History

Briare Sands founded Livewire in 1993 as a communications and design agency with a focus on business-to-business marketing.

Within its first few years, the firm began producing content for live meetings and events as this was becoming an increasingly important channel for clients to communicate to employees, customers and investors.

The following timeline features highlights from Livewire’s history:

1996
Briare Sands and Mark Attard meet and collaborate on various communications programs for Magna International. Their combined skills and experience allow them to deliver complete programs, from strategic development to final implementation, with a focus on live engagements.

1998
Mark joins Livewire as a partner, formalizing his working relationship with Briare and expanding the capabilities of the firm.

1999
Livewire adds Web development and design capabilities to an already robust digital media portfolio, further reinforcing its offering of being a truly full-service and integrated strategic communications company.

2001
Livewire leads the development of a global brand strategy for Magna International’s automotive interiors businesses: Intier Automotive. The launch includes brand development, advertising, investor relations and employee communication efforts.

With the launch of the Intier brand and business strategy to the company’s global workforce of 20,000 employees, Livewire comes to recognize a need for the development of integrated, strategic communications programs that target organizations’ employees.

2005
Livewire identifies its employee communications work as a unique practice with a focus on delivering strategic communications programs that instil awareness of an organization’s strategic priorities, corporate values and brand promise.

2009
Livewire continues to build greater sector breadth and depth into its offerings as it grows the company’s internal communications practice. Financial services and telecommunications are two industries that Livewire has successfully expanded into. Hospitality, consumer packaged goods, and the automotive sectors have seen an expansion of our client rosters, further adding to our depth of expertise and perspective.

2010
The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) recognizes Livewire’s internal communications work. The Recruitment Communications campaign for Four Season’s Hotels and Resorts received an international Gold Quill award. The Neopost Canada Brand and Values campaign was awarded a Silver Leaf for Employee Communications in Canada.

2011
Following upon the successes of our work for Mercedes-Benz (China) and a competitive Chinese market research engagement for a professional services firm, Livewire opens its first international satellite office in Shanghai.

Today
Livewire has gained significant experience working in global business environments and with many of Canada’s leading corporations across multiple sectors. The firm has helped its clients affect change and drive business performance through remarkable corporate climates such as restructurings, mergers, acquisitions, expansions, downsizings, recessions and the launch of game-changing new product and process innovations.

Livewire’s strategic practice areas continue to grow with a focus on developing measurable, strategic communications that connect leaders and their businesses with key stakeholders.