L’Institut Idée, the all-star creative reinvention consulting firm founded by Syd Kessler, Wahn Yoon and Sebastien Fauré, has struck a partnership with DDB Canada and investment group Palmer Rogers Encore Ventures to gain a foothold in western Canada.
DDB and Palmer Rogers will give L’Institut access to their national client networks, and provide support to clients that opt to take advantage of L’Institut’s intensive strategic planning services.
L’Institut co-founder and president of Bleublancrouge Sebastian Fauré said the company’s goal in seeking the partnership was to establish itself in Western Canada. He said L’Institut has built a strong client network in Quebec through its ties to Bleublancrouge, and in Ontario through its ties to Wunderkind, Scientific Intelligence and Level5 Strategy.
“Frank Palmer and DDB are really well entrenched in the Vancouver area,” Fauré said. “We wanted to have some good connections with the market movers and shakers in the B.C. area, and Frank Palmer and his team are really a great partner for that.
“We now have coast to coast representation,” he added.
The partnership was led on DDB’s side by chariman/CEO and Palmer Rogers principal investor Frank Palmer, who said in a statement he was impressed by L’Institut’s proprietary planning processes and track record with clients like Audi, Live Nation and Sanofi. Over the past decade, Palmer and Fauré have often collaborated on work for Quebec clients.
This is the second major partnership L’Institut has struck this year, having earlier brought on David Kincaid of Level5 Strategy as business development lead.
“We have three legends, three hall-of-famers in our group — Syd Kessler, David Kincaid and Frank Palmer. So we’re pretty happy,” said Fauré. “You can imagine the meetings!”
