Industry Spotlight Series: Panel Event with Creative Agencies

Target audience: Undergraduate and graduate-level students and alumni interested to learn more about a career in a creative agency
Fast-paced, creatively charged, and full of energy - that's how most would describe typical creative agency jobs.
The world's top agencies thrive on innovation and creativity. Land a role in one and you'll rapidly accelerate your learning, pick up new skills, and work with some of the world's biggest brands. Our five participating firms work with clients such as Sephora, Ubisoft, Mercedes-Benz, BRP, Kraft, IKEA, WestJet, Gouvernement du Québec, TELUS, McDonald's, BDC, and SO many more.
But how do you go about finding a job at a creative agency? What is agency life like? What do top agencies look for in their hires?

Attend the Industry Spotlight Series: Panel Event with Creative Agencies where senior leaders fromA2C, Blueblancrouge (BBR), Cossette, Sid Lee, Rethink, and Cartier will answer these questions and provide tips and tricks for landing your first creative agency job.

DOMINIQUE VILLENEUVE, President, and CEO, Association of Creative Communications Agencies (A2C)
Dominique Villeneuve is the head of A2C, where she leads a variety of initiatives to mobilize stakeholders within Quebec's marketing communications industry to ensure its vitality and excellence. She has, in fact, overseen several key projects in the industry, such as the Idéa Awards, the Agency Selection Guide, the Leaders' Summit, the Hall of Fame, and most recently the Mouvement média d'ici. Dominique is a member of the board of directors of Ad Standards and the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada.

FRANCE WONG, VP, Managing Director, Bleublancrouge
With an honors bachelor's degree in commerce/marketing from Concordia University, France jumped into advertising after winning the Concours de la Relève publicitaire. She began her career in account services at Cossette Communication-Marketing, where she worked on several accounts, including McDonald's. After six years spent honing her communication skills, she made the leap to Lg2, and later joined Sid Lee in 2007. There, she spent 12 years helping to transform various top brands and contributing to the success of numerous campaigns for Loto-Québec, IGA, and Lowe's (RD and Rona). In 2019, she took on the challenge of leading Bleublancrouge as VP, Managing Director.
With more than 20 years of experience in advertising/communications, France is recognized as an advocate and true believer in the creative output of an agency and her engagement in finding innovative solutions for her partners and clients. She engages and mobilizes her troops in reaching new heights and growth for their clients and their brands.

KATIA AUBIN, VP, Global Communications and Brand, Sid Lee
 As Sid Lee's VP of Global Communications and Brand, Katia knows the key to success in a creative industry is cultivating and nurturing human relationships. She's a bright and diligent strategist who designs engaging, inspiring and forward-thinking communications and storytelling and carves out space for new voices. In her six years at Sid Lee, she has led a diverse team that contributes to progressive projects recognized at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the One Show and Fast Company's World Changing Ideas Awards and stories that have garnered coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, the Atlantic and the Verge. On her own time, she loves to play (all kinds!) of hockey and finally putting the last piece in a tough puzzle.

PASCAL ROUTHIER, Head of Strategy, Rethink
 During his fifteen years as a curious marketer, Pascal has touched several disciplines, including product development, sales, branding, communications, and consumer research (although he truly dislikes the word "consumer"). In parallel to his role as Head of Strategy at Rethink in Montréal, Pascal also teaches marketing communications at HEC Montréal, where he tries to demystify a fast-evolving discipline to students who all have ad-blockers.

LUIS AREAS, Executive Director, Channel Strategies and Business Development, Partner, Cartier
Taking risks. Daring to dare. That's what drives Luis on a daily basis. And when you understand the mechanisms of integrated media strategies as well as he does, you can get away with it. You could even call it crucial. By mastering the management of both traditional and digital channels, Luis makes himself the architect of a media ecosystem that connects the brand to its target groups.
 Throughout his professional career, Luis has distinguished himself by developing media strategies for clients of every size, in every industry and aimed at very different markets. Notably, he has worked on accounts such as Air Canada, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, the Société Radio-Canada, Labatt, FCA (Chrysler) and Tel-jeunes. He has won numerous local and international awards, among them the Prix Média, the Media Innovation Awards and the Cannes Lion. He is constantly pushing his limits and those of the people with whom he works.
 Holding a bachelor's degree in business administration from HEC Montréal, Google AdWords and Google Analytics certified, as well as Facebook Business Manager, Luis is renowned for his strategic vision and his thirst for knowledge.  His passion for creativity that performs has led him to solutions that go off the beaten track, all the while keeping focused on business objectives. Being able to make the leap from simple connections to creative connections means being able to make an optimal impact for the brand. He knows how to develop and manage a media strategy that will distinguish you from your competition, all the while staying the course when it comes to a positive ROI (measurable and quantifiable).

CHRIS BERGERON, VP, Inclusive Creativity, Cossette (elle/she/her)
 Chris enjoyed a successful career as a journalist with major media outlets including Voir, La Presse, and Radio-Canada.  She made the jump to advertising ten years ago. She has worked for Sid Lee as a creative director and for Cossette as Vice-Président of Content Experience. 
 Chris came out as a trans woman six years ago. Her transition profoundly changed her view of agency life and of what good leadership means. Both at home and abroad, Chris actively promotes diversity, inclusion, and the rights of transgender people by sharing her story on the public stage and working hard to lift the systemic barriers that still exist in her industry. In this spirit, she now serves as VP of Inclusive Creativity at Cossette. In 2020 she was named "Champion of diversity" by Adweek.
 Her award-winning advertising portfolio includes work with major brands such as McDonald's Canada, Reitmans, Vachon, Destination Canada, General Mills, GM, and L'Oréal Paris. Valide, her first novel was released in Québec this year and was listed by Radio-Canada, Le Devoir and La Presse as one of the year's must reads. Valide is nominated for the Prix du Premier Roman Lectures Plurielles and will be released in France, English Canada and the United States within the next 18 months. Her long-term dream is to become a full-time author.

Hosted by John Molson Career Management Services (CMS), John Molson Marketing Association (JMMA), and the key industry association A2C.