Will created the Teck Copper doorway stunt, leaning into the science and psychology of people to inspire an experience instead of an ad to emotionally connect with audiences.
There’s Magic and substance in the uncomfortable.
Over the years, Vancouver-based Will has resisted the industry trend of trying to handle every aspect of a client’s business. Where many agencies use that strategy to achieve growth, Will stays hyper-focused on being a bold creative agency with a strong strategic focus.
Since launching in 2014, the founders have focused on growing a diversely talented team who “understand and respect the value of strategy and creativity in equal measure,” says CEO, Ute Preusse.
Will’s ‘Spark Greatness’ strategic platform for the Canada Games inspired a new visual identity, brand experiences, campaigns and right down to hoodies!
That approach helped spawn a collaborative agency culture, where everyone at the 36-person team can lean in to inspire bravery, in the teammates, their clients and the brands they represent. Over the past 10 years a culture of trust and transparency has been built between the agency and client partners – a culture where everyone is unafraid to reach into the gut, mine supporting data, and listen hard. All in an effort to fuel courage and confidence to stride towards the unknown and the unconventional.
Will’s “Copper & Health” campaign for Teck Resources, one of Canada’s largest mining companies, is one example where that courage paid off. “In the mining industry, communications are typically directed at the investment community and government bodies. Companies rarely market directly to the public” notes Preusse.
COBS’ “Celebrate Fresh,” a brand platform built around simple illustrations and a charming tone of voice, baked the notion of freshness into the bakery chain’s identity, packaging, product lines and loyalty program.
Yet by proving that consumer demand for copper is strong, they influenced investor and government sentiment. Will created interactive stunts that demonstrated the power of copper in high traffic public spaces. They armed people with the knowledge that copper kills viruses and gave them a choice – to walk through a regular door, or one made with virus-killing copper surfaces. Unsurprisingly, people chose the copper door and became instant advocates.
Copper was added to high-touch public areas, such as door handles and bus handrails, with messaging educating the public about the qualities of the material. The activations were filmed to create paid content that spread the message even further.
“You’re getting a company in a very conservative industry to run with a creative idea,” says CCO, Nick Richards. “That was strategically and creatively very brave [of them].”
To help parents understand the risks of their children’s games and their chat functions, Will contrasted cute online gaming characters with the ugly intentions of the predators lurking behind them.
Will’s strategic and creative strengths are frequently revealed in their work developing new brand strategies, identities and subsequent campaigns from the ground up. Recent work for the Canada Games – the organization behind the largest amateur multi-sport event in the country – as well as for Think Tank Training Centre, a B.C.-based animation and visual effects school demonstrates their ability to tell brand stories from strategy to identity, website to campaign and beyond.
Think Tank is a globally recognized institution for CG education that was, until recently, offered exclusively in- person. But during the pandemic, the school expanded its focus to online learning to gain a broader global audience and elavate the acclaimed CG animation studio to its rightful world-class status.
“The students and teachers at Think Tank are at the sharp end of an already leading industry,” says Richards. “We wanted to convey this concept of never settling, always pushing, finding worlds beyond the imagination to create new realities, and the identity needed to reflect that.”
B.C.-based Think Tank promises to shift the prospects and perspectives of its international VFX students, so Will created a fully immersive web experience and a living bespoke typeface to deliver the story.
So Will created a custom typeface (called “Reality Shift”) that constantly evolves, drawing on different letterforms. It used the font for a “completely immersive” website designed to inform, inspire and attract prospective students.
“We feel very confident in our abilities to help clients unearth their core story, something that’s differentiating, true and authentic to them,” says Richards. “And then we amplify that story through brave expressions that move people. That make them feel something.”
The right “solution” to a client’s challenge might be a campaign or it might be a product, experience or something else entirely. As long as it has the desired impact, Preusse says, the idea can be anything – even a case of beer that doubles as a fully functioning acoustic boombox, like the one Will designed and produced to promote a concert series for Vancouver craft brewery Red Truck Beer Company.
For craft brewery Red Truck Beer Company, the agency turned a case of beer into a functioning passive amplifier to promote a music concert series.
Despite recent successes, Will is set on retaining their focus. “Our interest is in continuously becoming better, not bigger,” says Preusse. “We’re not here to chase margins. We’re here to do brave work with brave people. Otherwise, why are we doing this?”
CONTACT:
Ute Preusse
Co-founder & CEO
ute@hiwill.ca
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