KBS+ Toronto has launched Cause Company, a new social and cause marketing division that aims to drive positive social change through strategy, creative and invention.
KBS+ will officially open its new division Wednesday during an event at its Toronto office. The announcement will coincide with the launch of the “Global Citizen” brand in Canada, a client project the agency has been working on for several months.
“Global Citizen” is the flagship initiative of the Global Poverty Project, an NGO whose mission is to grow the number and effectiveness of “global citizens” to achieve the public, business and political commitment needed to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030.
According to KBS+, Cause Company will focus on marketing initiatives and creative campaigns for non-profit organizations, profit-driven businesses with charitable projects and governmental initiatives.
KBS+ has worked for socially minded clients in the past such as World Vision Canada, Cancer Care Ontario, The Grocery Foundation and The Keg Spirit Foundation.
“What we’re doing is essentially branding an existing portfolio of work, and honing in on expertise that we’ve had for some time but now choosing to invest in it further and brand it as such,” said Marie Magnin, group account director at KBS+. “We’ve been working on social marketing clients for a long time, and this is really just an opportunity for us to package it up and present it to the market.”
According to KBS+ president Nick Dean, the goal of Cause Company is to “create a sustainable business unit within the overall agency. It will be for-profit, this division, so we obviously want to make it sustainable and profitable, and we ultimately want it to grow… We’d love to serve a number of Canadian and international non-profit organizations.”
Wednesday’s event will be hosted by Capital C founder Tony Chapman (who stepped down when it merged with KBS+ in July), who has been a member of the Canadian Board of the Global Poverty Project for several years.
Guests will be asked to join the movement by signing up at GlobalCitizen.org and encouraged to take a photo for the #ShowYourSelfie campaign, which calls on world leaders to prioritize the rights of young people.
Attendees will also have an opportunity to win a trip to New York City to attend the 2014 Global Citizen Festival on September 27.
