Current SVP and Head of Digital, Erin Jacobson, to Lead the Integrated Client-Service Offering
NATIONAL Toronto has brought its existing Digital, Marketing and Technology practices together for the first time to create a single unified team. The new offering, known as the “DMT” promises to deliver on superior integrated strategy and insight-driven, omnichannel solutions to the complex business challenges of both current and prospective clients.
The collective team continues to provide a full suite of services to NATIONAL’s current roster of premier clients in the tech and telecommunications, automotive, consumer lifestyle, cannabis, consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail categories while focusing on the development of new opportunities across a variety of verticals and platforms.
With a diverse range of skill sets from digital, channel marketing, earned media strategy and relations, paid media, influencer engagement, content and social strategy, community management and SEO/SEM, the DMT delivers on a one-stop shop experience with a best teams approach to strategic thinking and quality execution.
“Aligning these complementary business units will allow us to scale up rapidly to serve Canada’s largest and leading brands while also streamlining work for new clients entering our market,” explains Erin Jacobson, SVP and Practice Lead Digital, Marketing and Technology. “By doubling down on these high-growth practice areas, NATIONAL sends a strong signal both to prospective clients and to the industry that it is investing in the future.”
A proven ‘always-on’ catalyst for growth with more than 12 years of experience developing digital strategies and deploying multi-channel programs that deepen audience engagement that turn interest into loyalty and loyalty into advocacy, Jacobson will oversee the three-prong practice and report directly to NATIONAL’s Managing Partner in Toronto and Chief Digital Strategist, Rick Murray.
Reporting into Jacobson will be three discipline leads, each responsible for driving growth in their respective areas of expertise. The DMT leadership team each had this to say about the Firm’s newest offering and the benefits of the merger:
Lanny Cardow, VP and Head of Digital
- "As clients begin to demand 'digital first' campaigns, forward-thinking agencies are placing digital at the core of their offering. By aligning our Digital team with our Technology and Marketing practices, NATIONAL has gone one better. With this larger, collaborative team, our digital professionals will be able to draw from a deeper bench of in-house talent, from storytelling to building consumer loyalty to helping drive the way we work, live and play.”
Josh Norton, VP and Head of Marketing
- “The clients of today expect real integration and a seamlessness in strategy that blends earned, shared, owned and paid. Our new structure ensures the right team of experts around the table to help them solve any business or brand challenge.”
Megan Shay, VP and Head of Technology
- "Toronto has become known as a world-leading tech and innovation hub, and we’re excited to grow our offering along with it. Data science, storytelling, narrative and social strategy are key to building engagement. From scaling startups to established institutions, we're looking forward to helping our clients grow and reach new audiences in Canada's evolving technology sector."
NATIONAL’s strategic union of the three practice groups represents a significant commitment in the Firm’s future vision.
“NATIONAL Public Relations has always driven change among Canadian agencies,” adds Erin Jacobson. “By combining our forces into a single new business unit, NATIONAL is innovating once again – and, as always, is placing our understanding of what’s best for of our clients (and their businesses) first.”
Left to right: Josh Norton, VP and Head of Marketing, Erin Jacobson, SVP and Practice Lead Digital, Marketing and Technology, Lanny Cardow, VP and Head of Digital and Megan Shay, VP and Head of Technology.