TBWA Canada is shaking up its Toronto office with some key promotions in its creative and technology areas.
The changes come after global parent company Omnicom Group acquired Toronto’s Juniper Park amid a structural reorganization.
In fact, it was only a week ago that TBWA Canada’s president Jay Bertram told Marketing he was coming back to Toronto from the U.S. in order to run the business at home.
Previously, Bertram had been steering operations for both Latin American and Canadian markets out of the company’s Miami office.
“I found myself being split between two lovers and I think it’s fair to say I wasn’t doing enough service for Canada,” he said at the end of March. “I’m back to trying to get us growing again, winning new business and awards.”
Bertram is wasting little time.
He announced Susie Lee is now the creative director of design, while Calvin Daniels will lead the firm’s client services.
Meanwhile, Darrin Patey has been hired as the agency’s lead creative technologist.
“Darrin will be responsible for bringing new technologies, platforms, and devices to life for our existing and future clients,” said a company press release.
Patey recently worked on the launch of Roger’s Shomi platform, and has also contributed to several BBDO/Proximity Canada campaigns.
“Our office is on an incredible roll,” said Bertram, Thursday.
“This is where we belong, and intend to stay. TBWA is stronger than ever and I have never been more excited about our future.”
Key clients for TBWA Canada include Petro Canada, Nissan and Gatorade.
In March, Omnicom—the multi-tentacled holding company—folded Toronto-based Juniper Park into TBWA Worldwide’s operations, as president and CEO Troy Ruhanen reshapes the business along specialty lines rather than national ones.
“Instead of being generalists, we’ll be specialists with a critical area of focus,” said Ruhanen last week, adding that the moves are intended to make each office more “entrepreneurial.”
TBWA Worldwide operates in 97 countries and employs 11,100 staff.
