— TORONTO
Résumé · Hayden Lawton · v.2026.01

Strategist with six years of agency experience across alcohol, CPG, tourism, and regulated categories.

Currently planning OOH and experiential at Zeno Group Canada. Previously an Integrated Strategist at Sister Merci, Clio's 2023 Cannabis Agency of the Year. Strong on cultural research, brief writing, and pulling insight out of categories where compliance shapes the creative.

Toronto, ON · +1 647 267 2896 · haydenjames98.lawton@gmail.com · LinkedIn
Experience

Where I've been.

2019 → Present
Zeno Group Canada
Junior Planner
May 2025 → Present · Toronto, ON

Junior Planner

Global PR and integrated communications agency.
  • Plan OOH and experiential activations for alcohol, CPG, and tourism accounts.
  • Run category, audience, and competitive research for new-business pitches and live client work. Translate findings into creative briefs.
  • Partner with creative teams to connect ideas back to strategic intent before they go to the client.
  • Operate against tight turnaround windows where strategy has to land in days.
Sister Merci
Strategist
July 2019 → May 2025 · Toronto, ON

Integrated Strategist

Integrated Strategist at a strategy-lead creative agency. Clio 2023 Cannabis Agency of the Year.
  • Built brand and communications strategy for cannabis clients operating in a claim-restricted, heavily regulated category.
  • Led primary research: ethnographic fieldwork in cannabis retail and event spaces, digital ethnography on subcultural online communities. Shaped findings into briefs and research presentations for strategy and creative teams.
  • Authored creative briefs and positioning territories grounded in subculture insight, not surface trends.
  • Tracked platform shifts and category movement to direct asset development and always-on social content.
Integrated Strategist · July 2021 → May 2025
Intern · July 2019 → July 2021
Education and industry

On paper.

Education
January 2024 → April 2025 · Toronto, ON

Seneca Polytechnic — Creative Advertising Diploma

Graduated with High Honours · GPA 4.0 / 4.0
Certifications
  • Google Analytics Certification — Google, 2024
  • Hootsuite Platform Certification — Hootsuite, 2024
Industry
volunteering
November 2025 → Present

Rebrief Magazine — Social Media Coordinator

Independent Canadian advertising publication.
November 2024

ADCC Awards — Volunteer

Event execution for the 75th annual Advertising and Design Club of Canada awards.
Skills

The kit.

Strategy and planning

Brand strategy, campaign planning, creative brief development and team briefing, clear objectives articulation, positioning and segmentation, channel planning across paid, owned, and earned, consumer journey mapping, messaging frameworks, always-on social planning, sponsorship-adjacent activations, OOH and experiential, contributing to pitch-standard deliverables.

Research and insights

Consumer behaviour analysis, primary and secondary research synthesis, data mining across key research sources, segmentation and persona development, questionnaire and survey design, social listening, trend analysis, hypothesis formulation and testing, regulated-category positioning.

Performance and analytics

KPI definition and benchmarking, performance forecasting, trend and anomaly identification, test plan contribution, data visualization and storytelling, Google Analytics, social listening and measurement (Meltwater, Talkwalker), post-campaign analysis.