It took only an hour-long meeting for Loopmedia founder and president Sonja Perovic to come to the conclusion that Jason Theodor and William Morassutti were the right people to oversee the company’s newly created content marketing division.
Jason Theodore
“When we met, we just knew it was right,” said Perovic of the Toronto company’s newest hires. “We moved through what was my one idea and it became a hub of ideas. Sometimes you can’t do anything but say it was chemistry.
“I know in my heart this is the right way forward.”
Both men have been given vice-president, executive director titles with Loopmedia, with Theodor in charge of strategy and creative, Morassutti responsible for content and editorial.
Both are highly regarded in their respective discipline. Morassutti’s resume includes a stint as founding editor of Canadian men’s magazine Toro and its web-only successor ToroMagazine.com, followed by subsequent content marketing roles with the Toronto Star’s Star Content Studios and Venture Communications.
Theodor’s career, meanwhile, includes stints as creative director with Publicis, senior CD with Blast Radius, and CD, interactive with Grey Canada. He has also worked with OgilvyInteractive and MacLaren McCann.
“Their brand alone is very powerful, and when they make a phone call people answer,” said Perovic.
William Morassutti
Loopmedia’s background is in network branding and graphics for TV specials and shows including CTV’s Spun Out and Hockey Night in Canada, but Perovic had been contemplating adding a content marketing division since 2012.
“I looked at where everything was going with digital, the growth we were experiencing in that area and just the amount of video content people were asking for, and realized that we really needed to pay attention to this growing market of video content,” she said.
The new content division officially launched June 1, with Perovic saying that some projects already in the pipeline prior to Theodor and Morassutti’s arrival – including an undisclosed government assignment – have now formally closed.
Loopmedia joins a growing number of companies entering the content marketing space, although Perovic said that LoopMedia’s in-house production expertise and capabilities distinguish it from its rivals.
The company’s staff includes live-action directors, designers, 3D animators and illustrators, while Perovic noted that it has a strong pedigree in several key marketing sectors, including automotive, beauty and broadcast.
Theodor said the new content marketing division is employing a “start-up mentality” despite having access to decades of experience. “We’re not sitting in an ivory tower telling people what to make,” he said. “We’re in front of clients and building things with them.”
A veteran presenter who has spoken at events including IAB MIXX, NxNEi and Verge, Theodor said that he’s comfortable acting as one of the public faces of the new entity.
Perovic said the content team is currently making anywhere from three to four pitches a day, with clients often soliciting multiple pieces of content. “People are asking for multiple pieces of video,” she said. “You can’t just come and place one piece of new content and think you’re good for the next quarter. People need to be engaged in this always-on world.”
Morassutti said that that Loopmedia’s objective is to pull people towards content rather than interrupting them like traditional ad messages. “We’re looking to be a magnet for consumers with really interesting, lively of-the-moment content,” he said.
While Loopmedia is rooted in video content, he said that it’s important for the company to come to the table with multi-platform solutions spanning multiple disciplines. “Clients are all different, their business objectives are all different – some client might actually need a print magazine, or a video channel or a really robust digital magazine that has visual storytelling.
“To be a proper content solutions provider, you have to have expertise right across the board,” he added. “With this team I cannot think of something we could not produce here.”
