Credible, strategic partners
By Eve Lazarus
Rethink, Vancouver
After seven years in the business Rethink is no longer the new kid on the block-if it ever really was-and this year the Vancouver agency proved it has the staying power and the creative clout to attract a blue-chip client list from anywhere in Canada.
Last spring, Rethink founders and partners Chris Staples, Tom Shepansky and Ian Grais signed on as the agency for Sobeys, which has supermarkets in every province except B.C., and spends $5 million a year on marketing (see TV creative, above). The news set the industry chattering not only because, before taking on its new client, Rethink parted ways with A&P/Dominion-the circumstances of which are still shrouded in secrecy-but also because the Sobeys account is about three times larger than A&P, and many of the key decision makers at Sobeys, including president and CEO Bill McEwan and VP customer marketing Joanne Forgione, are former employees of A&P.
During 2006, Rethink also scored the Sirius Satellite Radio account, while locally the agency added Vancouver’s 1-800-Got-Junk? and abebooks.com to its roster. Of course, it was a busy year servicing existing clients including Future Shop, Bell’s Solo brand and A&W Restaurants.
David Waterfall, the North Vancouver-based director of marketing, advertising and promotions for A&W, credits the agency for creating a point of difference in the competitive burger market.
“We sell burgers, McDonald’s sells burgers, all of our competitors sell burgers. People have to have a reason to choose one or the other and Rethink has given us a way to clearly communicate our brand heritage and food quality that sets us apart.”
Rethink’s work for Coast Capital Savings continues to get noticed and win awards. Lawrie Ferguson, senior vice-president marketing, says Rethink is a fundamental part of the financial institution’s success. Rethink masterminded the “How can we help you?” tag line, new bank design and advertising campaign. “The ads are very strategically where we want to go, and we’ve hit on something with the free chequing, in particular, that has really made a mark for us.” In September, the B.C. Chapter of the American Marketing Association named the Surrey, B.C.-based credit union Marketer of the Year.
Creatively, Rethink continues to haul in the metal. It notched another Lion at Cannes-a Bronze in Outdoor for its “Button Wall” for Vancouver’s Contemporary Art Gallery; it won the second-highest number of awards at the 2006 Marketing Awards, and it has 32 entries in the upcoming Applied Arts Annual and five in the Communications Arts Annual.
The agency also grew its revenues by 18%, and hiked its staff by 10, to 60. And, in its typically creative fashion, came up with an innovative way to handle the French language needs of national clients, while staying true to its singular office vision. Rethink hired creatives Martin Rivard and Nicolas Quintal from BBDO Montreal. The pair started in September and will travel to Quebec at least four times a year.
“We’ve kept overhead low, retained and rewarded key people and retained business,” says Shepansky. “The Rethink Rebate forms a key place in all our contracts and we haven’t walked away from any of those things because they work.”
Taking care of business
By David Brown
Cundari Group of Companies, Toronto
Anyone paying attention to the Cundari Group this year knows it has quietly built itself to be one of the most successful independent agencies in the country, and that it’s also quite comfortable playing on the global stage.
Inspiration: Ad for the Royal Ontario Museum promotes an Italian Arts & Design exhibit
Cundari was hired to do the branding for Washington D.C.; was picked over 20 other agencies (from Canada and abroad) to produce the opening film for the World AIDS Conference in Toronto this past summer; won nine of the 11 assignments it pitched for as a member of Subway’s North American agency pool, a spot it earned last November; and was added to BMW’s global agency pool, based on the work it has done for BMW Canada.
That’s not bad, but not all, either. New Canadian business this year included Moosehead’s James Ready beer, CanWest’s online brands Driving.ca and Canada.com, the rebranding for Toronto’s waterfront, and the Royal Ontario Museum assignment which will include the opening of the very high-profile museum expansion early in 2007.
No wonder, then, that since 2001 Cundari has virtually tripled in size to just over 120 employees, with a Montreal office opening soon.
“They are a very good agency, an emerging agency,” says Dan Reynolds, a marketing consultant specializing in search who worked with Subway when it hired Cundari. The shop is reaching critical mass, he says, showing up on more short lists and making a good impression when it gets there.
Why? Because Cundari does a great job of running its business, Reynolds says. It doesn’t chase every piece of new business and seems to be much more interested in results than awards.
“You are not going to win everything so why chase it,” explains Garry Lee, Cundari president. “I think too many agencies are trying to force feed a capability into something that they just don’t know. And it is so expensive to go after new business. They are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on pitches these days… So go after what you are good at.”
By following that philosophy, Cundari is on track for almost $19 million in revenues this year, up 20% from last year. About 75% of that is from new clients, and the rest is from organic growth. (Cundari, unlike many shops, can also boast of not losing any clients this year.)
“They’re good marketers,” says Reynolds. “They understand advertising, but are much more multi-disciplinary. Everyone talks about integration, but I think Cundari, more than most, actually makes it work.”
“Too many agencies rush right to the creative, and they’re brilliant at that, but miss the boat in terms of what the client actually needs to happen,” says chair and CEO Aldo Cundari, who founded the shop more than 25 years ago.
One of Cundari’s highest profile accounts is blown away by the shop. “I’ve never experienced anything like it,” says Andra Zondervan, ROM’s vice-president of marketing. “What they were hired to do was to develop campaigns. What they have offered is greater than just campaigns… It is big shop thinking but small shop service.”
Steady growth, sound strategy
By Paul-Mark Rendon
Taxi Canada, Toronto
There’s a telling footnote to the September opening of Taxi 2, Taxi Canada’s second office in Toronto. Well before the door to the new agency officially swung open; before the shop’s block-lettered logo was installed in the reception foyer; and even before the first nail was hammered during renovations, Taxi 2 was already a financial success.
Talk of the town: Taxi’s TV ads for Canadian Tire were the talk of the creative community, with some loving the new direction, and others left pining for Canadian Tire guy
In fact, says Taxi Toronto president Rob Guenette, who handed the keys over to Taxi 2’s Jeremy Gayton and Lance Martin, the shop was brimming with so much work-BMW’s Mini, soft drink Fresca, restaurant chain Jack Astor’s and Purdy’s Chocolates-that even more space was being negotiated prior to opening day. “Making Taxi 2 a reality was emotional,” Guenette says, harking back to the agency’s promise to cap the staff at its original Toronto office at 150. “We took that theory and philosophy and put it into practice.”
To anyone who isn’t already familiar with the history of Taxi, the 14-year-old agency founded by Paul Lavoie, Jane Hope and François Sauvé, it could easily come across as hubris. Nevertheless, says an unapologetic Guenette, chatter over the past year about Taxi muscling its way into regional markets and local-agency strongholds like Calgary-where it opened an office last year after winning WestJet’s business, or in Eastern Canada where it was this year named McCain Foods’ agency of record-will continue to fall on deaf ears.
According to Guenette, it’s an unflinching commitment to Taxi’s business well-being through steady growth and sound strategy. “We’re going to grow our business,” he says. “And if (competing) agencies aren’t strong enough to retain their clients, they don’t have to blame us-they should blame themselves. We’ll do it in a way that’s fair. We’re going to go pitch. We’ll show our work.”
This was a year of evolution for the agency: Lavoie stepped back from the Canadian operation to concentrate on Taxi’s foray into New York; and the hot shop’s creative effort for new client Canadian Tire was widely criticized.
While initial reviews may have been lukewarm, Guenette points out that Taxi was always thinking long-term. “If we went just for the shock value or tried to get in front of some of the anticipation of this new campaign, we would have done something wrong for the brand,” he says. “We couldn’t do that.”
It’s a big reason why Florence, N.B.-based McCain Foods hired the shop, says president and CEO Fred Schaeffer, who based that decision on Taxi’s “super-talented” creative teams, client service and insights. “They work incredibly hard to get to know your business and provide real insights on your categories,” he says.
It’s not as if the creative-at-all-costs agency exchanged its black turtlenecks for three-piece suits this year. The shop tied for eighth place in a recent Creativity ranking of agencies and worldwide awards won-ahead of venerable names like Goodby Silverstein and Partners and Fallon London.
And Taxi’s lone gold at the 2006 Cannes festival for its interactive work on Mini was a bright light in what was otherwise a down year for Canadian agencies. Taxi NYC, meanwhile, won a bronze Lion in the Film category.
“We want to make sure we defy the convention that once you get big, you get bad,” Guenette says. “We just don’t believe that to be true. There’s no reason why growth has to be a hurdle to creativity.”
The agency’s growth continues unabated. Next year, it will open a new office in Vancouver, and Guenette hints there will be another office outside of Canada. And if he’s to be believed, you can bet this Taxi isn’t about to run out of gas anytime soon.
