Updated: Dec 17, 10:50 am
Upon joining LG2 as partners, co-creative directors Nellie Kim and Chris Hirsch were gifted a pair of hockey jerseys. Kim got the Quebec Nordiques, Hirsch the Montreal Canadiens. It was a symbolic gesture to welcome the agency’s new Toronto leaders into the Quebecois culture that launched LG2 and provided the fertile creative ground that turned the boutique shop into one of the country’s hottest agencies.
A year into its venture in Toronto, the agency has a strong foothold in the market and has proven itself as a truly national agency. The Toronto office turned a profit in its first year by winning accounts like Zag Bank and landing project work for big brands like Nike. Meanwhile, Quebec and Montreal continued to fire on all cylinders in 2015, winning new business that includes Iogo, StateFarm, Hewitt Cat, Quebec Original and the Quebec Milk Producers.
It was also another banner year on the awards circuit. LG2 took home five Cannes Lions across five different competitions and was the most-awarded agency at the 2015 Marketing Awards, earning a total of 31 medals. It was also named Canadian Agency of the Year at the 2015 Clio Awards.
LG2 flexed its environmental design muscles this year too by creating the Milk Bar, a partnership between Natrel and the Quebec coffee chain Java U. The permanent co-branded space includes booths shaped like milk cartons, retail space and an assortment of Natrel milks and creams customers can have with their coffee.
While milk consumption has decreased by 25% in Canada over the past two decades, the Milk Bar helped Natrel increase sales by 48% in the four months before and after its opening. The branded location (which was the fruit of an unsolicited pitch from the agency) also earned Natrel a three-point jump in market share in the Greater Montreal area.
More impressive results: LG2’s annual “Bell Let’s Talk” campaign for Bell generated more than 4.7 million tweets this year and helped raise $6.1 million dollars in donations for mental health initiatives – an 11% increase from 2014.
With 235 employees across three offices, LG2 is no longer the boutique offering it once was, but it’s still delivering the top shelf creative that earned it its stellar reputation.
Next year the agency will turn 25, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Revenue was up 14% this year from 2014, and with Toronto on the map, the agency has its eyes on other markets.
“Toronto opens the north/south canals,” says Mathieu Roy, general manager and partner at LG2. Though Roy says no cities or dates are planned for future offices, he says LG2 has “North American ambitions.”
The end goal? To turn the little Quebec shop that could into a global creative brand. Best-in-class in Canada is great, he says, but, “why not be the best independent agency in the world?”
