Cossette Strengthens its Strategy Team with Global Hires

Cossette, Canada’s largest integrated
À creative agency, is excited to announce the addition of three senior international hires to its award-winning Strategy team.

Joining as Head of Strategy is Max Keane. Originally from the UK, Keane will head up a 25-strong Toronto Strategy team and lead planning for McDonald’s Canada and TD. Also joining the team as Senior Strategy Directors are Australia-native Sohail Bhatia and Geraldine Tixier from France/Ireland. 

Max Keane joins Cossette from Arnold Worldwide in the U.S. where, as SVP and Director of Brand Strategy, he led the agency’s strategic output for clients including Barclays and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention - which notably resulted in the multi-Effie Award-winning “Quit Smoking” campaign. Prior to Arnold Worldwide, Keane was Head of Planning at Leo Burnett London where he was entrusted with the strategic leadership of McDonald’s UK & Global, and won a number of effectiveness awards including the coveted long-term “sustained success” Effie for his work on the brand. 

Sohail Bhatia joins Cossette from Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (BSSP) in San Francisco where he oversaw strategic planning for Mitsubishi Motors North America and City of Hope, one of the top cancer research hospitals in the U.S. Prior to BSSP, Bhatia held various strategic planning roles in his native Australia including DDB, Clemenger BBDO, as well as at Fallon and adam&eveDDB in the U.K. While at adam&eveDDB, Bhatia was part of the first and only Planning team to win ‘Agency of the Year’ at IPA, Effies and the Cannes Festival of Creativity, all in the same year.

Originally from France, Geraldine Tixier is a bilingual strategist with experience at some of the world’s leading agencies including TWBA\Dublin and DDB Paris. She started at creative shop AgenceV, where she worked with iconic brands including Volkwagen, match.com Europe, or L’Occitane en Provence. At DDB Paris, she was a key strategy partner for big international brands within Johnson&Johnson, PepsiCo and Unilever portfolios. Most recently, she led the strategy behind the pitch that resulted in a new business win with Yves Rocher and was leading the strategy for Hennessy, namely Ridley Scott’s X.O. campaign, which was also awarded at Cannes. 

These new hires come off the back of hires to strengthen the strategy department midway through last year with the addition of Mac MacBeath from VCCP in London and Robyn Hutman from Ogilvy Canada.