New owners, new creative leadership and a new emphasis on digital
A small London, Ont. agency is thinking big with a new name and new focus. Surge Communications, founded in 1999, is now called AdHome (which appears as adHOME in its branding).
The rebranding represents a shift in direction under owners Mary-Ellen Willard and Mark Brown, former vice-presidents at the agency who purchased the company from founder and CEO Hans Jonckheere in April.
“We were trying to do something with the culture, and we weren’t entirely behind the Surge name,” said Willard. The new identity is “wrapped around the fact that this is our hometown; we both moved back here from living in other cities. A lot of people relocate to this area to start their families. So, we’re creating a real family atmosphere and we look at our clients as being an extension of that family atmosphere as well.”
As part of the culture shift, the 25-person shop is “working on giving back to our community, developing more local talent and partnering with clients that respect those same values that we carry,” added Brown.
But the new identity isn’t just about homegrown values – the owners want to put the new moniker on the map. “The vision of AdHome is to be one of the most recognized agencies across Canada, not just for great creative, but also our strategic thinking.”
Since taking the helm, Brown and Willard have hired veteran creative director Curt Maine and shored up the shop’s digital team with five new staff members. While Surge Communications billed itself as a full-service agency, “only recently have we gotten more focused on digital,” said Willard. “It was more of an add-on, whereas now pretty much all of our programs have some kind of an integrated [element].”
AdHome’s client roster includes Maple Leaf Foodservice, Merial Canada, Roxul, Procter & Gamble, Southwest Ontario Tourism Corporation, TSSA and Western Fair District.
