Long-time Calgary agency Watermark Advertising Design has a new name and a new business model.
The 28-year-old agency has dropped the “advertising and design” to become simply Watermark, a move that new president and CEO Chris Kneeland said reflects a major shift in strategy.
“That shift is not about what we do and don’t do, but who we do it for,” Kneeland said.
The agency has refined its client list to focus on four industry verticals or “sweet spots” – retail, post-secondary education, entertainment and tourism.
Kneeland, who took over from former owner and CEO Steve Bottoms last fall, said Watermark already has a strong base in retail with clients such as Mark’s (formerly Mark’s Work Wearhouse), Imagewear and the newly won Wholesale Sports. And in line with its new business direction, Watermark has added Hockey Canada’s annual World Junior Hockey Tournament and Kwantlen Polytechnical University in Vancouver to its client roster.
As part of its new business strategy, Watermark is working with other companies that include Calgary-based Creative Intelligence, Suitcase Interactive, Brand Insights and Illumina Research, as well as Expion, a North Carolina company that creates social media management software.
“We approach all potential clients under the Watermark brand,” Kneeland said. “It is sort of like a home builder who sells the house to the buyers and then brings in carpenters and electricians to help build it.”
The collaboration with Expion has resulted in work for the Applebee Restaurant chain in the U.S., in line with another new business strategy of striving for business outside of Canada.
Kneeland, who spent 15 years in marketing and advertising in the U.S. (most recently as senior vice-president of Rapp Retail in Dallas) hopes to bring some former U.S. clients to Watermark.
Asked why he made the move north, Kneeland said taking over at Watermark gave him “a chance to forge out on my own” with an independent agency. He also co-owns the agency with five other long-term Watermark employees who were given the company last year by Bottoms.
“I decided to give it to them rather than sell it to them because the value of a business is in the clients and the people who serve those clients,” said Bottoms. “It was their turn.”
For his part, Bottoms is embarking on “another career” in Calgary pursuing his passion of helping businesses grow through his investment company Aslan Capital Corporation.
