Reinvention shapes this global indie

roles. Stephanie Yung became chief design officer, Brian Murray was named CCO, and Robyn Morrissey and Jessica Hill were appointed managing directors. Cannes Grand Prix-winning CCO Jenny Glover was recruited from Juniper Park/TBWA and Jam3 VP Leslie Uy joined as managing director of their content and innovation studio Zulubot.

The agency added high-profile accounts including Sephora and the Art Gallery of Ontario, which picked ZAK to lead its brand reinvention. Booking.com was another huge win, coming with the New York office launch. They kicked off the collab with a global platform that launched with an epic musical spot during Super Bowl LVII starring Melissa McCarthy. Not only was the assignment a first for a Canadian independent, but it was also the most-watched Super Bowl spot on YouTube, racking up over 118,000,000 views.

Mroueh explains that the project was the culmination of the combined efforts of all three offices. “We operate as one, borderless creative family,” he notes. “Our mission is to have all our offices support each other to deliver innovative, purpose-built ideas for any client, in any location.”

CONSUMERS AREN’T MAKING it easy. As they find new ways to explore and discover media, marketers have to work harder to stay one step ahead – as do their agency partners. Which is why since its launch in 2008, Zulu Alpha Kilo hasn’t stopped reaching for that next level.

“Part of our founding DNA is to constantly be reinventing ourselves,” says agency founder and creative chairman Zak Mroueh. “To achieve this, we have to always be looking forward, embracing change, and living our values.”

“The word that best describes last year is “evolutionary,” according to president & CEO Mike Sutton. The shop broke through international borders, launching a New York office with ex-Droga5 CCO Tim Gordon, and headed west to hang its shingle in Vancouver with ZAK veteran and managing director David Tremblay. Out of the gate, the new office landed big local wins including AOR assignments for Save-On-Foods and Destination BC. With the arrival of Alicia Petralia, it fired up Zulumatic Media, a digital-first offering aimed at creating a stronger connection between media and creativity.

ZAK’s growth and expansion has opened up growth opportunities for its people. This past year, it made more than a dozen leadership promotions from within. Longtime strategy leads Heather Segal and Maxine Thomas were elevated to CSO

Bringing strategic insight and humanity to the work and achieving huge business goals is central to the shop’s recent work for Pizza Pizza. With inflation rising, the satirical “Fixed Rate Pizza” campaign offered customers the opportunity to “lock in” the price of an extra-large four-topping pizza as they would a mortgage. To date, it’s resulted in over 1.1 million pizzas sold. Then there’s the “Dip Roller,” a tiny paint roller that helped pizza fans spread their favourite dip and garnered over 117,000 requests for the promotional item.

While expansion is bringing new brands and talent into the fold, the agency’s core focus on building equity via brand platforms with longevity is evidenced by its long-running work for Subaru. It most recently launched “The True Urban Legend,” a campaign for the Subaru Crosstrek that treats this legendary model like a mythical beast. It “wanders the streets at night in search of food” and “lives deep in the city,” according to a trio of rural characters featured in the campaign.

With another impressive year’s worth of work, it’s no surprise the 15-year-old indie was recognized as the number-two agency in Canada on the ICA’s 2023 Creative Power List. On the WARC Effective 100, an annual ranking of the most effective agencies in the world, ZAK landed in the 13th spot globally. For the fifth year in a row, it was also named one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies by Deloitte.

So, if the goal is to consistently be evolving, Zulu Alpha Kilo is delivering on that promise. “It’s about going above and beyond to support our clients and people, and always looking in the mirror to ask ourselves how we can perform even better for them,” says Sutton.

1 DNA My Dog offers tests to help pet owners better understand the genetic make-up of their pet, including age and allergies. ZAK worked to update and refresh the brand identity with vibrant packaging that grabbed consumer attention. 2 Bell wanted a unique way to demonstrate how esports compete with traditional leagues for time and prizes. For the “Million Dollar Fingers” campaign, ZAK insured the fingers of Canada’s top Call of Duty team ahead of the Toronto Ultra Major V event. 3 ZAK worked with Harry Rosen on the launch of its Harold x You bespoke menswear line. “Sketch It Out” was dubbed the “first collab between a fashion brand and you,” and enlisted Toronto Raptor Fred VanVleet to try his own custom collab. 4 For the Subaru Crosstrek “True Urban Legend” campaign, a trio of rural characters relay apocryphal tales about the latest model. Having never seen the vehicle themselves, they share urban legends they’ve heard about this thing that “lives deep in the city” and “wanders the streets at night in search of food.” 5 ZAK’s new brand platform for Western Canada’s Save-on-Foods uses humour to capture all the unexpected benefits that come with a grocery store that gives you a little extra. 6 To highlight the unique nature of D2L’s personalized online learning platform, ZAK reimagined the standard school desk to demonstrate D2L’s belief in the power of personalized education.

Layering on a journalistic lens

Agnostic’s strategic hires help it drive conversation and hone in on health

TTORONTO-BASED STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS AGENCY

Agnostic is built on the principle that better thinking drives better results. “Clients and brands want to talk about one thing, while the media wants to talk about another,” says president Sarah Crabbe. “Our job is to find that ‘Trojan horse’ insight that allows us to either start a conversation or insert ourselves into a conversation on behalf of our clients.”

To do that, the agency needed to change how it looked at storytelling and messaging. Last fall it hired Amit Shilton, formerly of the Toronto Star, layering a journalistic lens on its process. “We understand how to drive conversation and build awareness, but he understands how to make that travel in terms of the current hybrid news world that we inhabit and how we make it even more relevant,” Crabbe says.

Case in point, for retailer Metro, the team questioned the definition of “local” – an area of focus for every brand in the grocery space. It also sought to determine what issues are affecting the farming space.

The objective to increase brand awareness of the “Locally Sourced” program and drive consideration for Metro grew to include the promotion of diversity in agriculture and the goal of fostering Ontario’s next generation of farmers.

Metro’s Locally Sourced campaign with the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (RAWF) – where BIPOC farmers spoke to attendees about urban farming – surpassed the 60% brand awareness goal, hitting 72% among RAWF attendees. Metro saw a 49% net increase in consideration and the impressions goal was surpassed by 148% with 130 traditional and social coverage pieces and 50 million impressions.

Since its inception in 2019, Agnostic has transitioned from start-up to scale-up, delivering impact-driven work for other brands including Truss Beverages, Go RVing, Goodfood, Cisco, and consulting firm BCG. In the past two years, Agnostic has ranked in the top five for PR Agency of the Year. And its year-old focus on health is helping it make waves.

Last year it brought on Nancy Dale as SVP in charge of the agency’s burgeoning health practice. “Nancy spent 16 years with the Ontario Medical Association, and she is here because she believes there’s something different needed in the healthcare space,” Crabbe explains.

“COVID-19 changed healthcare communications forever,” she says, noting that the explosion of medical voices on digital channels is the future of that space, further cementing Agnostic’s focus on the vertical.

Crabbe attributes Agnostic’s success to talent, methodology, and its clients.

Many on Agnostic’s team – which has blossomed from two to 30 – came from larger global agencies and bring considerable experience. Climbing the ladder at multinational firms meant getting away from what they loved about the industry in the first place.

“To be back with a senior team and able to deliver counsel one-on-one, to build trust and be able to move fast with very few constraints is the beauty of being independent,” Crabbe says.

Quality versus quantity is a big part of the agency’s model as well as a strategic shift brands need to make to maximize communication plans. “Earned media has never been more coveted or more valuable,” Crabbe notes, so efforts are highly targeted. “We may tell a client we’ll get them 10 pieces of coverage that will move the needle and make a business impact, rather than 10,000 pieces of coverage just for a volume of press clippings.”

She values client trust as integral to success. “Brave clients mean brave work,” she says. She notes that successful brand building amid a shifting market reality entails an appetite for different approaches. Marketers looking to drive change benefit from the reality check and creative alternatives that come from partnering with agencies that are agile and unafraid to challenge the brief, the budget, and expected results.

“We don’t sell services, we solve problems,” Crabbe says. The agency’s approach is right there in its name: Crabbe underlines the importance of the shop not siloing itself into particular tactics, such as either earned or paid. It must remain truly agnostic.

“We identify what our clients need from a communications program: will it drive conversation, and is it the right spend in the right place at the right time? We root ourselves in strategy, build off human truths and bring work to market that drives business impact.”

1 Cheyenne Sundance, a 25-year-old self-taught urban farmer (pictured), helped educate students from underserved communities at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, helping Metro foster the next generation of urban farmers. 2 Cisco’s Fast Future Innovation Awards look to foster a Canadian innovation culture by providing up to $200K to solve companies’ greatest business challenges. LinkedIn was a top-performing channel for driving awareness and registration for the contest through sponsored and organic content. 3 The campaign video for the Fast Future Innovation Awards highlights Cisco’s role in driving innovation in Canada and introduced the contest to viewers in a dynamic way. 4 Menu items from Aloette Restaurant, which partnered with Goodfood on Aloette Go meal kits. Agnostic drove demand via food influencers. 5 For the launch of Truss Beverages’ THC-SAR – Canada’s first cannabis-infused Caesar – Agnostic tapped into media conversations around National Caesar Day and delivered Caesar-inspired “wake and bake” kits to Budtenders, helping Truss to continue dominating the CIB category.

CONTACT: Sarah Crabbe President scrabbe@thinkagnostic.com