Vincor Canada has named Toronto firm Narrative Advocacy Media as its public relations agency of record following a competitive review.
Narrative, a subsidiary of Toronto advertising agency Bensimon Byrne, was one of four agencies that pitched for the account in July. The PR shop now represents all 13 of Vincor’s national wine brands, including Jackson-Triggs and Inniskillin.
Although Bensimon Byrne won the advertising account for the Jackson-Triggs brand earlier this year, Diana Pawlik, vice-president of marketing for Vincor Canada, said the presence of Narrative’s parent company in Vincor’s agency roster was not a major factor.
“It’s completely independent, but in the case of Jackson-Triggs there are going to be tremendous synergies,” said Pawlik. “It’s of a bonus, really. [Narrative] has rigor, diligence and insight and they really brought that to the table.”
Narrative included B.C.-based public relations shop Kate Colley Communications in its pitch. The latter company will partner with Narrative on the Vincor account, focusing particularly on representing Vincor’s VQA wines in the Western Canadian market.
“They identified that because of Kate’s presence in the market, having Kate on their team would be so much more impactful for how we needed to approach our business,” said Pawlik. “We really commended them for that insight.”
Amanda Alvaro, managing director at Narrative, said the Vincor account is a gateway into new categories for the agency, which opened in 2007.
“We’ve done a good job in the last four years building our portfolio of clients to include a really nice cross-section, from mobile to finance to consumer brands and health care and government,” said Alvaro. “We really wanted, over the next 12 months, to move into more lifestyle brands.
“Vincor offered the first really big opportunity to do that.”
