AGENCY | GOLD + DESIGN | GOLD + DIGITAL | SILVER + PR | SILVER

This story was originally published in the 2023 fall issue of strategy magazine. 

What do you do next when you’re at the top? Jerry Seinfeld’s answer to that very question was to end his immensely popular show Seinfeld in 1998, despite the NBC promise of a US$5 million-per-episode salary. He wanted his work to remain forever etched in time as the best.

But Rethink’s global CCO, partner Aaron Starkman and global CSO, partner Sean McDonald have no intention of closing up shop just because their leading creative agency has been sitting at the peak of the mountain and winning awards for the last several years. “Rethinkers aren’t satisfied with being at the top,” Starkman explains. “You can look at it as ‘There’s only one way left to go and that’s down,’ or you can find a higher mountain.” And finding more mountains to climb is in line with the Rethink way.

When the agency was founded back in 1999, its founders – Chris Staples, Ian Grais and Tom Shepansky, who were working at a big network at the time – were rethinking where they wanted to spend their time and careers. They wondered whether they were living the values they believed in. The answer came back as a clear “No.” And so Rethink was born – a place to reconsider your priorities, a place that puts people first, an independent agency that encourages its people to reimagine the way the work is done.

“[Rethink is] a powerful word. Everything we do comes down to that word. It can be rethinking strategy, rethinking ways of getting insights, how to tackle creative processes, how to do it all differently – rethinking the way things have always been done,” Starkman shares. “We’ve set the tone for what a lot of agencies are pursuing these days,” McDonald nods in agreement, “it’s based on a visceral dissatisfaction with the status quo.”

Rethink is clear about its mission, which is “to inspire more believers by doing the best work of our careers and being the example all creative organizations want to emulate,” says Starkman. “The agency is laser-focused on this vision, but it isn’t stingy about it. Rethink’s secret sauce is available to all in a book called Rethink the Business of Creativity by Grais, Shepansky and Staples. “We’re giving away our best ideas. We don’t keep them to ourselves,” adds Starkman. Rethink encourages the rest of the industry to follow the agency’s path and avoid meetings on Mondays (which push people to work on the weekends) or add built-in rest time through things like its Independence Week so that the entire organization gets additional time off (winter holidays shouldn’t be the only time people get a break).

Rethink’s work is known for having penetrated the cultural zeitgeist. The agency has embraced being at the intersection of earned media, social and content development. It’s now a forte. A couple of years ago, anticipating this trend, the agency brought in PR lead Meredith Montgomery (who previously worked at comms firms like Ketchum and Hill & Knowlton) to establish and manage its “brand narrative” work. “We’ve got an exceedingly strong internal editorial and production group with a disposition towards earned media,” McDonald explains. This ensures that Rethink is telling consistent stories against the brand strategy. It works with clients like A&W, Tangerine and others to tell their story through content, media relations and social in an ongoing day-to-day fashion.

When its comes to investments in capabilities, emerging technology isn’t an obsession. “Everybody wants to talk about AI and digital and tech, but one of our biggest developments is our Rethinker experience group. This group looks at the training and the support that Rethinkers are getting,” McDonald says. Rethink has turned inward and made improvements with regards to how it inspires its talent, bringing in external speakers to help amplify their thinking and programs that offer employee support. AI isn’t replacing human creativity, the agency’s CCO believes. “AI can create an adequate rip-o-matic, it can do average work. It’s using existing ads to do that. And it’s important that an agency is not just doing adequate work or work that is familiar. We’re striving to be not just adequate, but exceptional.”

In true fashion, Rethink likes to work with clients that are equally obsessed with living their values.

“We have the pleasure of working with Scotiabank’s global CMO Laura Curtis Ferrera and being part of an initiative that helps align their hockey sponsorship. It’s significant and important to Scotiabank, to the NHL and to Canadian hockey fans and players,” McDonald says of the bank’s “Hockey For All” program. “They have stood by their values all the way from challenging the NHL to get better, down to grassroots level efforts.”

“Hockey For All” recognizes that the Canadian sport has not been diverse or inclusive for far too long. In practice, it’s a sponsorship program that helps fund organizations that believe in Scotiabank’s commitment of making hockey a sport that is truly for all Canadians (focusing on cultural and financial initiatives). The concept was generated within the agency, and then actualized in a programmatic way by the bank.

“Hockey For All,” in its first year in 2021, donated $3 million to likeminded organizations that are trying to make hockey accessible, benefitting over 290,000 youth.

Rethink expanded on this program with a children’s book called The Hockey Jersey – written by the author of acclaimed Gutter Child, Jael Richardson and twelve-year-old hockey player Eva Perron. The book, released in January 2023, features children from underrepresented communities playing hockey – because, when you see yourself on the page, you can see yourself in the game.

“The book has been distributed massively, starting with Indigo, across the country,” says McDonald. “My daughters have it in their school’s library and they’ve talked about it. I don’t think there’s a piece of work – and we’ve been a part of a lot – that is so meaningful and so important for a bank and a league.” All the net proceeds of the book sales go to an organization that provides newcomers and high-priority youth with free on-and off-ice life skills programs. Since its launch, Scotiabank has donated an additional 8,500 copies of the book to public libraries.

But that is just one recent piece of work that Rethink has done that feels vital and influential. Another was collaborating with Decathlon to change the international symbol for accessibility starting in their parking lots. The symbols represented a variety of different abilities. Helping contribute to a better world, as Starkman and McDonalds confirm, is just part of the job at this agency.

To make sure they stick to their values and mission, there is a system in place. CRAFTS is an acronym embodying Rethink’s creative principles: C is for clear, R is for relevant, A is for achievable, F is for fresh, T is for true and S is for shareable. If the work they’re doing passes the CRAFTS test, then Rethink knows it won’t be ignored. Rethink’s creative principles ensures its work makes a difference, which then generates more interesting opportunities. For example, the purpose-led campaigns Rethink has built for Scotiabank and others have attracted the likes of Telus and Destination Canada.

“What’s exciting for us is that leveraging our ability to connect with culture and outperform the media investment, begets other opportunities to make a difference,” McDonalds adds, “and that is very motivating for Rethinkers.”

But if the two were to impart some business wisdom accrued through experience, it’s that the humans involved are just as important as the work being done. They encourage all creatives to look inward and “work as hard on yourself as you do on the work.”

New Business

Tangerine, Frito-Lay, Telus, Yves Rocher, Bibigo, Epidemic Sound Béatrice, ATCO Energy, United Way BC

Offices

Toronto, Montreal,Vancouver, New York.

Staff

334

CASES | AGENCY

1. Creating cultural understanding. KitKat celebrated Ramadan’s daily Iftar break with a special 30-piece KitKat Iftar Bar, aligning the brand with the Muslim community’s traditions. The culturally-led campaign highlighted the holiday’s significance and also offered a digital fasting tracker. The Iftar Bar, with its lunar calendar inspired packaging, was supported by Muslim influencers, creating buzz and generating over two million impressions in just seven days.

2. For Tangerine, Rethink tackled banking complexities with a simple, disruptive “Hoops” campaign, highlighting the unnecessary hurdles consumers need to jump through to do their banking.

3. IKEA Canada’s “Bring Home to Life” campaign highlighted homes as emotional sanctuaries. Rethink created a touching hero spot and “Window Shopping” OOH displays to showcase the power of home and its emotional connections.

4. “Ketchup Fraud” aimed to reaffirm Heinz’s unmatched status by exposing restaurants refilling the brand’s bottles with generic ketchup. The tagline? “Even when it isn’t Heinz, it has to be Heinz.”

5. Rethink and Scotiabank’s The Hockey Jersey promoted diversity in hockey. The campaign, endorsed by figures like PK Subban, is being utilized in schools and libraries to shape hockey perceptions for the next generation.

CASES | DESIGN

1. For Heinz Ketchup, Rethink partnered with thredUP to create a thrifted fashion collection stained with Heinz ketchup. Launched during New York Fashion Week, the zero-waste collection offered a sustainable design alternative, with proceeds donated to Rise Against Hunger.

2. Rethink and La Maison Grise used Halloween to spotlight domestic abuse with “Fear Windows,” decals depicting real violence in high-risk Montreal neighbourhoods. It aimed to challenge perceptions of femicide as entertainment in Halloween movies.

CASES | DIGITAL

1. Want fries with that painful conversation? Rethink and McCain introduced the “Distractifry” to showcase its fry category leadership and promote family togetherness during the holidays. The voice-activated device dispenses fries when triggered by awkward family conversation topics, redirecting contentious dinner discussions.

2. To counter declining sales, Philadelphia and Rethink launched a digital drop of “Schmear Socks,” hijacking the hype around Nike’s Montreal Bagel Dunks. Available in three styles, the socks were sold exclusively on Instagram, reigniting brand love among younger consumers.

3. The “Heinz A.I. Ketchup” campaign leveraged AI imagery to prove Heinz is synonymous with ketchup. The campaign crowd-sourced image prompts on social and featured the generated images in newspaper, OOH ads and special edition Heinz bottles.

CASES | PR

1. Teaching an old dog new tricks. Rethink helped A&W revive the Whistle Dog in response to repeated fan requests. Working with a limited budget, they leveraged loyal fans’ songs and other elements (not to mention a Change.org petition) to make a splash. A surprise on-air delivery of the Whistle Dog to superfans, a documentary, and a partnership with the Toronto Blue Jays helped generate buzz.

2. To challenge stereotypes, Rethink and the Ordre des infirmières du Québec launched the “Real Nurse Costume,” featuring authentic scrubs, PPE and a stethoscope. Shoppers who searched the term “sexy nurse costume” online would find the “Real Nurse Costume,” which was also displayed in one of Montreal’s largest and most popular costume stores in the lead-up to Halloween.

3. YWCA Metro Vancouver spotlighted underreported intimate partner violence-related concussions in women through the “Concussion Story” PSA featuring Trevor Linden. The Rethink campaign fueled discussions about domestic violence and garnered support from BC’s Lieutenant Governor.