Camp Jefferson’s Peter Bolt.
Vision7 is establishing a new base camp in Toronto’s Liberty Village area, rebranding its Dare Toronto operation as a full-service creative shop called Camp Jefferson.
The new agency was formally introduced Monday, ahead of a planned move to a new 7,000 square-foot office in the growing agency hub situated in the city’s west end.
Camp Jefferson will retain Dare’s clients, which include Coca-Cola, NHL, Great West Life, KAO Brands and Penguin Books, while Koodo – the account Vision7 won in a review last year – will round out the roster. Dare/Camp Jefferson formally took the reins of the telco assignment at the beginning of the year.
Peter Bolt will head the 24-person shop, retaining the senior vice-president, managing partner title he held at Dare. Camp Jefferson has added approximately six new employees in the past six months, and Bolt is still looking to fill what he described as “key” positions in areas including creative, strategy and analytics.
“We’re in a position where we’ve got some nice momentum, so we’re making sure we staff the agency with the right kind of people,” he said.
The new name is a nod to the agency’s home on Liberty Village’s Jefferson Ave., while Vision7’s senior leadership also liked the association with camp as a welcoming, friendly environment where attendees learn, explore and grow, said Bolt.
The goal for Camp Jefferson, he said, is to be nimble and agile, avoiding what he called “typical agency conventions” from a process or structural basis. Camp Jefferson will provide clients with access to senior leadership and build on its forerunner’s acumen in the digital, social and mobile space, he said.
Vision7 originally launched Dare Toronto in 2012, two years after the agency brand’s Vancouver debut. The Toronto rebrand has no impact on Dare’s operations in Vancouver, Los Angeles and London, and the new agency will maintain existing relationships with other Vision7 shops including Cossette Media and Citizen Relations.
Bolt said Camp Jefferson would continue to build on Dare’s knack for attracting clients looking to outsmart rather than outspend their competitors. “[They are] clients who understand that the best ‘advertising’ these days often doesn’t resemble advertising at all,” said Bolt.
He said Camp Jefferson is committed to being as fluent with digital, social and mobile technology as it is with core agency pillars of brand strategy and traditional advertising development. “That’s at the core of what we recognize senior marketers are crying out for and what we’ve developed,” said Bolt.
Camp Jefferson is currently active in pitches, though Bolt said it would pursue specific types of assignments.
“If you’re a client that has tons of money and…you’ve got a program in place, there are probably other agencies better suited to serving you,” he said. “Where we have a particular niche is really helping clients whose brands maybe have some unrealized potential…and have that mindset of ‘I want to outsmart versus outspend.’”
