Omnicom’s Red Urban interactive agency group will soon expand into Canada with a Toronto office set to open in “early 2010.”
Mike Jefferies, managing director of the agency’s head office in London, said since he has been encouraging clients to invest during the recession, Red Urban should be willing to do the same.
Canada is a good opportunity for the agency because “Canada has an appetite to do things differently and marketers seem to want something fresh and non-traditional like Red Urban,” he said.
Red Urban calls itself an “open source” agency, which Jefferies describes as a “producer model.”
“Rather than try and build everything in-house, we will work with best-in-class production companies to deliver world-class campaigns for our clients.”
Omnicom already has a significant digital agency presence in Toronto through shops such as BBDO’s Proximity Canada, Tribal DDB and Critical Mass, which it partially owns through its Star Marketing Services Group.
Red Urban launched in Amsterdam in 2001, and has since added offices in Dallas, New York, Munich and London. It was acquired by Omnicom in 2006.
Toronto will have its own profit and loss statement, but will report to Jefferies who, in turn, reports to Jonathan Nelson, Omnicom’s vice-chairman for digital.
A statement issued yesterday lists Guinness, Red Bull, Microsoft and AT&T as clients of the agency.
No Toronto-specific staff or clients have been made public yet.
