Having acquired Winnipeg-based Vantage Studios earlier this year, integrated brand development and digital agency ClarkHuot is continuing its Canadian expansion with the acquisition of Casco Design. Casco Design president Diego Casco will become managing director for Toronto.
ClarkHuot’s executive creative director, Edmond Huot, said the addition is a strategic step toward expanding the agency’s growing network. “We know that we need to be in Toronto,” he said. “We want to build and recruit. We’re also looking to find other firms in Toronto that might be a good fit.”
Huot noted that the account of Island Air, a Hawaiian airline, will now be handled out of Toronto. ClarkHuot also has an office in Honolulu.
The acquisition took about nine months to finalize, said Casco.
Huot said he sees clients facing challenges when it comes to going digital and building innovative, non-traditional platforms, and that bringing Casco on board will help remedy those challenges, given his experience with branding and creative design. Casco Design has worked with clients such as Ontario Gaming Lottery Slots and Casinos, University of Waterloo Planner’s Alumni, Toronto Grace Health Centre Foundation and Woodbine Entertainment Group.
“I really respect what he’s been doing,” said Huot of Diego Casco. “His stylistic outlook, level of expertise and experience and connections in Toronto and Costa Rica will fit nicely into our bigger plan.”
ClarkHuot has plans to work in Costa Rica, where Casco Designs already operates, with hopes of being settled there officially in the next year.
Of the acquisition, Casco said “it was definitely a good fit for us. It’s a way of fulfilling our vision—of growing and building this network of talent and agencies in different locations, so that we can reach a broader market. We are looking for the opportunity to work with clients that see Toronto as a launch pad, because of our global reach. There’s a much bigger market here that can be explored and leveraged.”
