Agency veterans Carolyn Kilbourne and Lauren Wasley have launched a new PR shop in Toronto called Carlaw Communications and have signed Southpaw Beverage Company as their first client.
“We’re both entrepreneurial and we’re just really, really excited to be out on our own,” says Kilbourne.
Partners Kilbourne and Wasley have 30 years of combined communications experience and worked together at Energi PR, where Kilbourne was vice-president of the consumer practice and Wasley was a creative, media and PR strategist.
Before that, Kilbourne was a partner and vice-president at Media Profile, where she worked for 16 years, and Wasley was at Lex PR for four years.
Carlaw – a combination of both of their names – will offer everything from traditional PR to social media and media training. It’s currently acting as a virtual agency.
“There’s just the two of us (so) we can be very flexible and agile,” says Kilbourne, who is optimistic the agency will increase in size soon. “Because we don’t have really high overhead in the way of office and rental, we can pass those savings on to our clients.”
Carlaw will be handling the launch of Southpaw’s Heroes beer this spring, which Kilbourne says is targeting “a completely unique niche market.” The blonde lager is being marketed to everyday heroes in Canada, such as first responders, and is supporting the Royal Canadian Legion.
Kilbourne has known Southpaw’s chief beverage officer Murray Milthorpe for more than 20 years. Milthorpe used to work at Kellogg’s Canada and was a client when Kilbourne was at Media Profile.
“Carolyn and Lauren have exceptional knowledge of the communications landscape in Canada and we are thrilled to have such like-minded and entrepreneurial partners,” Milthorpe said in a statement.
Carlaw is also doing project work for other clients that Kilbourne would not name.
