In a spot using vignettes of situations in which people claim to be too busy or tired to prepare a meal, G&G inserts beauty shots of different and unexpected Clover Leaf recipes, followed by the super, “Yes You Can!” to emphasize how quick and easy they are.
G&G advertising, the Toronto agency formerly known as Giants & Gentlemen, has taken the opportunity of its 10th anniversary to refresh its brand to better reflect its innovative, unexpected approach.
“We wanted to make it true to our personality today,” says founding partner Alanna Nathanson. “The new identity reflects our creativity and uniqueness. It’s simple, vibrant and connotes a sense of endless possibilities.”
This Enercare spot features weird basement noises revealing an old furnace room transformed into an 80s dance club with disco music and colored lights, accompanied by the line “Furnace stuck in the past? Time for an upgrade.”
She adds, “Our philosophy is still ‘be brave, be decent.’ It’s about doing meaningful, memorable work, while always having integrity. It all stems from who [co-CEO and CCO] Natalie Armata and I are.”
The agency of 25 has enjoyed a mix of established brand relationships and new business wins this year. It has seen accounts including Harvey’s, Enercare and RBC continue to grow organically, while gaining new assignments from Peoples Jewellers, burrito and taco QSR Quesada, and Bernstein Diet & Health Clinic. Other key accounts include the Canadian Internet Registry Authority (CIRA), Dr. Oetker, Clover Leaf and Fisherman’s Friend.
To build on Harvey’s key differentiator of allowing customers to choose their own toppings, G&G spots humorously feature workers suddenly acting like bosses after being able to dress their burgers as they please.
For long-standing client CIRA, G&G was tasked with finding a clever way to convince local Canadian businesses that the DOT CA domain is an effective way to attract customers. The first three years saw the humorous “Choose.ca” and “Don’t Be a Traitor” campaigns built around the “domain squad,” a group of geeky characters dressed like Mounties and park rangers.
This year’s creative is built around Canada geese, which, while proud symbols of Canada, can also be real jerks. In the 15- and 30-second spots, one of the feathered creatures aggressively persuades a pizza shop owner to go with .CA over .COM. The fully integrated “Choose success, choose .CA” campaign rolled out in October on traditional and connected TV and social and digital platforms.
G&G extended its satirical use of Canadian tropes to get the message across for the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. This year’s campaign features a Canada goose strongly urging a business owner to choose a .CA domain over a .COM.
Much of G&G’s most resonant work is comical. “We believe humour is the great unifier. It’s a way to relate as humans, and for a brand to say, ’We get you; we see you,’” says Nathanson.
For Harvey’s, the message is built around the brand’s key differentiator: pick your own toppings. It’s one of the few situations where you get to call the shots, and so the “Burger Boss” campaign features a warehouse trainee who has just come back from Harvey’s, where she topped her burger the way she wanted (extra “Harv sauce”) and starts acting like a power-mad supervisor.
In this Bernstein Diet & Health Clinic spot, a woman fashions a smoothie out of kitchen waste, house plants and potting soil and guzzles it, followed by a super that encourages viewers to instead “trust the experts” on weight-loss.
In a more serious vein, to help the Assaulted Women’s Helpline (AWHL) demonstrate the difficulty for victims to leave their abusers, G&G completely bricked in Toronto homes so they had no entry or escape points. Lawn signs read: “When you live with abuse, there’s no easy way out.” An OOH series carried the same message. The campaign delivered the single biggest donation the AWHL has ever received.
To help the Assaulted Women’s Helpline illustrate how victims of domestic abuse can be trapped, G&G bricked in the windows and doors of houses and put up signs reading “When you live with abuse, there’s no easy way out.” Passersby were asked to comment on camera to complete the message.
G&G has made notable additions to its team. Agency veteran Sally McConnell, formerly of Public and Taxi, joins as VP business lead, along with VP business lead Mary Ruf, who has had stints at McCann and Young & Rubicam. Writer and ACD Graeme Campbell comes from Bleublancrouge and DentsuBos, and G&G also tapped the creative team of Matt Camara and James Ly, who both worked at Doug & Partners.
Nathanson says the agency has long prided itself for being nimble and resilient. She recalls her team boarding a flight to South America to shoot a campaign just as the president of the brand in question decided he wanted different scripts. “We managed to do rewrites in a matter of hours, incorporating our location,” she recalls. “We ended up with great spots and happy clients.”
With eyes on a happy work/life balance, all employees are free to work from anywhere. “We’re all about getting the best work out of people in the way that works best for them, and the pandemic simply heightened that ability,” notes Armata. “It’s about hiring the right people and trusting them. And with working from anywhere, the world is our oyster. Three of our new hires are from outside of Toronto. Our talent pool is as open as our client base.”
CONTACT:
Alanna Nathanson
Co-CEO and CCO
a.nathanson@gandgadvertising.com
The 2023 Indie List:
Intro
Zulu Alpha Kilo: Borderless creativity
Agnostic: Meeting brand demand in health and food
123w: Creative-driven M.O. serves as brand accelerant
Push Media: Focus on audience and research serves changing brand needs
Lg2: Fresh lens; different perspectives
Ray Agency: Leading brands to unexpected places
Rain: Growing to reach new heights
Fuse Create: Creative efficacy for the win
Round: A model for our (budget-conscious) times
Sister Merci: Homegrown cannabis brand building cred
A&C: Connecting for growth and the greater good
