“Son, the name Liam just isn’t working with the primary demographic anymore. The data clearly points to Bartholomew highlighting your unique product offering. It might be difficult, at first, but think of the pivot towards Bartholomew as good business.”

ChangeMakers was my firstborn. I was 27 when its first steps were taken. It has taught me about life and the interconnectivity of all people and businesses. We have fought metaphorical wars and climbed metaphorical mountains as a team.

For the vast majority of my career, ChangeMakers was the lighthouse. Together with an incredible team of proud prairie people, we built a substantial footprint, garnering International attention for our work as one of Canada’s best social marketing firms. We won countless awards for creativity, strategy and research. We still have some of the same clients today as we did in 1998 (and many more, too!).

So, why rebrand this child? It was time to grow and reach for new heights. Scale our talent and spread our wings.

We’re driven by purpose and this coming together of talent is very purpose-driven.

Anyone who has done work in this industry for more than a minute knows awards are a fantastic recognition, but that’s not why we do this. Profits matter, but it’s not why we do we do this either. The industry is hyper-competitive and it’s tough slogging. But we do this for the same reason a painter paints or a hockey player skates.

We love it. We love the work.

There’s an endorphin rush when you immerse yourself into a client’s challenges. Mind share or market share, it doesn’t matter. What matters is results.

The reward is watching great strategies lead to great creative and then to great results.

It’s the journey that matters and there is a passion for the process. A glow that tickles the soul when you see evaluation data confirms the team’s hard work.

Earning a good living doing great work with great people is really a magic elixir for fulfillment in our careers. So, when the opportunity to join the Argyle team became real we jumped at it knowing it meant my firstborn was going to take on a new name.

Our values aligned. We liked each other (and still do most days!). Together, there were ever bigger and greater things in our future as well as expanded opportunities for the team.

Merging with Argyle in Toronto and Context in Vancouver and the addition of Matchstick (also in TO) created a world-class team that can thrive in any arena. I was honoured to have the opportunity to align ourselves with such intellectual depth and unrivalled passion for our craft: writers, strategists, designers, digital gurus and proven leadership, all at the ready.

Like most humans, I have an ego (surprise). A bigger stage feeds the egoic monster, but it was far more than vanity at play when deciding to change the firstborn’s name. It was alignment and opportunism.

We are now Argyle. We proudly work from coast-to-coast-to-coast in this country. We’re fiercely independent and a team to back up our claim as one of the best independents in the country.

I believe we do great work for great people. We found partners with the same track record and the same energy which allows us to scale our talents and deepen our impact. Merging these four companies to form the new Argyle truly will enable us to position our clients and their issues to “communicate with confidence.”

Welcome to it. Happy to be here and, I will always love you, Bartholomew.

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