Cossette, Inc.
Cossette is a Canadian marketing communications company headquartered in Quebec City, Quebec. History. Cossette was initially launched as a graphic design firm by Claude Cossette in June 1964 under the name "Cossette et associés, graphiste-conseils." It was relaunched in May 1972 as "Cossette Communication Marketing" by six partners (Claude Cossette, Louis Larivière, Bernard Paquet, Fernand Simard, Paul Lefebvre and Claude Lessard) in Quebec City. After the arrival of François Duffar, the company expanded with offices in Montreal (1974), Toronto (1981) and, in 1985, it added its fourth Canadian office in Vancouver. It has since also added a  fifth Canadian office in Halifax. In 1991, it was the largest agency in Canada in terms of revenue, and was named Marketing Magazine's "Agency of the Year" for the first time. Cossette went public in 1999, with its shares trading on the Montreal and Toronto stock exchanges. In 2003, it acquired the London-based company Identica, and the public relations company Band and Brown Communications. In 2009, Cossette returned to private ownership when Connecticut-based private equity firm Mill Road Capital purchased all outstanding shares - the agreement saw Mill Road Capital as the majority owner, with agency management also  owning a significant share. The original Cossette organization was reorganized under a holding company structure in 2010, under holding company Vision7 International. In 2014, Cossette was purchased by BlueFocus Communications network. Clients. Cossette's client list includes McDonald's Canada, SickKids, General Motors and General Mills. Awards. Cossette won "Newsmaker of the Year" in 1986 and "Agency of the Year" in 1991 and 1998, by "Marketing Magazine". In 2016, 2017 and 2018 Cossette was named "Agency of the Year" by "Strategy Magazine".