History

Cossette's roots go back 45 years when designer Claude Cossette established a graphic design studio in Quebec City.

In 1972, Claude Lessard, a young graduate in business administration only recently hired by the firm, convinced four colleagues to invest in and revitalize the small communications company. From that point forward, Cossette experienced remarkable growth and recognition. The firm opened offices in Montreal (1974), Toronto (1981), and Vancouver (1985). It also created new practices in direct marketing (1979), public relations (1980), graphic design (1981), branding (1985), research (1988), and sponsorships and interactive marketing (1994). Cossette forged strong relationships with major clients during these early years that continue today, including McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada (1977), Bell Canada (1982), General Motors of Canada (1990), Coca-Cola Ltd. (1993) and Dairy Farmers of Canada (since 1995). Cossette also won prestigious awards such as its first Coq d’argent from the Publicité Club de Montréal (1973), and was named Marketing Magazine’s Agency of the Year in Canada for its first time (1991).

In 1999, Cossette reached another turning point. It became a public company to achieve new growth through acquisitions as well as organically. After the acquisition of two small agencies, in Vancouver and Halifax, Cossette looked to extend its reach across North America. In 2001, it acquired a New York advertising agency now known as Cossette Communications. In 2003, Cossette crossed the ocean, establishing a first office in the United Kingdom through the acquisition of Identica, an internationally acclaimed branding and design firm. In 2004, the acquisition of a majority stake in PainePR in Irvine and in Los Angeles, California, further strengthened Cossette’s position in the U.S. and in public relations. 

Then came the 2004 acquisition in the U.K. of Band & Brown, a public relations firm, followed by the aquisition of a majority stake in advertising agency Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy (MCBD) and its direct, promotional and interactive marketing subsidiary, Elvis Communications in 2005. In July 2007, Cossette acquired a majority stake in Dare Digital, a London-based interactive marketing agency. London now offers the convergent platform of Cossette communications services to the U.K. market.
 
More recently, in May 2008, Cossette acquired a majority stake in Rocket XL in Los Angeles, an online marketing firm specialised in word-of-mouth and social media marketing.

In December 2009, after 10 years as a publicly-traded company, the shareholders of Cossette Inc. approved the privatization of the company through a new partnership between a private investment firm, Mill Road Capital L.P., and the senior management team of the company.

At the same time over the years, internal growth and innovation resulted in the creation of many new and state-of-the-art practices including strategic planning, B2B marketing and urban marketing.

Today, Cossette is one of the top communications companies in the world, ranked 31 in Advertising Age’s 2010 World Top 50 Marketing Organizations.