Copeland gets new ownership

I’ve had this secret burning me up all week in Quebec City and now that I’m back, it’s time to share it:

Last week I acquired Copeland Communications from long-time owner Steven Dagg.

Damn, that felt good.

I want to thank my friends David Walker, Ian Maxwell and Bill Kellett for their advice and support while I moved on this opportunity.

I want to thank Rose McDonald, Copeland’s Accounting Manager, for her tireless work behind the scenes to make this happen. She’s an amazing person to have in your corner.

And I want to thank Steven Dagg. He not only brought me here from Vancouver in 2008, but trusts me enough to protect his own 20-year legacy in taking Copeland forward.

Not many Canadian agencies live to be 30 years old as Copeland is. It takes a lot of stubbornness, smart work and astute business management, especially when your world is as fluid as ours. Agencies come and go. Copeland has endured. I appreciate and respect what Steve and previous owners Clare Copeland, Pam Middleton and Keith Dagg have accomplished.

So where do we go from here?

We remain an ideas company. Ideas are what matter and what we do well. The digital landscape will continue to evolve rapidly. Our job is not to become transfixed by any one shiny new medium, but to be attuned to all of them, so that we can apply our ideas in the most relevant and impactful ways.

We have a stellar team, an enviable client list and a corporate culture that has brought us international attention and scores of flesh-eating interns wandering our halls.

You can expect Copeland will continue to innovate in our work. We will continue to support our community. We will continue to help students make their way into the work place. We will continue to have dogs in the office.

This is starting to read like a politician’s stump speech so I’m going to wrap it up.

With the purchase done, I’m looking forward to the future more than I ever have.

Thank you for supporting Copeland. And please…don’t stop now!

Doug