When Anita Dong took over as president of McDonnell Haynes in 2006, her intention was always to change the name of the Toronto agency, which has maintained a relatively low profile over its 30-year history. But putting her name on the door was never an option.
“I can guarantee you that, while I never asked my new team, I don’t think they wanted an agency that had the name Dong in it,” she says. “In order for me to attract new talent, I assured them that whatever name I decided to be appropriate, I would not make them include my name.”
The result is We Are Tonic, which was formally introduced to clients including TD Bank, the Lake of Bays Brewing Company and ACE Bakery today, along with a new positioning statement (“The idea collective”) and a completely revamped senior management team.
One of the definitions of “tonic” describes it as “an invigorating, refreshing, or restorative agent or influence,” which is precisely the image Dong wanted to convey to both the agency’s staff and clients.
“We’re not a brand new start-up company with three people, and we are not totally changing what we’re doing,” she says. “We’re evolving and re-invigorating ourselves.
“It’s very important for [clients] to know that why they worked with us in the past will still be there, plus we’re bringing additional skills, thought leadership and strategy to the table that they can draw upon.”
The “We” is an integral part of the new name too, says Dong, signaling that the 30-person agency is a collective that doesn’t operate according to the vision of a single creative leader. “All of us worked collectively on the name, the positioning, who we want to be, the type of clients we hope to attract, the type of solutions we want to be identified with,” she says.
The agency has also attracted some key new talent. Dong has moved up to the CEO position, turning over the president’s role to former TBWA\Toronto managing director Philip George, who joined in late March.
Anita Dong, Mark Biernacki, Steph Mackie, Philip George, Dave Sylvestre
George has spent much of his career with network agencies like DDB, Ogilvy & Mather and TBWA – along with a two-year stint with Axmith McIntyre Wicht (now Agency 59) earlier in his career – and says he is excited by the prospect of working at an agency unencumbered by the demands of a head office in New York.
“Sometimes the frustration with multinationals is that you have a lot of captains you need to bring into the conversation,” he says. “There are times when that works out nicely, and there are times when you can be frustrated by all the various audiences you need to deliver to. In this situation, there’s an opportunity to create something based upon your beliefs and not necessarily have to go to the mothership and get approval on every part of the operation and the strategy.”
George’s objective is to create an agency that is nimble enough to handle small pieces of business, but possessing the personnel and services that will attract mid-size and larger clients. “Where we really see the opportunity is for those medium-size clients that still need the breadth of thinking, the breadth of creativity and ideas from all of the various media we now have to work in, but sometimes get frustrated that they are number 10 or 20 on the agency’s list,” he says. “It’s an opportunity for us to build the middle.”
George cites John St. as an example of an independent agency that is thriving in the multinational world. “I think it’s important for our industry to have a vibrant local advertising community that is also contributing to the industry,” he says.
The agency has also hired former Lowe Roche creative team Mark Biernacki and Steph Mackie as executive creative directors, while Dave Sylvestre – the former group creative director at Organic who joined in September 2011 – rounds out the senior management team as creative director, interactive.
“Creative drives it, and I think this is the first time I’ve been able to attract really amazing creative talent,” says Dong. “There is no question Mark and Steph are great talent.”
While former independent heavyweights such as Taxi and BOS have all been snapped up by multinationals in recent years, Dong says smaller agencies still have the ability to thrive in an ad environment dominated by multinationals.
“I think there’s a real niche for Canadian privately held companies,” she says. “I think there’s a lot of companies that need to market themselves, haven’t got the budget, and we are fine if you are not broadcast-based – that’s not what our solutions tend to be.”
