Strategy‘s Creative Report Card is back — this time with fresh perspective. We’re diving into the minds of the CRC’s top creatives and strategists to explore how they work within their craft and think about the future of advertising. Over the next week, we’ll spotlight the Top 5 individuals across the CCO, CD, AD, CW, Designer and Planner lists through bite-sized Q&As that reveal their creative processes, industry predictions and working philosophies, among many other things. Today we’re looking at this year’s Top 5 Chief Creative Officers. Visit our CRC website and check back tomorrow for more.
#1 CCO: Aaron Starkman, CCO
What campaign(s) landed them on the CRC:
“Heinz Ketchup & Seemingly Ranch”, “Heinz Can’t Unsee It”, “Smack for Heinz”, “Slow this ad”, “Heinz AI”, “Heinz Tattoo Label”, “It Has to be Heinz” and “Philadelphia Bagel Wholes” for Kraft Heinz || “See My Name”, “Coors Light’s Out”,” Worn by Drake” and “Coors Light Parenthood” for Molson Coors || “Branding Awards” for RGD || “Sport Your Period” for Knix || “Living Stories” for Penguin House || “Horror Codes” for Uber || “You’re Richer Than You Think” and “Pride Tape for All” for Scotiabank
What’s a “creative truth” everyone repeats, but you just don’t buy anymore?
I don’t subscribe to the belief that creativity thrives in chaos. The world is more complicated and chaotic than it’s ever been – with technology, the political and financial climate, and a million other factors. To have additional chaos within the walls of an advertising agency wouldn’t be a good formula to achieve creative excellence. To get to the best creative solution, guardrails and process are paramount. I’ve always found, since I was a young creative, being boxed in actually helps me get to a good solution. Having things wide open actually yielded worse creative results for me. Things were less on strategy and less predictable in terms of simply being good creatively. I really try to hammer home our process when it comes to idea generation and evaluation. Every creative at Rethink, everybody who is looking at work or coming up with work, really pays attention to our CRAFTS lens (Clear, Relevant, Achievable, Fresh, True, and Shareable). Coming up with ideas is kind of like making a midnight snack. If you’re not sure what to make or how to make it, you just cobble some stuff together. And when there’s that lack of predictability, you often end up having a disappointing sandwich. But if you follow a clear recipe, then every time the end product is going to be good. It’s a sure thing. So we like to eliminate as much risk of mediocrity as possible, and CRAFTS ultimately allows us to achieve our desired outcome.”
What’s a campaign you led last year that really pushed you and the team – creatively, strategically, and even emotionally?
“I’m proud of how our collective team worked together on the “Coors Lights Out” campaign. And when I say collective team, I’m referring to the agency and our amazing client partners on this. It didn’t feel at all like there was some sort of agency-client dynamic. It was one high-performing team moving with pace to try to get things done to our creative standard. What I’m particularly proud of was that we didn’t have one single big meeting in the entire lead-up to any piece that went to market, whether it was a takeover in Angel Stadium in California, legal concerns, PR hurdles, or logistical issues with the product. Instead of getting bogged down with meetings, we operated with Slack, texts, and quick phone calls amongst the entire team. And we had a geographically expansive group with two Rethinkers who live in LA, and who were on the ground there, client partners in Chicago and Toronto collaborating with legal and PR to find a way. There is always a way. It was a rewarding campaign in ways that go far beyond recognition by the press or by the industry. Just seeing what started as a simple social post escalate quickly with intention by a cross-market, cross-office team with absolutely zero BS mixed in was something I’ll always remember. It was one for the books.”
#2 CCO: Mike Dubrick, CCO
What campaign(s) landed them on the CRC:
“Heinz Ketchup & Seemingly Ranch”, “Heinz Can’t Unsee It”, “Smack for Heinz”, “Slow this ad”, “Heinz AI”, “Heinz Tattoo Label”, “It Has to be Heinz” and “Philadelphia Bagel Wholes” for Kraft Heinz || “See My Name”, “Coors Light’s Out”,” Worn by Drake” and “Coors Light Parenthood” for Molson Coors || “Branding Awards” for RGD || “Sport Your Period” for Knix || “Living Stories” for Penguin House || “Horror Codes” for Uber || “You’re Richer Than You Think” and “Pride Tape for All” for Scotiabank
What kind of mindset (and skillset) will define the next future set of creative leaders?
The rise of indies seems to be dominating the headlines in the industry right now. And while I don’t think everyone needs to start their own agency, I do think that the future of creative and strategic leaders is going to be a fearless entrepreneurial spirit. Whether you’re a leader in an agency, or a junior, that sense of ownership and the mindset to go after your ambitions and your creative dreams is what will set people apart.”
What recent work pushed you creatively, strategically and even emotionally?
“I think the “See My Name” campaign we did with Molson for the PWHL is something we’re very proud of. Molson has always been the beer of hockey and so we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to create an idea that lived up to how historic the inaugural PWHL season was. Something that mattered; that felt insightful and made an impact. The idea was so simple and striking that it just leaped off the page when we first saw it. Bringing it to life wasn’t simple, and what’s most inspiring is the effort from both the agency and our partners at Molson to find a way, to make the call, to put in the effort to make something that we hope will set a standard of what a hockey sponsorship can be.”
#3 CCO: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, FCB
What campaign(s) landed them on the CRC:
“Runner 321” for Adidas; “Trending 2 Table” for Sobeys; “Inployable” for the Canadian Down Syndrome Society; “Ticket to Dream” for Air Canada; “Bills Paid on Time,” “Bankable Characters,” “Be Right Back,” “NXT NXT Level” and “Business Carols” for BMO; “Rainfall Warnings” for Fountain Tire; “On The Line” for GE Appliances; “Dream Bars” for OLG
What kind of mindset (and skillset) will define the next future set of creative leaders?
“The next generation of creative leaders will be defined by their ability to embrace uncertainty, push boundaries, and create a space where experimentation and collaboration can thrive. They’ll foster a culture where being authentic and honest is encouraged so teams are comfortable taking risks and innovating. These leaders will be great at connecting ideas across channels, ecosystems, IAT partners and across all areas of a client’s business, while finding ways to balance creativity with achieving business results. They’ll focus on long-term growth while staying flexible enough to tackle real-time challenges. All while future-proofing their people, their clients, and our business.”
What recent work pushed you creatively, strategically and even emotionally?
“The campaign that really pushed us this year was the Air Canada Olympic work entitled, “Ticket to Dream.” This spot tells the powerful story of a Jamaican immigrant father who sacrifices everything to give his daughter a better life in Canada. As her Olympic dreams unfold, we reveal how his journey sets the stage for her success. Creatively, the biggest challenge was telling two parallel stories that come together to surprise people at the end. Emotionally, it was more of a gift then a challenge. While it tells one story, this is really the story of Canada. It’s the story of every member on the team that brought this piece to life, myself included. Everyone on the team was first generation Canadian and we brought our collective experiences to every frame of this spot. I think the authenticity and emotional resonance people experience when they see it comes from this very personal outpouring. You’ll find a little bit of all of us in this story.”
#4 CCO: Dhaval Bhatt, Courage
What campaign(s) landed them on the CRC:
“What No One Tells You When You’re Expecting” for North York General Hospital; “KFC x Street Fighter,” “Superstitious,” “Fixed It,” “Finger Lickin’ Open Endorsement,” “Bolo Tie,” “Not Everyone’s Happy” and “Fry Funeral” for KFC; “The World is Your Oyster” for CIBC; “Trollboards for Skyscanner” ; “Have AI BreaK” for KitKat; “190 Goals for Goals” for CIBC
What’s the one thing you had to unlearn to become a better creative leader?
“One thing that’s made me a better and more fulfilled creative – and as a result, a better creative leader – is a slight shift from chasing awards to chasing great work. Often the two are seen as one and the same, but they are in fact quite different. Chasing great work is doing the work that you truly have fun crafting, that makes you happy, and that drives your clients’ business forward. While chasing awards is doing work that you think will impress award show juries, and deriving all your happiness from that one single metric. I find not chasing awards and simply focussing on the work a lot more fulfilling and freeing for the creative process, which ironically leads to more award-winning work. I find that being clear about this slight distinction is one of the big reasons why our creative teams love working at Courage.”
What recent work pushed you creatively, strategically and even emotionally?
“The Skip brand platform relaunch and campaign – “Skip To The Good Part” – really pushed us in all of the ways. It was a high pressure job on every front – big production, tight timelines, A-list celebrity, and high stakes from a business implication perspective. I love how well our team and our client’s team rallied to deliver breakthrough creative. There were several moments through the process where the work could’ve been watered down, but it was so great to see our clients stand firm and help bring the idea to life as we all intended and hoped for. The hundreds of executions you see all over the country are also a massive testament to our production team and the amazing production partners who rallied to make a project of this scale happen on what can only be described as an insane timeline.”
#4 CCO: Joel Holtby, Courage
What campaign(s) landed them on the CRC:
“What No One Tells You When You’re Expecting” for North York General Hospital; “KFC x Street Fighter,” “Superstitious,” “Fixed It,” “Finger Lickin’ Open Endorsement,” “Bolo Tie,” “Not Everyone’s Happy” and “Fry Funeral” for KFC; “The World is Your Oyster” for CIBC; “Trollboards for Skyscanner” ; “Have AI BreaK” for KitKat; “190 Goals for Goals” for CIBC
What’s the last idea you killed that still haunts you a little?
“I can’t necessarily think of an idea that we “killed” that has haunted me, but I can certainly think of an idea we wish we’d pushed harder to get out the door. It was one of those ideas that we pushed for, but not hard enough because there was a lot going on that brand and we figured we’d wait until we had an open window to slot it into the plan. Next thing you know, someone else has done it and it goes on to win a Grand Prix at Cannes. That one stung. But we learned our lesson to never sit on great work. We now have a mindset that anytime we have a great idea, so does someone else, and it’s a race to the finish line, where only one gets made. So we put everything at it, in order to move fast and get it made.”
What recent work pushed you creatively, strategically and even emotionally?
“We do a ton of work on KFC. It’s a fast retail business and we are proud of all of the work that we do with them. But if I was to pick one project from last year it would be “KFCarols” where we transformed the iconic KFC bucket lid into a playable paper vinyl record. We came up with that idea shortly after winning the account, but because of production timing, logistics and scaling it was not possible to get it done in time for the holidays. However, instead of letting it die we continued to work on it, figuring out the production realities and how to craft it perfectly. We learned a ton in the process. It’s such a simple idea but to make it actually work for real took a ton of figuring out. That project showcases a lot of what we do best, using almost every discipline. Retail can be tough but we look at every brief and every retail window as an opportunity to do something great.”
