Paul Little has been named executive creative director and partner at Dare Toronto.
“He was the first call I made,” said Peter Bolt, senior vice-president and managing partner at the agency. “Everywhere he’s gone, his creative work has been top-shelf, country-leading, award-winning work. From everyone I talked to, his reputation was one of a guy who was really good at finding the great ideas, working well with a team and the broader agency.”
Little’s hiring comes approximately one year after he moved from Vancouver to Montreal to take a creative director role at Sid Lee, where he worked on the Dell and Adidas accounts and participated in several new business pitches. Prior to that, he led the creative department at TBWA\Vancouver.
Dare, which is owned by the Quebec City-based Vision 7, launched in Toronto in February without an executive to oversee creative. Pete Breton and Dave Douglass, co-CCOs at Cossette (another Vision 7 agency) had been tapped to fill the role but surprised both agencies by moving to Lowe Roche just before Dare’s Toronto debut.
“I would have loved to be out there winning clients and putting out work in my second week here,” said Bolt. “But it takes the right people. It’s a skills business, and we’re picky… Taking the time to get the right guy was crucial.
“We’ve had a few calls from clients, but I haven’t been active on the new business front because we’ve been putting the team together, with the ECD being crucial within that.”
The agency has been producing work for Diageo’s Bailey’s brand and Kao’s Curel product since February using mostly freelance creatives hired by Bolt.
For his part, Little seems undaunted by the agency’s delayed start. “We’ve got to do a lot of work to get the critical mass we need to get going, but that’s an exciting opportunity,” he told Marketing.
The agency is still looking to fill a senior account planning role.
