Zulu Alpha Kilo teamed with Booking.com on the epic musical film “Somewhere, Anywhere” starring Melissa McCarthy. The 30-second version was the most-watched Super Bowl LVII spot on YouTube and a two minute cut ran during the Oscars broadcast.
Consumers aren’t making it easy. As they find new ways to explore and discover media, marketers have to work harder to stay one step ahead – as do their agency partners. Which is why since its launch in 2008, Zulu Alpha Kilo hasn’t stopped reaching for that next level.
“Part of our founding DNA is to constantly be reinventing ourselves,” says agency founder and creative chairman Zak Mroueh. “To achieve this, we have to always be looking forward, embracing change, and living our values.”
DNA My Dog offers tests to help pet owners better understand the genetic make-up of their pet, including age and allergies. ZAK worked to update and refresh the brand identity with vibrant packaging that grabbed consumer attention.
“The word that best describes last year is “evolutionary,” according to president & CEO Mike Sutton. The shop broke through international borders, launching a New York office with ex-Droga5 CCO Tim Gordon, and headed west to hang its shingle in Vancouver with ZAK veteran and managing director David Tremblay. Out of the gate, the new office landed big local wins including AOR assignments for Save-On-Foods and Destination BC. With the arrival of Alicia Petralia, it fired up Zulumatic Media, a digital-first offering aimed at creating a stronger connection between media and creativity.
Bell wanted a unique way to demonstrate how esports compete with traditional leagues for time and prizes. For the “Million Dollar Fingers” campaign, ZAK insured the fingers of Canada’s top Call of Duty team ahead of the Toronto Ultra Major V event.
ZAK’s growth and expansion has opened up growth opportunities for its people. This past year, it made more than a dozen leadership promotions from within. Longtime strategy leads Heather Segal and Maxine Thomas were elevated to CSO roles. Stephanie Yung became chief design officer, Brian Murray was named CCO, and Robyn Morrissey and Jessica Hill were appointed managing directors. Cannes Grand Prix-winning CCO Jenny Glover was recruited from Juniper Park/TBWA and Jam3 VP Leslie Uy joined as managing director of their content and innovation studio Zulubot.
The agency added high-profile accounts including Sephora and the Art Gallery of Ontario, which picked ZAK to lead its brand reinvention. Booking.com was another huge win, coming with the New York office launch. They kicked off the collab with a global platform that launched with an epic musical spot during Super Bowl LVII starring Melissa McCarthy. Not only was the assignment a first for a Canadian independent, but it was also the most-watched Super Bowl spot on YouTube, racking up over 118,000,000 views.
ZAK worked with Harry Rosen on the launch of its Harold x You bespoke menswear line. “Sketch It Out” was dubbed the “first collab between a fashion brand and you,” and enlisted Toronto Raptor Fred VanVleet to try his own custom collab.
Mroueh explains that the project was the culmination of the combined efforts of all three offices. “We operate as one, borderless creative family,” he notes. “Our mission is to have all our offices support each other to deliver innovative, purpose-built ideas for any client, in any location.”
Bringing strategic insight and humanity to the work and achieving huge business goals is central to the shop’s recent work for Pizza Pizza. With inflation rising, the satirical “Fixed Rate Pizza” campaign offered customers the opportunity to “lock in” the price of an extra-large four-topping pizza as they would a mortgage. To date, it’s resulted in over 1.1 million pizzas sold. Then there’s the “Dip Roller,” a tiny paint roller that helped pizza fans spread their favourite dip and garnered over 117,000 requests for the promotional item.
For the Subaru Crosstrek “True Urban Legend” campaign, a trio of rural characters relay apocryphal tales about the latest model. Having never seen the vehicle themselves, they share urban legends they’ve heard about this thing that “lives deep in the city” and “wanders the streets at night in search of food.”
While expansion is bringing new brands and talent into the fold, the agency’s core focus on building equity via brand platforms with longevity is evidenced by its long-running work for Subaru. It most recently launched “The True Urban Legend,” a campaign for the Subaru Crosstrek that treats this legendary model like a mythical beast. It “wanders the streets at night in search of food” and “lives deep in the city,” according to a trio of rural characters featured in the campaign.
ZAK’s new brand platform for Western Canada’s Save-on-Foods uses humour to capture all the unexpected benefits that come with a grocery store that gives you a little extra.
With another impressive year’s worth of work, it’s no surprise the 15-year-old indie was recognized as the number-two agency in Canada on the ICA’s 2023 Creative Power List. On the WARC Effective 100, an annual ranking of the most effective agencies in the world, ZAK landed in the 13th spot globally. For the fifth year in a row, it was also named one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies by Deloitte.
To highlight the unique nature of D2L’s personalized online learning platform, ZAK reimagined the standard school desk to demonstrate D2L’s belief in the power of personalized education.
So, if the goal is to consistently be evolving, Zulu Alpha Kilo is delivering on that promise. “It’s about going above and beyond to support our clients and people, and always looking in the mirror to ask ourselves how we can perform even better for them,” says Sutton.
CONTACT:
Christine McNab
Chief marketing officer
christine.mcnab@zulualphakilo.com
The 2023 A-Listers:
Agnostic: Layering on a journalistic lens
Daughter: Designing with purpose
Zerotrillion: Crafting cultural connections
Havas: Harnessing the power of meaningful media
Arrivals + Departures: Bold moves bolster offering and drive scale
Mint: Culture-mining to underpin brand relevance
Berners Bowie Lee: Stepping outside the advertising bubble
Initiative: Marketing for good
