Shaftesbury partners to launch new digital agency

Christina Jennings, Kaaren Whitney-Vernon and Smokebomb’s Jay Bennett

Canada-based producer and distributor Shaftesbury has joined forces with millennial agency Youth Culture to launch a digital agency, shift2.

The joint venture will create and distribute youth-skewed content for brands, on YouTube, across the reality, how-to and scripted programming genres.

Shaftesbury’s content creation contribution will come through its existing digital arm Smokebomb Entertainment.

Sahftesbury said the new agency will also use proprietary YouTube software to research and develop campaigns and drive viewer numbers.

“There has been a shift in the way that millennial consumers buy products,” said Kaaren Whitney-Vernon, CEO, shift2. “They research, they compare, they talk, they share, they follow, and then they buy. A brand story helps connect the decision path. It’s not about pushing this content out during campaign flights, but about engaging people during the process with a great story.”

Christina Jennings, chairman and CEO of Shaftesbury and Smokebomb, said: “We are taking lessons we have learned from television over the past 25 years, and joining forces with Kaaren to bring that storytelling experience to brands, in a way that isn’t a 30-second spot or viral video.”