Edelman Toronto is making big investments in talent on the planning and creative side.
Lisa Bednarski has joined the agency as SVP, planning. She has more than 20 years of experience in the PR industry, including nearly 10 years at Weber Shandwick, where she was executive VP, brand strategy and insights.
Bednarski is the latest addition to Edelman Toronto’s planning and creative team, which has added six new hires in the last month alone. Back in May, Jordan Doucette, former executive creative director at Taxi, joined Edelman as executive creative director.
The new hires “mark the emergence of Edelman as a communications marketing firm with strong planning and creative capabilities,” said Toronto general manager Lisa Kimmel, in a release. “We’ve made it a priority to bring together smart, creative people from many different backgrounds to provide a suite of skills in a number of key specialties to our clients.”
Greg Bolton, former group creative director at Leo Burnett, was hired as creative director. He has a solid background in digital, having also worked at digital shops Henderson Bas, Organic and Teehan + Lax.
Leilah Ambrose and Matt Smith join Edelman as associate creative directors. Both were former associate creative directors as Taxi. Camille Clark joins as director, creative production. Hira Gomes, former art director at Taxi, joins Edelman as art director. And Scott Tavener, a seasoned freelance writer who joined Edelman on contract last year, is now a full-time copywriter at the agency.
“I’m happy and lucky to have this team,” Doucette told Marketing, adding that her number-one priority when she came to Edelman was to help build its creative offering. And whether clients are looking for paid media, earned media or PR, “there’s an opportunity to infuse creative thinking.”
