Barry Chretien and Buzz Marketing: Building a Kelowna Creative Business
From early social-media marketing to award-winning web design, advertising and video production, Barry Chretien has spent years helping Okanagan businesses tell their stories and reach customers.
Roots in local marketing
Chretien is identified as general manager of Buzz Marketing Agency, a Kelowna digital marketing business offering website development, SEO, online advertising, multimedia, branding, lead generation and social media work. The company’s official team page describes Chretien as a trained marketing technologist and online advertising specialist. A 2013 local news report identified him as the owner of Buzz Media Systems, placing his work in the region’s digital-marketing community at least that far back.
A personal acquaintance describes his career as spanning more than 20 years. That longer timeline would benefit from his direct confirmation before being stated as a verified professional tenure; the dated public record independently establishes activity over more than a decade.
Growth and recognition
Buzz reports winning three Best of Kelowna gold awards in 2026: Best Marketing Agency, Best Website Design Agency and Best Videographer. Its official company page also reports 2025 gold awards for Best Marketing Agency and Best Website Design Agency, and 2024 gold for website design alongside silver for marketing agency. These are company-reported award results, not independent endorsement by West Coast News.
Chretien has publicly described Buzz growing from two staff members to 15 and expanding into two commercial spaces. In a LinkedIn update, he also said the company reached the top three finalists for Small Business Excellence at the 2026 Kelowna Chamber Business Excellence Awards. Finalist status should not be confused with winning that category.
More than one creative discipline
Beyond traditional advertising, the Buzz business network points to multimedia and interactive presentation tools. Its team and public profiles connect to Virtual Spaces, and a related Kelowna photography business operates at Buzz Photography. These offerings suggest an interesting potential collaboration area for ARQS: business imagery, virtual property presentations and measurable local advertising campaigns. No partnership has been agreed or announced.
Buzz serves businesses in fields ranging from trades to wellness and real estate. Its work has local relevance: independent merchants increasingly need both compelling content and ways to measure whether their websites and campaigns produce enquiries and sales.
Community participation
An archived local news report describes Chretien organizing social-media assistance for an older Kelowna resident experiencing food insecurity. It offers a specific example of digital networks serving a community purpose beyond advertising.
Explore the company
Readers can find services, portfolios and contacts at buzzmarketing.ca, read its team background and view Barry Chretien’s public professional profile. The external links belong to their respective businesses.
Sources: Buzz Marketing official company page; Barry Chretien public LinkedIn; Buzz Photography public listing; iNFOnews historical reporting. Prepared October 20, 2026.
