Media in Canada’s annual Media Leader of the Year program is being marked, once again, with celebratory profiles about each leader-in-the-running for 2024. Over the next few days, we’ll publish the articles for each nominee, with the overall winner decided by the editorial team and announced at the Media Innovation Awards on November 27. Today, it’s Karine Courtemanche, EVP of Plus Company. Check out the other nominees, Samantha Kelley and Karel Wegert.

Upon taking the helm, some leaders hang back before putting their stamp on an organization. They take the temperature. Learn the system. Maybe make incremental changes here and there. After all, a captain of an ocean liner can’t turn a ship around instantly. Change takes time. And all that.

Whatever the benefits of that kind of leadership might be, Karine Courtemanche, EVP of Plus Company, is not that kind of leader. She started in her position less than 18 months ago and immediately made fundamental changes.

“My biggest achievement would be to have successfully managed changes at Plus Media,” she says. “We went from acting like two stand-alone Canadian agencies (Cossette Media and Jungle Media) to launching an agile, more fluid network integrating our Canadian and U.S. agencies – and better responding to our clients’ needs and ambitions in the process.”

Courtemanche saw that there was a disconnect between what clients and the market wanted, and what Plus Company could deliver. They wanted access to hyper specialized resources: data, commerce, attribution to name a few. “We didn’t have many of those,” Courtemanche says. “We created these new positions by  restructuring the way the team works; each employee now focuses on specific swim lanes”

She also created these new specialized positions by looking at the combined needs of Cossette Media, Jungle and all other agencies of Plus Company. At the consolidated level, more specialized and senior resources can be afforded, so that was the way she looked at it.

“Our most significant shift was to evolve from an offering of strong media generalists to a team of specialized experts and resources collaborating together. The impact of that change on our clients’ business is deep, as it allows them to make the best of today’s complex media world while making sure they seize tomorrow’s opportunities ahead of the pack.”

While some new roles were filled by training and re-skilling, mostly Plus Company began recruiting. “For the onboarding of BRP, we recruited and onboarded 40 people in 40 days,” she says.

The changes Courtemanche ushered in go beyond structure. “You also need the tools to support your ambitions. We have invested significant time and resources in developing these tools, leveraging the best of data analytics and, yes, AI,” she says.

The tools she’s referring to are AIOS, an AI integration tool, and Mediabox, which improves speed and accuracy and is being rolled out across all accounts. These tools, and others that are more bespoke for individual clients, have introduced a new revenue stream for the company, through licensing fee agreements. Now, according to Andrew Butts, general manager, Ontario & West, Cossette Media, new revenue streams equal 10-15% of the total media business, and the agency is set to deliver its highest-ever revenue figure for 2024.

Of course, these kind of sweeping organizational changes couldn’t be done without buy-in from her team. To return to the nautical metaphor, a captain can’t turn that ocean liner around all by themselves.

Following Courtemanche’s arrival and subsequent changes, “many colleagues saw their world and their everyday work life change drastically. But they were all troopers and jumped on board with enthusiasm, know-how and unbound energy,” she says. “Our engagement scores remain high (higher than when we started the transition) and our renewed and enhanced ability to attract new talent fuels our growth.”

“To stay ahead of the curve and thrive in our ever-changing industry, you need to show resilience and outstanding adaptation skills,” she adds. “Sure, we facilitate this adaptation through education and training but, once again, it all has to do with the people you surround yourself with, their open-mindedness and appetite for change. And, yes, inspiring, highly adaptive leadership, who embrace change and evolution rather than fighting to preserve old ways.”

All the changes helped Plus Company earn new business, which was especially important given that the company lost the Government of Canada as a client. But Plus Company’s wins have outweighed that lost, earning new clients like  I-Health, Decathalon, ICBC, Global X, Globe and Mail, Hydro Quebec, and BRP.