Two Maritime agencies have merged to create Bonfire Communications, a new integrated agency looking to secure a large chunk of the east coast’s marketing business.
Redgate Communications and Lise Hansen Design announced Monday the creation of Bonfire, which is based in Saint John, N.B. Redgate principal Allan Gates said the new agency will fill a gap that’s been left by the closing of several regional agencies over the past few years, including Bristol Group, SGCI and Colour‘s New Brunswick operations.
“There have been some changes in the agency scene in New Brunswick and the Maritimes in the past few years,” Gates said. “There’s an opportunity to come in and help fill that gap that was left, [and] be that lean and mean agency that can provide high-end services at a reasonable price.”
Both Gates and Hansen are bringing clients to the new agency, including Health and Life Science New Brunswick, the New Brunswick Pharmaceutical Society and the Worker’s Compensation Board of Nova Scotia.
Gates said Bonfire plans to go after several New Brunswick-based companies in the consumer space, as well as many of the tech startups that have recently opened in the province, pointing out that several Maritime companies such as Q1 Labs (acquired by IBM in 2011) and Radian6 (acquired by SalesForce.com that same year) have had major success. Before starting her own design firm last summer, Hansen was the senior art director for Radian6, one of Redgate’s former clients.
“There’s a surprisingly vibrant startup scene here in New Brunswick,” Gates said. “We think there is a real opportunity to work with the startup community and help them tell their stories and articulate their offerings.”
