This story was originally published in the fall 2022 issue of strategy.

By Will Novosedlik

For Zulu Alpha Kilo, this last year has been one of investment and expansion – and maybe that’s not all that surprising. Zulu has made a habit of flying in the face of the expected.

This is, after all, the agency that first opened its doors in Toronto in 2008 during an economic crisis. So it made perfect sense for it to undergo a huge expansion during a pandemic that had the whole world in turmoil. The last year has seen Zulu expand both nationally and globally, with offshoots opening in Vancouver and New York. The latter represents the team’s first international growth, opening under the supervision of former Droga5 creative leader Tim Gordon, who was brought in to Zulu as CCO and partner.

And Gordon wasn’t the only top-level personnel move this past year. Another was the addition of former Rain president Christine McNab, who will serve as Zulu’s new CMO, and has been given the mandate to continue to build the brand globally. She’ll also assist in growing and shaping the firm’s production offering, Zulubot, as well as AR, media innovation and CX operation, Zulumatic.

“We’ve doubled down on our investment in people,” sums Zulu chairman and chief creative officer Zak Mroueh of all the growth. “We’ve doubled down on our investment in the future.”

For good measure, the company also bought its own building during the pandemic to serve as Toronto HQ, hiring a top-tier consulting firm with expertise in the hybrid work model to inform the design. Although Zulu will continue giving its employees the flexibility to work from home, the hope is that the energy of a purpose-built studio full of creatives will slowly bring people back.

With all this high-level moving, shaking and expansion going on, it might almost go unnoticed that Zulu Alpha Kilo had yet another banner year in 2022. Epica named it Independent Agency of the Year. It was ranked as the number-one agency in the world at the New York AME awards, and overall Agency of the Year at the UK’s Drum Awards. It won Best of Show at the Media Innovation Awards (MIA), and Zulu was the only Canadian agency to win, as well as the most awarded shop, at the UK’s Indie Awards. It garnered 14 nominations and won six awards from the Canadian Marketing Association and was ranked in the top 10 independent agencies at the D&AD and One Show. The list goes on. On top of that, Deloitte named ZAK one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for the fifth year running.

The recent work is well known. Consider “The Micropedia of Microaggressions,” an online tool designed to help people understand the most common forms of discrimination. For Home Equity Bank, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Legion, Zulu created Orders of Sacrifice, replicating historically accurate World War II field ration kits that could be ordered through DoorDash to support veterans and their families. For Subaru, Zulu executed a brand refresh under the tagline “Welcome to Uncommon,” which focuses less on individual car models and more on the people who drive them. New business wins this year included Save On Foods, A2 Milk, Pizza Pizza, financial management company Ninepoint Partners and Destination BC.

So, while many might have chosen to wait and see what the fallout of the pandemic might have been, that’s just not Zulu’s style. The agency’s combination of talent, independence and aspirations has brought it 14 years of successes. Given its latest moves, it’s in a strong position to continue that track record.

Key New Business
Destination BC, Save-On-Foods, ToursByLocals, A2 Milk, DNA My Dog, Medline Canada, Ninepoint Partners, Pizza Pizza, UHN, Hydro One, Yorkville U

New Hires
Christine McNab, Dean Lee, Michael Mayes, Kelsey Hughes, Ryan Kukec, Erin Rodness, Lucyed Hernandez, Shelagh Moore, Karishma Wadia, Tanios Nims, Samantha Lee, Dejan Djuric, Jackman Chiu, Crystal Huang, Ana-Marija Vlahovic, Jaya Rizzi, Corina Wilkes, Alexa Macdonald, Cindy Nguyen, Erika Dafore, Cosmo Haskard, Shauna McKenna, Robin Scott, Sasha Dan, Ela Profka, Vipandeep Singh, Abdulla Barakji, Amanda Wong, Amy Nguyen, Vipul Deshpande, Samantha Tang, Meredith Ferguson, Patrick Henderson, Cameron Fleming, Vittoria Gibson, Alicia Petralia, Anushka Prakash Babu, Sylvia Stultz, Adam Palmer, Miguel Natividad, Karen Blazer, Ian McCartney, Can Yuksel, Ben Bentivegna, Andrew Sekine, Tracy Wightman

Offices
Toronto, Vancouver, New York

Staff
140

Agency of the Year AOY Cases

1. By portraying seniors as savvy investors instead of hapless simpletons, “Retire in the Home You Love” helped HomeEquity Bank surpass $1 billion in reverse mortgage originations in 2021 for the first time in the company’s history.

2. “Setting the Tone” for Harry Rosen humorously focused on “golfcore” – fashion for the links. It more than doubled norms for favourability (125%).

3. To show how Subaru drivers are unlike others, “Welcome to Uncommon” showed how they’re up for any adventure, helping Subaru realize over 59M digital impressions.

4. Working with Door Dash to deliver World War II field ration kits, the Royal Canadian Legion generated media coverage across Canada with “Orders of Sacrifice.”

5. The “Micropedia of Microaggressions” noted all the ways we can be unkind without thinking, delivering 8M earned impressions and tons of press.