Aegis agency Carat has added five new faces to its Canadian operations, bolstering its media planning and buying teams and adding a new position in creativity and sponsorship.

New to the team in media planning positions are Alexandre Phanor, formerly at SJJ Capital, and Amelie Moreau, previously with Saint-Jacques Vallée MEC. Phanor is filling a two-title role at Carat, as both media planner, communications, Carat and project manager at Carat Interactive, while Moreau’s new title is media planner, communications, Carat.

Also new on the roster is Karen Hamilton, formerly with Mindshare, as media buyer.

New to Carat’s market research division, DeepBlue, is Elodie Maillard, formerly of Paris-based media agency Lagardère Publicité and sporting a promotion is Nadine Azer, who now fills the new role of creativity and sponsorship consultant at Carat. Azer will be responsibile for planning and executing creativity and sponsorship-based projects for Carat clients.

Finally, the agency has also hired a new associate for its Velocity team, Claudia Gervais, who previously worked with Montreal soccer club, the Montreal Impact.

The hires and promotion were part of the agency’s internal realignment toward a new integrated communications planning framework, established in 2010.