Culture-mining to underpin brand relevance

Mint doubles down on mission to help brands connect with culture

CCULTURE FUELS MINT’S DNA.

A quick walkthrough of the Toronto-based agency’s offices proves this ethos runs through everything it does. The walls are covered with images of its disruptive work, from a collaboration with Drag Race Canada winner Priyanka to lightboxes showing off its freshly minted community hub HomeCourt.

The palpable creative energy speaks to what president Samantha Margolis Fogle sees as “the headline of our agency, which has a foundation in PR. We aim to listen, understand, and take inspiration from culture, then give back by making work that cuts through the noise and creates a positive impact.”

The agency’s 70-person team of “culture creatures” uses its expertise across disciplines to find new ways of communicating with ever-changing audiences. This integrated approach allows Mint to be agile and create work with impact.

When YouTube Shorts launched in Canada, Mint was tasked with figuring out how to connect with a younger audience that didn’t see YouTube as a top destination for short-form content.

Above: Mint invited social media influencers such as duo LBros (pictured) to remix their videos to herald the launch of the YouTube Shorts platform. Right: 1 Hershey put images of women in street culture on chocolate bars to spotlight their stories and entice younger consumers to the brand.

2 Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri and former mayor John Tory pose in front of the Humanity Art Installation outside Toronto’s Union Station. Mint garnered press coverage for the unveiling, then engaged like-minded Canadians to share word of the launch and the mission of Ujiri’s Humanity Movement, which seeks to push forward conversations on race and social justice. 3 This Halloween-themed spot combines live action and animation to make the point that GoGo SqueeZ pouches are preferred by kids over a scary fruit-and-veggie monster.

CONTACT:

Samantha Margolis Fogle President samm@themintagency.com

“We looked at how YouTube has been the OG of remix culture with iconic viral videos remixed throughout the world,” recalls executive creative director Kim Tarlo. The idea of “remix” fits in perfectly with YouTube’s audience, which is inspired by music, fashion and gaming, and with the right tools can combine references from these spheres into something new.

Mint teamed up with prolific music producer WondaGurl to remix an anthem track for the launch campaign. It also partnered with talent including dancer Bizzy Boom and singer Charlotte Cardin on an anthemic video showing how you can remix through YouTube Shorts. The agency then tapped micro-influencers to remix their own videos.

The launch took over billboards at Toronto’s Yonge and Dundas with Bizzy Boom fans taking photos and tagging him. “People were excited to see their heroes in a big campaign, but it also had this grassroots feel of working with Gen Z content creators and moving them from their typical platforms to YouTube Shorts,” says Tarlo.

The remix concept resulted in over 100 pieces of content, 2.2M views within a week, 3.4M unique engagements, over 250 creator posts, and 12% YouTube Shorts engagement (above the 5% benchmark).

Such success is based on the connection to culture that is the secret sauce at Mint, which Margolis Fogle launched in 2005 with her husband, CEO Jordan Fogle. “It’s where we look for inspiration and how we work with our clients,” she says.

Mint seeks out the human insight that will make its work relevant, engaging, and accessible to the audiences that brands are trying to reach. “We all have references from music, movies, and fashion, and we bring it to the work,” says Tarlo.

Making ads that succeed as entertainment is often top of mind.

For GoGo squeeZ fruit pouches, Mint teamed with animation studio Wonderlust and Nimble Content to create a Halloween-themed spot featuring kids recounting a story – told in animation – about a scary fruit-and-veggie monster. But those healthy things aren’t at all frightening when in GoGo form. Designed with both parents and kids in mind, the spot has had 8.6M video views.

Work for legacy brand Hershey also tapped into a cultural need by spotlighting a specific demographic. “Hershey is a women-led organization, and supporting women was part of what it did, but it never planted a stake in the ground,” VP Ashley White notes. But the chocolate maker wanted to make this mission part of a global campaign to get younger consumers to consider the brand.

Since Hershey bars are sold on nearly every street corner, and yet women are underrepresented in street art, Mint worked with five women involved in the scene. It collaborated with a local graffiti artist to create illustrations of them to put on chocolate bars, and filmed hero spots for each, spotlighting their efforts in street culture. The campaign earned 198.5M media impressions and 5.2M earned influencer impressions.

Just as keen to support culture outside of marketing, earlier this year Mint launched HomeCourt, a multi-functional venue in Toronto where entrepreneurs, brands, and creators could access space to connect and create. HomeCourt has held pop-up markets with artistic vendors as well as workshops, parties, and art shows, and launched a residency program, giving emerging artists access to Mint resources and mentorship.

CEO Jordan Fogle explains: “We see it as a way to not only give back to creative culture but also to continue to be a part of it. And it brings in a lot of thinkers, artists, and creators to collaborate with us.”