If you ask Gino Cantalini, the advertising business has an agency problem.
Specifically, he says, there’s just too many agencies – the market is “saturated,” to use his words, by the few major networks and a ton of independents, specialized shops and consultancies. It’s a big change from when he co-founded Giants & Gentlemen, the independent agency he departed from last year, back in 2012. And, he tells strategy, it’s reflective of the growing complexity in today’s market for marketers.
That’s why he’s launched his new offering, Roadtrip, which is something of a hybrid between creative and strategic consultancy and project management firm. Cantalini knows what it is like on both sides of the relationship: before Giants & Gentlemen, he was a VP of marketing at Telus and Molson Coors, and also held senior roles in marketing departments at Labatt and Campbell’s.
The new business came together “organically.” After leaving Giants & Gentlemen and taking some time out to himself, Cantalini (pictured, right) started talking to his marketer connections in the sector to get a sense of where their pain points were.
“Being a CMO is such a complex job, and I think that the industry reflects that with its fragmentation and specialization, as well as those larger agencies that are introducing full-service offerings,” he explains. Spoiled for choice and confronted with far more demands on their brand than they might have been even just a decade ago, Cantalini says, has left some marketers feeling overwhelmed and frustrated.
The model is simple: marketers approach Cantalini with their challenges, and he works as a strategic consultant, helping the brand identify challenges and opportunities. He then “helps them figure out a path forward,” while sticking around to competitively price and hire talent on a per-project basis. “I manage the production and make sure it’s done with excellence and integration,” he adds.
Cantalini is “unapologetically” the only full-time employee on Roadtrip’s payroll.
“From a personnel standpoint, this is me with some administrative support,” he elaborates. “But I also have a massive list of vetted potential partners – be they freelance specialists or agencies, local or abroad – that marketers can leverage.”
Cantalini couldn’t share specifics about the clients he has already worked with, because the work is not yet in market. However, he has worked with a well-known brewery looking to tighten its positioning and deliver a brand campaign, a biotech firm that is preparing for direct-to-consumer and a health and safety leader looking to change its space.
Through that work, he has tapped freelance talent in Toronto and Buenos Aires, and has worked on projects ranging from company mission, brand positioning and identity, campaign development and go-to-market planning.
Cantalini is wary of calling his model “the answer to all of [the sector’s] problems.”
“That would be naïve, but there are instances – particularly for mid-size companies – where they need a partrner who they can trust, sit down and work with, and who they can really depend upon to carry their plans out,” he says. “Someone who can make sure that they have the resources they need and that the integration is present. In those cases, I think this model will really work for them.”
