The unique management philosophy at Garneau Wurstlin Philp Brand Engineering seems to be paying off, with the addition of a second staff team to accommodate the growth of the agency’s business.
The firm’s business model more closely resembles a jazz trio than a traditional agency, with staff organized into three-person ‘pods’ consisting of an account planner, art director and copy writer. Each pod gets its own brand assignments and clients work with the team as a whole, removing the old-style separation between client and creative.
Founders Philippe Garneau, Michael Wurstlin and Bruce Philp had been the agency’s only complete pod, until the addition this month of Mike Harper, who joins art director Michael Sundell and copywriter Matt Cyberg-Olsen to fill out the second triumvirate.
Harper has a master’s degree in sociology, a strong background in research and comes from four years at TBWA Chiat/Day where he was director of planning.
Sundell joined the agency last April after stints with agencies in New York, Portland, Ore. and Seattle, Wash.
Cyberg-Olsen signed on two months later after dropping out of law school to work in advertising with several Toronto agencies, including Ranscombe & Co.
Philp, managing partner of gwp, says the pod system has been efficient and successful, offering clients the opportunity to work closely with all the people engaged in solving their brand problems. But the system has also meant the firm had to turn down chances to pitch for new business because the original team had reached its capacity.
‘As soon as we hit the wall in terms of what the three of us could do, we needed to put together three more of `us’ that had their own package of benefits to offer, work in a reasonably autonomous way and offer the same sort of product we do.’
While the current workload means a third team could be added almost immediately, Philp says the agency wants to be smart and cautious about its growth and wait until the end of 1998 before making that decision.
gwp clients include Ferrero Canada, ING Direct, Rogers Communications, and Royal LePage.
