another Vision 7 agency. But “he’s a dynamic young person with lots of ambition,” says Robillard, who has worked with Mathieu on accounts like Exceldor. She cites his 360 degree vision and his sharp focus on helping clients reach their communication goals.
Mathieu says he’s proud to have obtained the confidence from upper management to create an agency from scratch. “I want to make sure we make our mark. I want us to become an important player in the industry.
