Clutch - Canada’s leading online car retailer - had already flipped the script on car advertising by showing how it saves people from the serious weirdness of doing business online.

Now for its second brand campaign, it was time to upend celebrity endorsements - while doubling down on another key benefit of Clutch: Speed.

Partnering again with the NBA, we introduced the aptly named Immanuel Quickley - Toronto Raptors’ superstar - to the Clutch universe. 

When Clutch launches its new tagline “Sell your car quickly with Clutch,” confusion ensues, landing Clutch a surprisingly begrudging spokesperson. 

Art Direction: Nicole Nyholt

For round 2 of Pinterest Presents - Pinterests annual Global Ad Summit -  we knew we had to double-down on what made our first year so effective in the first place: The fiercely funny mash-up of education and entertainment for a B2B audience.

This year, our brief was all about performance. We needed to show marketers that Pinterest was a best-in-class performance platform that could deliver exceptional business results. There was not better way to do it than make marketers themselves the hero of our story.

Taking a liberal riff on beloved, nostalgic sports movies, we created the fictitious Pinterest Performance Centre where marketers come to face their fears and take their marketing game to the next level. With our celebrity cast bringing the funny, we showcased exec keynotes, product demos and client testimonials in an intensely entertaining 50 minute show. The vibe was bright, bold, positive and pure Pinterest. 

With 50,000+ registrations, 40, 000+ total viewership and 82% watch-through rate (huge for a virtual show), round 2 of Pinterest Presents was a knockout.

Creative Directors: Moi & Anna Cumyn

ACD Copy: Aidan Johnston

ACD Art: Nicole Nyholt

We all know the internet can be sketchy. So while 90% of Canadians research cars online, when it comes to buying or selling, people still default to dealerships. Why meet a strange person in a strange place if you don't have to? 

But Clutch is a new way to make a deal: Fast, simple, 100% online and weirdos not included.  So we partnered with the NBA and Toronto Raptor Kelly Olynyk and ran our spots during the playoffs. All to drive credibility and awareness that there is indeed a non-sketchy - and effective - way to buy and sell cars online. 

With over 1.2M views on Youtube alone and a 35% increase of cars sold on Clutch, the campaign drove home results. 

That’s Clutch.

Art Direction: Anna Cumyn

Clutch is one of Canada’s fastest, innovative tech companies - and the only actual way to buy or sell a car 100% online. But while awareness for the brand itself was growing, comprehension of how Clutch worked was still kind of nebulous.

So we launched a campaign to showcase in no uncertain terms that Clutch is so easy and effective you don’t have to get up and leave your house. In fact, you don’t have to get up at all.

Featuring Clutch’s dry humour and a dramatic entrance for Clutch’s iconic red flatbed right, our spots drove home Clutch’s simplicity and differentiation from it’s so called competitors. 

Art Direction: Nicole Nyholt

Global advertiser summits are annual events where big tech companies try to convince marketers to increase ad spends on their platforms. Rife with keynotes and product launches, they’ve become a trope unto themselves. So when Pinterest was looking for a fresh take on their annual ad summit -  Pinterest Presents - we took a groundbreaking approach to this B2B event.

We knew our audience of marketers were people first, and people love to be entertained. So we took two beloved formats - the mockumentary and the making of - and made an epic mashup: Pinterest Presents, a show within a show, that’s the show. 

With a comedic ensemble starring SNL’s Heidi Gardner, Rashida ‘Sheedz’ Olayiwola (Jury Duty), Harvey Guillén (What We Do In The Shadows) and Aisling Bea (This Way Up), we used humour and creative storytelling to house the hardest of hard working B2B content. The approach drove awareness of why Pinterest was a must-buy for advertisers - all by entertaining them in a way they already loved. 

It was a first-of-its-kind global virtual event that clocked in at 50 minutes and not only drove a 100% watch-through rate (almost inconceivable for this kind of content), but was one of Adweek’s 20 Campaigns That Made Creatives Jealous. Watch the full show here.

Art Direction: Anna Cumyn

For decades, the ‘her’ and ‘she’ pronouns on the Hershey wrapper have been hiding in plain sight - similar to how women’s achievements often go unrecognized. In 2020, Hershey launched the #HerForShe campaign in Brazil, using the wrappers to bring visibility to notable women and their accomplishments.

We launched the campaign in Canada in 2022, using the narrative lens of Street Culture to kick the visibility messaging into high gear - after all, the street is where you go to undeniably be seen and take up space.

Historically, street culture as been dominated by men. But by spotlighting 5 women changing the street scene across the country, we not only showcased their impact - but shifted the idea of what street culture actually is. Yes, it’s kicks and fits, but also grassroots activism, outreach and advocacy. Fundamentally, street culture is what glues a community together.

With limited edition #HerForShe bar designs created by noted street artist Gosia Komarinski, and 5 mini-films directed docu-style by Bruna Arbex, we brought more visibility to women transforming their communities and inspiring the next generation to do the same.

The results exceeded our benchmarks and KPIs, with 350+ pieces of coverage across various media and influencer platforms, 22,382,528 total MR impressions, 6,343,345 impressions from earned media and 8,012,461 impressions on social media.

Art Direction: Veronika Radeva
Design: Marta Pietryga

Everyone loves an idea - especially one that works for you on the regular. RBC wanted to solidify it’s positioning as the ideas bank in a way that felt grounded and beyond the abstract. So we created an everyday couple to be the ongoing walking, talking and joshing example of how your ideas and RBC ideas work together. Because the other challenge? How do you talk about bank stuff in a way that’s not dead boring. For us - it was charm, banter and some light dissing.

Art Direction: Sherry Tang

Evian is known for its naturally pure water. It runs down a mountain for 15 years before it’s bottled. That’s it. Nothing added, nothing taken away. So in a culture overrun by fillers, filters and deep fakes, Evian wanted to make a stand for the purity of simple truth. 

That stand took the form of a completely transparent art installation to launch the Drink True campaign in Canada. We recreated Evian’s iconic mountain range out of vibrantly pink prisms and unveiled it in downtown Vancouver. Messages of true-isms were etched into the prisms, revealing themselves as the sunlight moved through the day. 

In addition to the art installation, Evian partnered with BC Mountain Foundation, donating $10, 000 to help protect the kind of ecosystems their naturally pure water comes from.

The activation 2.97+ million earned impressions and 25 million media impressions, reinforcing the power and beauty of truth - pure and simple. 

Art Director: Sam McCourt Copywriter: Jeff McQuarrie

In a market saturated with product from distilleries near and far, Hendrick’s needed an alternative way to drive awareness and trial of their gins. With their latest release, Flora Adora, we unveiled an experience that would invite our audience of influencers, media and trade partners into the curious world of Hendrick’s and its modern re-imaging of a Victorian Pleasure Garden.

With a host of distinctive diversions including an on-site entomologist and living garnish garden, the event surpassed all goals with 6.8M social impressions, 1M earned social engagements, and 300+ pieces of original content.

Art Director: Marta Pietryga

Copywriter: Jeff McQuarrie

For the first time in forever, super-fast decongestant Drixoral was launching net-new creative in Canada. So to get ourselves noticed, we tackled the life-long taboo of putting stuff up your nose. With Drixoral being the uber effective exception of course.

Art Direction: Sherry Tang

The launch of Rogers Ignite TV was a game changer for entertainment fanatics. So we recruited some pros to try out the features - and then let the cameras roll. We captured these athletes at their most authentic and spontaneous, all while showcasing the capabilities of the product. We were set to make 3 online videos. Instead we made 5, and clients where so pleased - the SportsApp spot aired on TV during baseball season.

For Christmas 2020, Sobeys wanted to reconsider what family encompasses. Is it just the people you’re related to - or being connected to the broader community? In a tough year, with so many going through so much - we wanted to show a simple, meaningful story of the things - the actions - that still bring us together. This spot launched the ‘Greatest Gift is Family’ campaign - Sobeys most successful campaign to date.

Art Direction: Sherry Tang

Big ideas can come from the most innocuous of excel spreadsheets. Our brief was to create a campaign that celebrated what Lay’s really stands for – savouring a little joy every day. We struggled with how to express something so universal in a way that was distinctly Lay’s – and how to showcase it in a bold way while the world struggled with Covid and its related restrictions.

But then our client forwarded us the spreadsheet. It captured all the real customer stories of their genuine love of Lay’s – unprompted, un-incentivized, just spontaneously shared because they loved the product so much.

That was it. Canadians from all kinds of backgrounds, across the country were already finding their own moments of joy in Lay’s. It was an awesome realization. All that was left to do was capture these unique stories and share them – throwing a spotlight on the amazing people of our country and the chips they love.

And Lay’s Joy Stories was born, a campaign that rolled out on TV, web, social and in activations across Canada. And as of writing this – even more Lay’s Joy Stories are being shared from Canadians coast-to-coast. Because after all – there’s a Little Joy With Every Bag.

Art Direction: Sherry Tang

3 independent, uncompromising and innovative individuals, 3 different forms of creative expression. We put the HP Pavilion x360 in their hands to push past convention to do what they love. These are our Rule Benders.