The Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity (CCGSD) works to end bullying and discrimination against gay people, particularly gay youth. To get straight people to stop using the word 'gay' as a term of derision to describe things, we had a very big idea - we decided to actually create the world's first truly gay object. We collected the donated hair of over 100 gay people, which was then knit into The Gay Sweater - the only 'thing' on earth you can truly call gay, and be right. Visit the project at http://thegaysweater.ccgsd-ccdgs.org/

Writers: Matt Antonello, Shauna Roe

Art Directors: Joel Arbez, Rachel Kennedy

Awards: Applied Arts, ADCCs, CMAs, Media Innovation Awards, Marketing, One Show Interactive, D&AD Impact Wood Pencil

The Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada wanted people to really understand the frustration, randomness and isolation of Tourette. So they launched Surrender Your Say, a campaign where people could give up control of their Twitter handle and have Tourette tics tweeted randomly into their feed. It was controversial. It hadn’t been done before. And for a day, thousands of people felt what it was like to have Tourette Syndrome in front of millions of followers.

Awards: One Show Interactive. Media Innovation Awards Best of Show, multiple gold. Communication Arts Interactive Annual. Gold Cassie. Tomorrow Award Finalist. ADCC. Applied Arts. Cannes shortlist. Marketing Awards gold.

Creative Team: Rachel Kennedy, Shauna Roe

Nothing like not slamming into the back of a car to realign your priorities and remind you of what’s important.

Creative team: Rob Gendron and Christian Buer

To get more ad people to attend FITC’s leading edge digital and technology events, we considered what would happen if they didn’t attend. The result was the viral film ‘The Last Advertising Agency on Earth’, which considered a world where agencies became irrelevant and disappear. When launched, it caused a global sensation and ignited fierce debate in the ad community. Ticket sales among ad people rose 200%, proving that fear is a great motivator. And Bob Garfield made it the final review in Advertising Age, giving it a coveted 3 stars. That’s right. Bob Garfield.

Awards: Webby Finalist, Gold CMA, ADDC Silver, One Show Interactive, Applied Arts Interactive

Art Director: Helen Pak

Buckley's is a storied Canadian brand. But, in the hyper-competitive world of cold and flu medicines, it is one that is vulnerable to short-term strategic thinking to drive seasonal sales. Happily, after several years of moving away from their key message of 'it tastes awful and it works', we were able to bring the brand back to some key principles, grounded in smart, tell-it-like-it-is straight talk. Now, whenever we run a TV spot, 7 second pre-roll ad or a billboard, sales go up. Which makes us all feel better.

Awards: Cassies Bronze, Strategy Awards Bronze

Toyota has taken a fantastic position on what their brand stands for - a full recognition that they build their vehicles with the express intent to help Canadians fulfill their total potential. This campaign launched with :60 television and cinema spot that told that story in a bold, anthemic way.

Creative Team: Luke Skinner and Jon Ciordas

The Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity developed a sports inclusion program, designed to keep sports at all levels from marginalizing LGBTQ athletes. To help bring awareness to the program, we called out just how stupid it is to identify people as 'Gay Athletes'. Because really, who they love has nothing to do with how they compete.

Writers: Matt Antonello, Cory Hansen

Art Directors: Christian Buer, Oskars Trinitis.

Awards: One Show, Marketing, Applied Arts, 2 x Bronze Cannes Lions, ADCC

Toyota has not had a sports car in its lineup for over a decade. So to launch the new Toyota 86, we had to do more than just introduce a car - we had to remind everyone of Toyota's incredible sports car heritage. To do that, we decided to launch a new car with an old car - by restoring a 30-year old, cult classic AE86, the same car that has inspired the new one. In a social media and content play, we did just that. And we did in 86 days.

Writer: Luke Skinner, Rob Gendron

Art Director: Jon Ciordas, Christian Buer

Awards: Canadian Marketing Association Awards Bronze

What makes the Rav4 so great? Aside from the fun, styling and performance, it comes down to features that drivers will actually use. In keeping with the playful nature of this nameplate, we brought those features to life in television, print and out of home.

The 2018 C-HR from Toyota is a vehicle that allow drivers to express their creativity and break through normal, everyday experiences to get to the life they really want. In this multl-media campaign, we brought that to life in an evocative, dramatic way.

Proud FM is Toronto's #1 gay music station. Does that mean that gay people listen to music differently than straight people? Absolutely, and proudly so. This simple insight led us to wonder 'How do gay folks hear Metallica? Or Bon Jovi'. And this print campaign answers that question in a way that is both insightful, and hilarious. Special thanks to model-maker Kira Shaimanova and photographer Philip Rostron for bringing this to life.

Art Director: Joel Arbez

Writer: Matt Antonello

Awards: Gold and multiple bronze at Marketing, Applied Arts, ADCC

Every brand is trying to get their followers on social media to share their stories and create content for them. Toyota is no different, but rather than just asking, we sifted their social channels for interesting stories, and then set them to music. Cheesy, over the top music. And we obvioulsy underestimated how much people love power ballads, because now Toyota has more user generated stories than they know what to do with.

Writer: Naeem Ghafari

Art Director: Lena Lee

Awards: One Show shortlist, Canadian Marketing Awards Silver

We partnered with the Canadian Marketing Association to create a promotional film for their professional development programs. The video, entitled ‘I Am a Storyteller', takes a humorous look at the way that titles in the marketing profession today are prone to, well, inflation. People loved it. Okay, people who weren't Creative Directors loved it.

Creative Team: Matt Antonello, Christian Buer, Oskars Trinitis, Cory Hansen

Awards: One Show Shortlist

I have a rule when it comes to advertising - no fart jokes. Unless, of course, you're advertising a product that actually helps eliminate the gas that we've all been laughing about since we were three. And also, unless it is a really simple, funny, memorable idea that is just perfectly photographed and art directed. Then, I look the other way.

Art Director: Joel Arbez

Writer: Matt Antonello

Awards: Communication Art Advertising Annual, Multiple Marketing Awards Bronze, ADDC, Applied Arts

When you completely transform one of the world's most beloved vehicles, you need to be equally bold in how you tell the world that message. In a full multimedia campaign, we brought that life in a completely eye-catching, memorable way.

Baffin are a well known brand of boots here in Canada. The brief was simple - in one of the coldest environments in the world, the make the warmest boots. That's what we brought to life in print, posters and experiential.

Writer: Matt Antonello

Art Director: Joel Arbez

Awards: Marketing, ADCC, Applied Arts

Wedding Republic is a wedding registry with a difference. It allows couples who are engaged to let their guests buy give them wedding gifts with a difference, by allowing them to buy part of a large dream gift, like a trip or an experience, rather than say, a china setting. To create immediate interest in this new company, we used their tiny budget to create online films that show a couple falling in love, in uncensored glory.

Creative Team: Brian Sheppard and Helen Pak

Awards: Applied Arts, ADCC

After being completely redesigned both inside and out, Corolla was not the sedan it used to be. But regardless of what Toyota’s designers had achieved, for most, Corolla was still considered as beige and boring as ever. We needed to change that and prove that this was, in fact, a Corolla like they had never seen before. So we showed the car in ways they had never seen before. In broadcast, we shot it with 99 cameras instead of one. For content, we took people on a badgeless test drive. And in Cinema, we used timeplay to let moviegoers edit a new ad in real time before every film. The result? The most successful Corolla launch in Toyota Canada's history.

Art Director: Joel Arbez

Writer: Matt Antonello

You can't write stories better than the ones that come from real life. Certainly, that's the case with Toyota drivers. We found great stories on Toyota's social media channels, and then simply brought them to life as online content by animating them. The results were delightful, and they underlined the relationship Canadians have with their Toyotas.

Awards - Applied Arts, Bessies

Creative Team: Shauna Roe, Rachel Kennedy

You’ve probably heard – or maybe even told – a joke about Tourette Syndrome. You wouldn’t laugh if you knew how bizarre, variable and random if can be. To show that, we commissioned dozens of short documentaries about people with TS. These films were then hosted on a website where they would be randomly arranged to form a new, larger documentary with each new visit. It generated worldwide recognition, but my favorite part?  Police forces now use it to train their officers on what TS is really like. Visit the site here.

Awards: One Show Interactive. Gold and silver ADDC. Gold CMA. Gold Bessie. Gold Atomic.  Two Gold Digital Marketing Awards. Three Gold Marketing Awards. One Show Interactive. Selected for TIFF, Hot Docs, the Genies and the Palm Spring Shortfest.

Art Director/Co-ECD: Helen Pak

Shane: Directed by Gloria Kim

75 Watts: Directed by John Cullen

Mandeep: Directed by Darren Klimek

After being completely redesigned both on the inside and out, Corolla was not the sedan it used to be. But regardless of what Toyota’s designers had achieved, for most, Corolla was still considered as beige and boring as ever. So we filmed a “badgeless” test drive that let consumers react to the Corolla without actually realizing they were driving one. The results? A great deal of surprise and over 1 million views on youtube.

Newfoundland and Labrador. It’s home to unlikely place names. The sun doesn’t shine two hundred and ten days of the year. And it’s really not an easy place to get to. So you would think that is would not be very enticing tourism product. In fact, the exact opposite is true. The lack of theme parks, crowds, and packaged touristy glitz is exactly what makes Newfoundland and Labrador such an amazing place to visit. Really making the province attractive meant showing the great, unvarnished joys of the place and loving that precise lack of gloss. There are no accidental tourists to Newfoundland and Labrador - you have to want to go. And in the first year this campaign ran, we got people to go - tourism rose for the first time in a decade.

Awards - Gold ICE, ADCC, Gold Cassie, Applied Arts

The new Toyota Avalon marked a real change in Toyota design, mostly because it actually had some design. This idea brought to life the notion that finally, there is a Toyota has styling and design that matches the brand's legendary quality and reliability.

Who doesn't love Proud FM? Well, we can think of a few people. Hard as it is to believe, there are people out there who aren't into great LGBT radio programming, like 'Madonna Mondays'. This campaign just goes the other way, and demonstrates that Proud isn't for everyone. And we're okay with that.

Creative team: Matt Antonello, Joel Arbez

Awards: Applied Arts, ADC

Toyotabelieves that a car company really can create a better tomorrow by what it does today. And it never forgets the important role their vehicles play in people's lives.

Creative Team: Rob Gendron, Andrei Babichuk

Awards: Gold Bessie, ADCC, Applied Arts

When Toyota became the 'Make Things Better' company, they wanted to reassure Canadians that helping make the world a better place started by just doing the little things. To bring this idea to life, we made the smallest efforts look like big deal cinematic events, and ran them in theatres everywhere. 

Art Director: Helen Pak

Awards: ADDC, Cannes Film Shortlist, Applied Arts

When Unilever introduced the Campaign For Real Beauty to Canadian women, they chose one magazine - the 25th anniversary edition of Flare - and bought every ad in the magazine. So in addition to living up to an already famous campaign, we needed 23 executions. Myself and art director Mike Dietrich knew nothing about how women really felt about beauty issues. So we created a simple questionnaire, and left it on the desks of every woman in our building. We got back dozens of personal, touching, and humorous stories that just floored us. And we knew we had found our campaign. The responses were photographed, and then ran as they had come back to us.

Toyota runs surveys on their Facebook page all the time. And often, they only get a handful of responses – not great, considering how large and active their social community is. We thought we could do better, so we created The Most Glorious Survey ever, a Rube Goldberg-like online quiz that changed depending on how it was answered. The result? Thousands of Toyota fans taking a quiz that demanded up to 3 minutes of their time – time they actually enjoyed giving. This was awarded FWA Site of the Day on January 12, 2014.

The site is now down, but you can explore the development in depth at our partner Jam3's website here.

Comedy needs a victim. Comedy comes from a dark place. Comedy equals tragedy plus timing. No matter how you define it, comedy is often on the edge of something really, really terrible. To advertise this film festival, that was the insight that we tapped into.

Art Director: Mike Dietrich

Historical? Has it really been that long. Yes... yes it has. Here's a selection of work from over the years, from a variety of clients.