Former Transcon general manager John Clinton to head Edelman Canada PR firm

After what turned out to be a relatively brief detour into jobs as general manager and then senior vice-president of digital solutions and new media at Transcontinental Media, John Clinton is back on the agency side, only now in public relations as head of Edelman Canada. According to a story in Marketing magazine, he starts his job August 17 to grow the independent agency's operations in Canada. 

Clinton was president and CEO of Grey Canada when he left to join Transcontinental in June 2008 as general manager and gained a reputation for maintaining editorial integrity even while pursuing integration of print and digital ventures . He was nudged over to digital soutions and new media at the end of 2009 when Pierre Marcoux, the son of the chair of Transcontinental, took over as head of consumer publishing.  Clinton left the company about nine months later. Prior to Grey he held a series of positions with J. Walter Thompson over a period of 20 years.

“To be able to have a chance to work in public engagement is an incredible opportunity for me,” said Clinton. “I’ve worked with most of the clients before, you’re really dealing in a very creative space and I’ve managed five or six creative agencies before, so it’s similar and yet it’s different – and it’s in an area that’s rapidly evolving. To me it’s the best of all worlds.”