Former Proximity Canada president Adrian Capobianco has been named president of Vizeum Canada, filling a position that has been vacant for several years. His appointment is effective immediately.
Capobianco becomes Vizeum’s first president since Annette Warring left the role (when the company was still known as Genesis Vizeum) to become president of Aegis Media Canada in 2012. Warring is now CEO of Vizeum parent Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) Canada.
Warring told Marketing that Vizeum has had strong leadership in place since its inception, but that the overall DAN network has become larger and more complex – with 13 individual brands now operating under the DAN umbrella.
“The executive leadership team simply doesn’t have the capacity [to manage individual brands] anymore, and we need to make sure we have strong leaders in place,” she said of the decision to hire a president for Vizeum.
Capobianco’s hire follows a five-month search that included candidates from outside of Canada. He was among 10-12 candidates considered for the position, as determined by a search consultancy hired by DAN.
Warring said there was a strong cultural fit with Capobianco, who will work alongside Vizeum’s long-time managing directors: Lisa Hudson in Toronto, Jim Gordon in Vancouver and Marc Hamelin in Montreal.
“Our leaders all work very collaboratively, so having someone with that right fit, both in terms of attitude and aptitude, is really important,” said Warring. “[The managing directors] have been doing an outstanding job in running the offices in each of those markets. They’re thrilled to have Adrian on board and I think it will also bring Vizeum together as a national brand.”
Capobianco joins a network that Paris-based research firm RECMA identified as the world’s fastest-growing agency network in its most recent “Overall Activity Billings” report, with global billings growth of 29.1% in 2014.
“It’s a really exciting time for Vizeum both globally and locally, and Adrian’s role is to grow the business in Canada,” said Warring. “But, more important than that is to really work as a senior thought leader with our clients and our team to build different types of solutions that are going to deliver beyond traditional media solutions.”
Capobianco’s career has been spent largely on the creative/digital side of the industry. Prior to joining Proximity in 2015, he spent two years as GM of digital at Cundari.
He also founded the customer experience agency Quizative, which was acquired by Cundari in 2013, while the early part of his career included stints at Fuse Marketing Group and Publicis.
“We have great people at Vizeum and bringing in someone whose natural instinct is to think about media in the context of creative and brand experiences and technology is really exciting for us and exciting for our team,” said Warring.
“Adrian is a broad thinker, a builder and innovator and will challenge the status quo in a positive way,” she added. “He’s passionate about brands and the potential that communications has to transform businesses.”
Vizeum Canada’s accounts include Sears Canada, A&W, Mr. Lube and Agropur. Last year, it successfully retained the eOne Entertainment account, which Warring called a “significant” piece of business.
