The choice of Beyond Meat burgers is one way people can reduce their environmental footprint. The image above was used as a part of a Toronto “ride-thru,” where Agnostic executed a burger giveaway to cyclists on Earth Day. The campaign ran across PR, XM, social and digital.
Only three years after its creation, strategic communications agency Agnostic has shifted from start-up to scale-up and had its most successful year to date, says president Sarah Crabbe.
“This year has seen us solidify what we’re about as an agency,” she says, noting the agency increased its firepower by expanding its employee count from single digits 18 months ago to almost 30 and venturing into healthcare communications.
Agnostic recognized the latter opportunity after receiving repeated requests as to whether it worked in health.
Agnostic helped bring to life a new brand look, feel, and narrative for Northland Power, better positioning the organization as one of the market leaders that are “Transforming Power” for a sustainable future.
“There wasn’t any facet of communications that was not impacted by COVID-19,” she says. “It was a wide-reaching decision. The way we approach healthcare communications has forever changed and we want to be at the forefront of helping our clients navigate that change – especially with most people consuming healthcare information in a number of new ways.”
“We took a big leap into health with the hire of Nancy Dale as SVP,” Crabbe continues. Dale, who spent 16 years leading communications, stakeholder relations and branding at the Ontario Medical Association, is joined by Tenney Loweth as Agnostic’s director of health.
Agnostic also brought in Sherri-Lyn Brown to lead its consumer practice. The former VP, national food sector lead at Edelman provides a senior consumer lens for brands such as Food Basics and Goodfood.
HPSA and Agnostic uncovered that most parents weren’t keeping medications locked away from their kids. The agency partnered with Drug Free Kids Canada to highlight the importance of safely disposing or storing them. The campaign encompassed PR, social and digital.
Targeted hires of established veterans with strong industry relationships has led to new clients and referral business.
The agency scored big client wins in healthcare and elsewhere, including work in nephrology (the treatment of kidney diseases) for Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, RBCx’s Dr. Bill medical billing app, and creating a new brand narrative for Northland Power. Other new partnerships include Harmon’s Craft Brewing, Manulife and the Child Development Institute.
As part of its foray into health, Agnostic hosted a webinar on the power shift in public health communications in the wake of COVID-19, hosted by medical reporter Avis Favaro. It addressed the trend of doctors increasingly becoming the bearers of healthcare news and opinion on platforms including Twitter and TikTok. There is a huge opportunity in using emerging science communicators as healthcare storytellers on social media, Crabbe notes.
Approaching things differently “has been a big driver in terms of our growth this year,” she adds.
For example, to ensure the Food Basics grocery chain was speaking to all its customers, Agnostic created a campaign that went beyond the traditional key holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“There are other holidays, like Ramadan, that are equally as important to celebrate,” Crabbe says. Agnostic partnered with influencers such as Tasnim Rahman, who was filmed shopping for Ramadan products in Food Basics stores, preparing meals and breaking the fast. This resulted in high engagement on social and in-store.
Agnostic worked with influencers including Tasnim Rahman to help celebrate different holidays for Food Basics. Rahman showcased her Ramadan traditions, such as breaking the fast with piyaju.
For Beyond Meat, Agnostic executed an on-brand product giveaway on Earth Day (April 22). The brand took over Toronto’s Woodbine Beach bike path and rewarded cyclists with “a more sustainably effective product – a burger from Beyond Meat.”
While other brands have been accused of greenwashing on Earth Day, the initiative aimed to show how small changes such as cycling can reduce people’s environmental footprint.
“This was about creating something that felt rooted in who they are as a company – feeding a better future,” Crabbe says.
“We talk about solving for – and not selling to – our clients.” The agency is at its best when it ensures its work is “rooted in insights and strategy and good solid thinking with clients as part of that journey,” she says, referencing its ethos: “better thinking, better results.”
In the past couple of years, the Agnostic approach won gold for Metro and Truss Beverage programs at the CPRS Awards, silver for Truss at the Strategy Awards, and it has been shortlisted for Strategy PR Agency of the Year two years running.
“We make sure the work we’re doing has a positive impact on our clients’ businesses,” says Crabbe. “We never lose sight of the importance of delivering strategically sound, culturally relevant work that sets the pace for our clients and ourselves.”
CONTACT:
Sarah Crabbe
President
scrabbe@thinkagnostic.com
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