HQ: Vancouver

Founded: 1999

Employees: 65

Ownership: 8 partners

Major clients: A&W, Future Shop, Sobeys, Bell

Rethink is fiercely protective of its small agency culture. It would rather turn down new business than take on a project lacking an opportunity to be creative.

Despite racking up a slew of high-profile awards like Cannes Lions, Clios and One Show Pencils, not to mention being crowned strategy’s Agency of the Year last year, and winning impressive accounts like Future Shop, Bell Solo and A&W, the agency still has just 65 employees. And that’s the way they like it.

‘We keep our overhead low,’ explains founding partner Tom Shepansky. ‘I have a small cubicle. It’s symbolic of our stripped-down model.’ He says the agency’s business plan is to rethink advertising, putting quality ahead of profit. And that’s not just lip service. Rethink recently turned down an invitation to compete for the high-profile, lucrative VANOC business because it suspected the opportunity to be creative might get bogged down in the three levels of government involved in the process. ‘We said: ‘We may be fools, but we’re going to respectfully decline,” says Shepansky.

While Rethink’s staff is small, the agency is careful not to overwork its employees. It offers a generous vacation package – three weeks a year, plus an extra week at Christmas. ‘I think that’s important. You get better productivity,’ says Shepansky, adding that he rejects the term

work-life balance. ‘We view it as a balanced life that work is part of. Work does not precede life.’

He credits good planning for Rethink’s ability to maintain nine-to-five work days most of the time. If one creative team is overwhelmed, the traffic manager will pass one of its projects to another team. ‘It’s common sense,’ says Shepansky. ‘The key is giving creatives enough time – we give them weeks, not days – to develop ideas.’

Ideally, creative teams are given the opportunity to flesh out dozens of ideas, which are submitted for peer review before being shown to clients. The ideas are evaluated based on the CRAFT principle – clear, relevant, achievable, fresh and true. ‘If you allow yourself time to do 100 ideas, one will be great through creative direction,’ says Shepansky. And they eschew wasting time on time sheets.

The entire staff goes on an annual retreat, usually to a ski lodge, for one day of employee-led professional development, and one day of fun. Rethink also tries to spend time at client Playland’s amusement park at least once a year.

The agency is currently pitching its ideas to Mr. Lube, which it sees as a category ripe for change. If the agency’s track record for shaking up other categories – like the rats in jackets did for 1-800-GOT-JUNK and the business-meeting-turned-makeout-party did for Science World – is any indication, the quick lube category is about to get a lot more interesting.