Veritas Communications has opened an office in Vancouver as part of a move that will help it better service its existing national clients and its new client, Best Buy Canada.
“Vancouver just felt like a natural evolution for Veritas after opening (an office in) Montreal a couple of years ago,” says Veritas president Krista Webster.
Webster says a Vancouver office was required to show Veritas is truly a national agency. While the office has been in the planning stages for about a year, winning the PR account of Burnaby-based Best Buy “just reaffirmed that it’s the right thing to do.”
Veritas had been working with Best Buy on a project basis for the past six months, but the arrangement was formalized at the beginning of the year. The account was previously held by Edelman.
Clients like CBC, Microsoft and Labatt have a strong presence in Vancouver, while the head of marketing for another client, Subway, recently moved from Toronto to Comox, B.C.
While clients did not make it a requirement that Veritas open a Vancouver office, “I really wanted to augment and enhance what we’re able to do with them and with our team in that market,” Webster says.
Currently a one-person shop, the Vancouver office is headed by Brendan Bailey who led his own firm for the past four years. Before that, he was an account manager, senior account coordinator and account coordinator for Citizen Optimum and an assistant account executive for Weber Shandwick. Bailey has worked for clients such as Bell, General Mills, HSBC and McDonald’s.
Veritas has been working with Bailey on a freelance basis for several months. Webster says he is “incredibly sophisticated” about brand-building and “is very scrappy. He gets things done. He’s there for his clients 110% and that level of dedication is rare.”
The Vancouver office will also enhance Veritas’ ability to leverage influencers, Webster says. “We would be arrogant to think that a Toronto agency knows all the top bloggers out west.” When it comes to influencers, local offices “know what works and what doesn’t.”
Bailey is currently working for Veritas out of his condo. However, Webster is planning a trip to Vancouver in March to look for office space and to expand the team.
Initially the office could expand by one or two hires, but the acquisition of a small boutique agency is also possible if it’s the right fit, Webster says.
Veritas, which is a member of the MDC Partners Network, has five employees in Montreal and should have about 70 employees in Toronto by the end of the month.
