From left to right: Marjorie Mackenzie, Joanna Moberg and Peter Roberts.

Taxi has formally unveiled a creative commerce offering, adding to its capabilities in the space and making it part of global growth happening at its parent network.

A distinct division within the agency, Taxi Commerce will offer a full array of creative commerce services, including retail strategy, shopper marketing, ecommerce, social commerce and experiential marketing. It will also have access to resources from VMLY&R Commerce, from processes to data and technology tools (scaling its proprietary Connected Commerce platform globally has been a recent key priority for VMLY&R Commerce).

In its announcement, Taxi pointed to Fido, Circle K, Coca-Cola, Colgate and Thermacell as clients to which it is already bringing its retail expertise, which will be built on by the new offering.

Leading the division will be strategy lead Marjorie Mackenzie (a former independent brand consultant who was hired in January), business lead Peter Roberts (a veteran of Match Retail who was hired last month) and account lead Joanna Moberg (who joined late last year with experience from Mark IV and Bond). The division will report into Taxi Canada president Emma Toth and CCO Graham Lang.

Parent network VMLY&R has been expanding its creative commerce capabilities since 2020, when it absorbed fellow WPP-owned agency Geometry to create VMLY&R commerce. Taxi’s own creative commerce offering has been in “soft launch” mode, building on its experience in the retail space – in addition to its current clients, Taxi has worked with Telus, Canadian Tire, Reitmans, Leon’s and Rogers over the last three decades.

Toth says that formally launching Taxi Commerce as its own division will more closely align its commerce capabilities with the global VMLY&R Commerce network, something that fits well with client demand in retail and commerce.

“As marketers, to be truly effective today, we must build both the brand and drive conversions, regardless of channel,” she says. “Creativity is a must-have everywhere across the consumer journey. And that’s what we do best.”

“With client and industry demand, this is the perfect moment to deepen our credentials and bench strength in commerce in Canada,” said Beth Ann Kaminkow, global CEO of VMLY&R Commerce. “With the potential of Commerce to now take place across the entire consumer journey, we are seeing an emerging imperative for brands and retailers to bring greater creativity to the moment of conversion. The strength of our Canadian team to lead clients through this revolution in commerce is unmatched, and their understanding of ecosystems will be key to driving accelerated brand growth.”