Toronto agency Endeavour Marketing is closing down after eight years, with some of its partners launching a new business, BT/A Advertising.
Endeavour sent clients an email from regional marketing and sales manager Dale Shaughnessy just after noon on Thursday, Feb. 28 that said that the agency would be “rebranding” as BT/A Advertising and moving to a new location on College Street in Toronto.
Meanwhile, a separate letter to creditors signed by Endeavour chairman and majority shareholder Larry Latowsky, also dated Feb. 28, indicated that the company is being “wound up so that the assets can be monetized and distributed to creditors.” The letter indicated that the wind-up process is expected to last between six and eight weeks.
While neither email mentioned a reason for Endeavour’s closure, a report in The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday said Endeavour was recently hit by the loss of major advertising client Entertainment One, which moved its business to Vizeum.
Latowsky could not be reached for comment.
Reached by Marketing on Friday, former Endeavour president Barry Avrich – who launched Endeavour with Latowsky and Tori Laurence in 2005 – said that he left Endeavour before the wind-down process began and was not privy to the agency’s future plans.
Avrich is partnering with Laurence on BT/A (the two first began working together at Echo Advertising about 15 years ago). He said some former Endeavour clients have made the move to BT/A, although he declined to divulge a client list. “I tend to call it a start-up with momentum,” he said. BT/A currently employs around 30 people.
“I decided after eight years that it was time for me to leave and start a new agency, so I had nothing to do with Endeavour’s wind-down,” said Avrich, who was president and a minority shareholder in the agency, which he said had grown to more than 100 employees.
“I’d done eight years and I decided I wanted to take the agency in a different direction, and that it was time for me to leave and do something different on my own.”
Avrich said he had “no idea” about Endeavour’s current status. “I resigned, I left to start a new firm, so I have zero insight into what the plans for Endeavour are… Yes there are some people wondering what’s going on. I get it, but at the same time I’m answering my phone.”
Endeavour grew “somewhat large” with more than 100 employees, which is something Avrich wants to avoid. “I want an agency where I can be incredibly effective for my clients and operate at a boutique level so we can have fun, be creative and not get caught in crazy expansion – which I will not do again.”
