Charlene D’Aoust
Toronto digital marketing and design agency 88 Creative has expanded into public relations.
Erin Bury, managing director at 88 Creative, said when she joined the company in 2013, many PR agencies didn’t offer digital and social as part of their core service offering. “We were able to partner with a lot of these agencies… and send business their way and vice versa,” said Bury. “But we noticed a trend in the last couple years that PR agencies have really branched out and are becoming multi-functional and multi-disciplinary.”
88 Creative had already worked with clients on blogger and influencer programs, but wanted to expand into traditional PR, said Bury, who started her career in PR at Environics and was later director of content and communications at Sprouter. “With my background in PR and clients asking if we can help with PR… I found that I was advising on it all the time and the only thing that we were missing was the execution.”
88 Creative has hired Charlene D’Aoust, formerly an account executive at Maverick, as its first PR manager. “She has great experience,” said Bury, who is one of Marketing‘s 30 Under 30. “I was looking for someone who had not only spent several years in an agency, but who had touched a lot of different areas. 88 Creative is small, so the person who comes in really has to be responsible for everything.”
The agency hopes to add another five staff, including coordinators and account managers, as it secures new business.
88 Creative recently won high-tech lingerie brand Knix Wear and will be handling a design refresh of its online channels, email marketing and social media. “And hopefully eventually adding in some PR,” said Bury.
