Fresh on the heels of its recent merger announcement, Winnipeg-based agency ClarkHuot/Cocoon has appointed two key leaders for its new senior team. Chuck Phillips will be creative director leading the agency’s creative department, and Mark Reimer has been appointed lead strategist.
Mark Reimer, left, and Chuck Phillips
Phillips had previously been creative director at Cocoon Branding, where he worked on campaign concepts and digital creative for a wide range of clients, including Scotiabank, Grant’s Blended Scotch Whisky and Red Bull.
“His strength as a creative director is in driving campaign ideas,” said Edmond Huot, the agency’s executive creative director and partner. “We’re also looking to see some amazing work from him in some of the sponsorship work we do.”
Reimer was a staffer at Clark + Huot whose recent projects included developing strategy for brands such as Payworks, Pavilion Financial Corporation and Javelin Logistics.
Huot said Reimer had been “spearheading the digital, social, brand integration side of the business. He’s a young guy, very smart and just innately curious. He brings that personal level of interest and knowledge to the table, combined with experience working with brands on the content strategy side and social marketing.”
Huot expects Phillips and Reimer to be a strong team. “Chuck and Mark both have impressive backgrounds of talent and they work very well together,” said Huot. “We want to use their strength, and the overall merger, as a platform for securing more Canadian business across the country.”
One of the primary goals of January merger was to strengthen the agency’s position throughout Canada. The company also plans to have a wider, more diverse reach in terms of type of business: “We are not satisfied with just working in one area – we want to be multi-disciplinary,” said Huot. “We want to be an integrated media-neutral approach: content first, where concepts are driving solutions.”
They’re particularly hoping to strengthen their position in digital leadership. “So we’re looking at social media, content strategy, brand integration – transmedia solutions that are moving us forward beyond a traditional approach,” said Huot.
Over the next few months, we can expect to hear about more appointments and developments from the newly merged agency, according to Huot. “This is just the beginning,” he said. “We’re very excited about what’s on our plate. There’s a renewed energy and spirit. Sometimes it takes shaking things up a bit and then beginning to move forward again, and I think that’s where we’re at.”
