Michelle Kitchen Returns to DDB Canada to Lead Canadian Tourism Commission Business

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Lance Saunders, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of DDB Canada's Vancouver office, is pleased to announce that Michelle Kitchen has been appointed Vice President, Business Director.

Kitchen is responsible for the strategic development and management of global communication plans for the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), with DDB Canada's Vancouver office serving as the core leadership hub. She is also a member of DDB Canada's senior management team, with responsibilities for new business development, financial planning, and employee training and development.

"Highlights of Michelle's career include leading successful brand launches for ING DIRECT and Air Miles, which both utilized Canada as their foray into the global market," says Saunders.  "Additionally, working with multiple agency partners, she helped launch Canadian Airlines into new markets globally. This skill set, coupled with her strengths in people management and brand stewardship, will be incredibly useful as CTC expands their global platform and enters new markets."

Kitchen rejoins DDB Canada from Cossette West, where she spent the past 11 years as part of the senior management team and was responsible for Cossette's key convergent clients, managing client service teams, financial planning and profitability management, and acted as Chief Marketing Officer responsible for new business.  Prior to Cossette, Kitchen held positions in Toronto for 12 years, which included working for DDB Needham Worldwide Advertising 1987–1989 and 1990–1994.

"I was excited by the opportunity to spearhead the evolution of the global CTC brand," says Kitchen.  "DDB Canada has always been near and dear to my heart.  Returning to an agency whose creativity and leadership can't be beat is an opportunity that I could not pass up."

Kitchen's breadth of experience includes travel and tourism, automotive, financial services, technology and telecommunications, and consumer packaged goods.  Campaigns that she has led have been recognized at regional, national and international award shows, including the Bessies, CMAs, EXTRAs, Lotus and Marketing awards.  Notable accomplishments also include a Bronze Film Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival for Volkswagen and three Cassie Awards for Manitoba Telecom, which are also recognized as "top pic" global case studies on www.warc.com.

About DDB Canada

Named Strategy's 2010 Agency of the Year and Top Creative Agency in 2011, DDB Canada is the most creatively acclaimed, internationally recognized marketing communications agency in Canada. Known for advertising that generates significant results for clients, DDB Canada is a "total communications company" whose fundamental belief is that creativity is the most powerful force in business. DDB Canada has offices in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal. The agency's integrated groups include: DDB Kid Think (youth marketing), DDB Public Relations, Tribal DDB (online and interactive), Karacters Design Group, Rapp Collins (direct), Radar DDB (social media marketing) and DDB Hodes Recruitment Communications (recruitment marketing).

SOURCE DDB Canada