These are all pieces of advice I’ve heard throughout my career—if you count condescension as advice:

• “Advertising isn’t kind to women in their 40s—they age out.”
• “Maybe you should be thinking about moving client-side soon.”
• “It’s impossible to juggle kids and an advertising career.”

I heard them more as my life accelerated through my 30s towards starting a family. And honestly, sometimes they might be true, depending on where you work. But agencies are starting to come around to what “client-side” folks realized a long time ago: Being a woman in your 40s, with kids, can bring out peak abilities as a leader.

Make no mistake, most of these skills are credited to parenthood, not motherhood. But studies show that while men are often rewarded at the office for parenthood, women are dinged for it.

At Courage, I’m fortunate to work with partners who not only support me being a mom, but encourage it. In our second year of business, we announced a parental leave policy supporting new parents with a six-week salary top-up—because having a new baby is the most overwhelming time of your life and you don’t need to worry about money while you’re feeding and keeping a tiny human alive. (Or in my case, two tiny humans.)

Returning to work after matrescence wasn’t always easy or fun. Most of the time, I felt like I was failing in one or another aspect of my life or another: bad wife, bad mother, bad daughter, bad sister, bad friend, bad employee, etc.

Eventually, I began to find my way, and realized that being a parent had given me more than just the opportunity to witness two amazing beings as they grow. It had also given me an opportunity for growth and deeper self-realization.

Building Better Boundaries 

For years, I had complicated feelings around the word “no.” Working in client service, you are trained to find solutions. But during my kids’ toddler years, “no” became the most important word in my vocabulary. All of a sudden, I found it easier to draw my own boundaries, and construct boundaries regarding my work with clients. 

Don’t get me wrong, there is a skill and talent to saying “no.” But when you’re saying it 20,000 times a day, you get to your 10,000 hours of mastery pretty quickly. 

“No” shows boundaries and respect that help foster better relationships, both with clients and your agency team. Last Christmas break, I was approached by a client who was hoping for a quick turnaround on a project. Our parameters to complete the work were set, and when our deadline passed, we passed on the work. In this case, a respectful “no” helped the client understand they wouldn’t get our best work under the conditions laid out. Ultimately, our team didn’t need to work over our year-end holiday.

Modeling Behavior and Culture

Modeling is a word I’ve read a ton about in parenting books—that we need to behave and act the way we would want our kids to behave. And it’s also made me realize how important it is in the workplace.

People pick up culture from each other. So, unless you’re modeling how you want people to be treated within the agency—what kind of interactions you want to have with each other and with clients—then no one is going to get it.

And part of that is being in the office sometimes to both impart and benefit from the modeling.

Assume the Positive

Lastly, a parenting concept that I’ve applied to every single relationship in my personal and professional life: assume positive intent.

My kids (ostensibly) aren’t intending to have a tantrum right before we board a plane and purposely trying to ruin my life. The same applies to an email that comes at the wrong time that I interpret with the wrong tone. Or when someone raises an issue to be solved at the precise moment I’m leaving for the day.

Assuming positive intent at work has given me much more empathy and patience with my team and clients than I ever had before.

In the next nine months at our agency, we’ll have three new parents. And those are only the ones we know about so far. 

I, for one, can’t wait to see what parenting new little ones will teach them about life and work.

Hey, all you Nescafé lovers who boil water at 100°C (that’s 212°F) to make your coffee … knock it off, already!

The instant java brand says that 80°C (176°F) will do great for every cup and help the environment by conserving energy. A short film below illustrates that point. It’s the latest in a series of impressive Nescafé commercials from Toronto agency Courage and director Omri Cohen.

Once again, the team pours on rich imagery, with picturesque storytelling that celebrates the comfy coffee rituals that start so many of our days.

Remember, Americans (and other Fahrenheit fans), we’re talking 80 degrees CELSIUS. Setting a kettle at 80°F is just silly. 

“Nescafé is already such an integral part of billions of people’s daily routines. And at that scale, even a small sustainable action can have a massive impact,” says Courage founder and co-CCO Dhaval Bhatt. “We wanted to show people the power of a simple sustainable action that not only uses less power, but results in a better tasting coffee. As win-win as it gets.”

“With ’80 Degrees,’ we hope our consumers will see that even small, repeated efforts can create meaningful change in the world,” adds Tracey Cooke, CMO at Nestlé Canada.

The initiative also includes OOH and social media elements.

Matt and Tommy are associate creative directors at Toronto-based Courage. Recent brand work includes KFC and KitKat campaigns that broke through on social like “The Fry Funeral” and “Have AI Break.”

We spent two minutes with Matt and Tommy to learn more about their background, their creative inspirations and recent work they’ve admired.

Matt and Tommy, tell us …

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

• Matt: I grew up all over. Kelowna to Toronto to Germany to the U.S. and then back to Toronto. I moved five times before I started middle school. But now, I’m comfortably back in Toronto. 
• Tommy: I grew up in Singapore where I lived most of my life. I’m currently in Toronto and this would be my 10th year in the country.

How you first realized you were creative.

• Matt: When I was asked by a 4th-grade teacher in the U.S. to join Odyssey of the Mind for my school. It’s a worldwide creativity competition for students (my team came 8th in the world). 
• Tommy: I made my own original comic book when I was in the 5th grade with tape and staples. They were terribly drawn and had a nonsensical plot, but I loved that my friends got to laugh at my dumb ideas.

A person you idolized creatively early on.

• Matt: Both of my grandfathers. My grandpa on my dad’s side is an incredible artist. He showed me how to properly use acrylics and would tape my poems on his fridge. My grandpa on my mom’s side would build these incredible toys for us as kids. 
• Tommy: A substitute teacher showed us a Hayao Miyazaki movie and I became obsessed with his work. The visuals, writing and music sparked emotions I hadn’t felt before.

A moment from high school or college that changed your life.

• Matt: When I was visiting colleges, I got lost and walked into the wrong media building. I was looking for the film production program, and instead met some very convincing professors who led the creative advertising program. The rest is history.
• Tommy: I convinced my parents I wanted to drop out of A levels to study visual communication. I remember being terrified because it was very out of the norm growing up in Singapore to not just follow the STEM education path. Luckily, my parents were super supportive.

A visual artist or band/musician you admire.

• Matt: I love the German illustrator and graphic designer Christoph Niemann. You probably know his work on Instagram or from The New Yorker covers.
• Tommy: @yuni_yoshida on Instagram. I love the insanely surreal visuals that mix elements of graphic design with artful photography.

A book, movie, TV show or podcast you recently found inspiring.

• Matt: Taskmaster (U.K.) is an incredible show that brings me a little too much joy. Definitely check it out if you like watching British comedians participate in absurd, brainy challenges. 
• Tommy: I regularly listen to The Unmade Podcast, where two friends discuss concepts for podcast ideas. They have great chemistry and it’s fun listening to a live brainstorm about something outside of advertising.

One of your favorite creative projects you’ve ever worked on. 

• Matt: “The Fry Funeral.” We had a full-on funeral for the old, terrible fries from KFC. There were so many pieces that were a treat to write and design.
• Tommy: “Sorry, Utensils,” where utensils were staring from the sidelines as people dug into their KFC.

A recent project you’re proud of. 

• Matt: Tommy and I recently worked on KitKat’s “Have AI Break.” That was a super quick and nimble project that has gotten an incredible response. We love finding a wild insight and building an idea around it. 
• Tommy: Same for me. It’s especially cool because everything we used in the video was real and backed up by actual studies.

Someone else’s work that inspired you years ago. 

• Matt: “The Tampon Book” has always been super inspiring.

• Tommy: “OutHorse Your Email” was great and maybe a little under appreciated. Who doesn’t want a horse writing your emails?!

Someone else’s work you admired lately. 

• Matt: The “RIP Leon” Apple commercial is one of my favorites. It’s a simple product benefit brought to life creatively with an incredibly charming story. It’s just a perfectly crafted ad.
• Tommy: Kayak’s “Don’t Do It Yourself” series made me laugh. It’s visually sticky and weird but also hits hard on the brand and product messaging. Also reminds me a little of the old Barton F. Graf ads that I also love.

Your main strength as a creative person.

• Matt: I like to think big picture—how far an idea can be stretched, how it connects to the brand strategy. Or how it might come to life in years to come. 
• Tommy: I’m a curious person and like to try new things all the time. 

Your biggest weakness.

• Matt: I’m not naturally a detail-oriented person, but I’ve learned to appreciate the nuances in a project.
• Tommy: Killing ideas or getting into specifics too quickly. 

A mentor that helped you navigate the industry.

• Matt: Big shout out to my first mentor, Dylan Wagman (Mischief). He built up my confidence and gave me opportunities to bring ideas to the table. 
• Tommy: Jimmy Wei was a senior writer when I was an intern at Grip. He guided me through the rough transition from school to working life and helped me feel more comfortable in my own skin when I felt a little out of place as a new resident in Canada.

How you’re paying it forward with the next generation of creatives.

• Matt: Making sure the door is always open. I’m happy to talk to people breaking in, review portfolios and give any advice that I have. 
• Tommy: We’ve been attending lots of grad shows and portfolio reviews recently. As a grad or newer creative, it never hurts to reach out to creatives on LinkedIn whose work you admire. We’re always open to giving feedback.

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in advertising.

• Matt: Any aspect of film—production, writing, or watching it. I just want to be near it in any way possible. 
• Tommy: Photography or set design. 

Warning: CIBC’s new credit-card campaign is NSFM—Not Safe for Molluscs.

A :60 from Courage opens with a view of the world from inside an oyster—as it’s pried open by human hands. Later, we get a similar jewelry-box shot. It contains a pear bauble, of course.

In between, it’s all sun-soaked quick cuts, sparkling neon, upscale delights and oysters aplenty.

“The brief was to show that the CIBC Aventura Card gives you the flexibility to travel the way you want,” says Dhaval Bhatt, partner and CD at Courage, which developed the work with director Mark Zibert.

On the surface “that can seem like a pretty open brief,” Bhatt says. “So, we had to find a sticky way to land that point. ‘The World Is Your Oyster’ became a simple yet charming device to drive home that message, both creatively and strategically.”

Courage surely makes good use of such plastic for its glamorous global sojourns. Nice work if you can get it!

For CIBC, the team shot footage in Greece and Dubai. Vermeer’s “Girl With the Pearl Earring” cameos (she’s always an ad fave).

Those “shell-shots” are eye-popping. They were filmed with a special “oystering-rig that Mark’s team custom created to get the oysters POV,” Bhatt says.

“We weren’t sure how it was all going to work or how it would look, but went with it. One of those is the opening shot of the ad. Guess sometimes you just gotta trust the process.”

On OOH and in print, kaiju-sized oysters seemingly take their revenge:

The joy of crispy onion rings elicits happy tears from satisfied customers in Courage’s latest work for KFC Canada. 

The work campaigns includes TV and OOH. And you won’t find a dry eye in the house.

A :30, directed by Nikki Ormerod, begins with a chef crying as he slices onions. Soon, an operatic soundtrack kicks in as various customers gobble rings and get emotional.

It doesn’t end there. A series of OOH ads ask “Who’s cutting onions?” as consumers tear into their onion rings while shedding a tear. These followed a social teaser campaign where influencers found a lone onion ring in their order of KFC fries.

Click images to enlarge:

“The music was composed by our audio partners over at Vapor Music,” says Joel Holtby, founder and co-CCO of Courage. “We fell in love with the track, specifically how the singer hits the ‘OOOOO’ at the introduction of the onion ring. The operatic approach felt fresh and dialed up the emotive humor of the film.”

CREDITS

Agency (Courage Inc)
Dhaval Bhatt: Founder + CCO
Joel Holtby: Founder + CCO
Tom Kenny: Partner + CSO
Niki Sahni: Partner + President
Lyndsey Westfall: Senior Strategist
Matt Miller: Associate Creative Director
Tommy Yong: Associate Creative Director
Emma Lorenzi: Writer
Sammy Lo: Art Director
Alex Karayannides: Group Account Director
Kyron Sobers: Account Director
Atria Ghosh: Account Supervisor
Zoe Fetsis: Account Coordinator
Clair Galea: Executive Producer
Rachel D’Ercole: Agency Producer

Production (Undivided)
Executive Producer: Scott Houghton
Line Producer  Scott Houghton
Director: Nikki Ormerod
Director of Photography: Andre Pienaar
Assistant Director: Bailey Abercrombie
PM: Brandon Pitt
Coordinator:Tyler Klementti
1st AC: Mike Dawson
2nd AC: Dorian Findlay
DIT: Ryan Alexander
VTR Operator: Jeremy Bugden
Set Designer: Nicole Billark
Buyer: Thalia Hoxford
Prop Master: Jamie Fleming
Gaffer: Eddy Mikolic
Best Boy Electric: Vasco Silva
Electric: Liam Stewart
Electric: Brandon Lee
Package Truck: Rich Pryce
Key Grip: Christian Drennan
Best Boy Grip: Tien Dong
Grip: Tracy Shaw
Grip: Jerry Romenko
Food Stylist: Nicole Young
2nd Food Stylist Asst: John Kruusi
3rd Food Stylist Asst: Kelly Jabazz
Main Dish Driver: Adrian Mizzi
Wardrobe Stylist: Julia DeBartolo
Make Up: Samantha Pickles
Continuity: Gwen Wellman
Location Manager: John Dranski
PA: Levi Albert
PA: Levi Bosch
PA: Max Carey
PA: Ofer Weis
Craft Service: Mitchel Campos
Craft Service: Ammar Kapasi

Casting
MiLO Casting
Casting Director: Stephen Milo
Production Manager: Shannon Faria

Offline Editorial
Barbershop Editing
Editor: David James Findlay

Transfer + Online + VFX
Alter Ego
Colourist: Lily Henry
Colour Assistant: Vika Svishchova
Lead Flame Artist: Sebastian Boros
Flame Assistant: Melany McEachern
Post Production Coordinator: Sam Omand
Executive Producers: Hilda Pereira
Producer: Mariya Guzova

Audio
Vapor Music
Creative Director: Ted Rosnick
Voice Director: Ted Rosnick
Engineer: Julian Rudd
Sound Design: Kevin Chamberlain
Executive Producer: Lindsey Bates
Producer: Matilde Mata

This past fall, something significant occurred in the world of Canadian advertising when Strategy Magazine released its Agency of the Year shortlist identifying the top dozen or so shops. Of the 11 agencies shortlisted, six were independently owned. For the first time, indies outnumbered network players.

And a few weeks later, when the top three agencies were awarded, two out of three were independents, with Rethink—an indie—named AOY. (For those of us keeping score, this is a recognition they’ve deservedly received for five years running.)

Of course, such selections are subjective. Far less easy to ignore, especially for the networks, are recent new-business trends. Last year was somewhat quiet on that front, but many brands that moved accounts chose independents.

Kimberly-Clark, Burger King and Telus shifted creative assignments to indie shops. In fact, this annual Canadian Agency Pitch Report, a summary compiled by consultants at Listenmore, found that independents won almost 75 percent of AOR pitches last year. Plus, indie powerhouse Wieden+Kennedy opened an office in Toronto to service a newly-landed portion of McDonald’s. 

None of this is to suggest there aren’t wildly talented people doing world-class work at the networks. But it does signal a shift that’s happening across the advertising landscape.

In 2022, I jumped to an independent after nearly two decades working at big players. I joined Courage as a partner a few months into its existence, and last year we were lucky enough to rank among the firms shortlisted for AOY honors.

Having recently left the network world, I have some thoughts about the underlying reasons for the recent rise of independents.

Indies attract great people

A large portion of senior creative talent choose to work for independent agencies. This is mostly because senior people, creative or otherwise, seek situations where they have genuine control. And when you work for a network in a smaller market like Canada, you’re always accountable to New York, London or Paris. Even at an executive level, there are often several layers above your head, influencing decisions on everything from staffing and creative to client relationships. The degree of influence varies significantly from one agency to the next, but in all cases there is a ceiling to the autonomy of decision makers.

This causes leaders to pursue, or often create, scenarios outside the holding-company structure where they can be masters of their own destiny (to the degree that any service industry allows). And where the top senior talent go, so follow the intermediates and juniors who want to work with them and learn from the best.

A laser focus on product 

For most independent agencies in Canada, our product is world-class creative and strategy—full stop. Bigger players “specialize” in creative and media and PR—and they can do your CRM as well. And consulting, they’ve got that too. You also need your brakes checked? Uh, I think they have some staff for that, sure.

Clients aren’t impressed by your full suite of services if you can’t do the main thing they hired you for. When you focus on one or two things, and you have the best people doing them, you’re going to do them really well.

Point of view

We work in a highly commoditized category, and within that landscape it’s difficult to create differentiation. For an ad agency, a point of view can be one of the most valuable ways of doing so. It’s important to have a point of view on workplace culture, the creative product and the process of getting the job done. Even a point of view on what a cool office looks like can be key. The value of differentiation in a commoditized category is something we preach to our clients all the time. Yet, the network merger and consolidation model makes having a distinct POV increasingly challenging. 

More than most industries, advertising is characterized by constant evolution. The only constant is that things will change, probably sooner than later. But amid such ebb and flow, it seems we are entering a golden age of independent agencies here in Canada and beyond. Many have built a model that nurtures people, generates superior work and helps clients achieve their goals. How it will continue to play out in years to come is impossible to predict, but I’m excited to have a front row seat.

Generative AI is just like us! Its answers are more accurate following a little time off. Google DeepMind unearthed this potent factoid, which KitKat put to the test across work that just broke in Canada.

For a brand with “Have a Break” as a tagline, this stuff practically wrote itself—after a much-deserved breather.

“A creative from found a published study from Google DeepMind that included deep data around giving AI a ‘breather’ or a break before asking it to process a question or a task,” says Joel Holtby, co-founder and CCO of Courage, the agency behind the campaign. “We then spent time trialing and testing within AI platforms while recording the data that came back, which aligned with the Google study.” 

A traditional summarization request of Twelfth Night yielded 56 percent accuracy while a request to take a break then summarize the play resulted in 78 percent accuracy.

The agency tested this theory on basic questions to those more in-depth.

“We spent months trialing different questions and tasks against various language based AI models,” Holtby tells Muse. “As far as craziest questions asked, we went pretty far and deep from recipes to deep theories on the existence and proof of space and time.”

The team captured that footage with a speed camera at bustling Sherway Gardens in suburban Toronto. Those machines issued tickets reminding folks to decelerate. They received complimentary Turtles instead of fines.

“I’m not exaggerating when I say we had to nail this concept down to an exact science,” Courage CCO Joel Holtby tells Muse. “It took us a couple months to take machinery geared toward monitoring objects as large as a vehicle and build something new that specialized in clocking actual human movement. It was a challenge, but it worked! The speed camera even picked up someone sprinting by with shopping bags at an impressive 10 KPH, which was both hilarious and relatable.”

Benji Weinstein directed this :30, and the fast-talkin’ cast trained with a cattle auctioneer:

That spot harkens back to the rapid-fire patter of ’80s commercial icon John “Motormouth” Moschitta. Though his words per minute would leave those actors speechless.

“One of the most unifying aspects of the holiday season is that it’s often such a demanding whirlwind of activity,” says Holtby. “But the Turtles brand we’ve come to know over the years has always represented the exact opposite of that: the importance of finding the time to appreciate the here and now. So, we wanted to create a fun reminder for the treat that naturally compels us to literally stop what we’re doing and just enjoy the moment.”

“Enjoying Turtles over the holidays is such a storied tradition for many Canadian families,” adds Ashley Edelstein, marketing director at Nestlé Canada. “We wanted to extend this tradition in a fun, loud and light-hearted way with millennials when they’re at a life stage where they’re developing their own traditions.”

To raise funds for a more modern birthing center, Ontario-based North York General Hospital worked with agency Courage to modernize a different standby for expectant parents: The preparation guide.

The classic book that comes to mind is Heidi Murkoff’s What to Expect When You’re Expecting, published in 1984, the same year I was born. Now in its fifth edition, it was probably so popular because nothing like it really existed.

It’s been a few turns around the sun since then, and preggy books have since proliferated. NYGH’s take on the genre winks back to the original while being a far more digestible read: What No One Tells You When You’re Expecting.

The 150-page book is the fruit of hundreds of submissions from new parents, sharing the surprises they encountered through pregnancy and their baby’s first year. These occasionally eye-popping admissions are accompanied by advice and observations from the hospital’s doctors and midwives—a warm touch that guides you back to the brand.

“After coming back from mat leave, Cindy and I constantly talked about all the things we completely didn’t expect,” says Domenique Raso, creative director at Courage. “When it comes to babies, you often hear about all the good stuff, but not about the real stuff. So the idea of asking real parents to help us write a book outlining everything no one told them felt like a natural fit for the birthing center.”

A few insights: “I had no idea the epidural would make me sooooo itchy.” “I didn’t expect my nipples to crack and bleed from breastfeeding.” “I didn’t expect the pain and bleeding for days after giving birth.”

I was brusquely acquainted with that last realization recently. I’m six months pregnant now. A neighbor, whose wife just had a baby, appeared at my door bearing a torn bag of adult diapers. “She doesn’t need them anymore, so I thought of you.” When I looked confused, he added: “For the bleeding and ruptures after birth.”

I don’t even know this guy.

A lot of my own discoveries collate with examples shown in the video. Friends told me about the cracked nipples, but I didn’t know what caused them; I assumed they were inevitable, or a matter of luck. (Thanks to the book, I now know better.) Another page reminded me of a story my mom tells about my own birth: She didn’t want to push because she thought she was having a huge bowel movement. She held it in until, the pressure unbearable, she stopped caring whether she shat all over the place … and out I came!

The book observes that this is something that happens when the baby starts to crown. On its way down your body, its little head presses against your coccyx, which yields that unmistakable sensation: When the time comes to push, it might feel like a huge poop. This is also something my midwife described during a birthing class. 

The text is pleasant to peruse (far less like an encyclopedia than the original What to Expect), packed with illustrations by Emilie Muszczak. Topics meander through mental health, sex and relationships, and—yeah!—poo. It’s supported by digital out-of-home throughout Toronto, paid social media, a launch video, and local guerrilla postings. Proceeds support NYGH’s $32 million fundraising effort.

“We immediately loved this idea because it felt like a modern, true-to-life take on the classic pregnancy books we’ve come to know,” says chief marketing and comms officer at North York General Foundation, Ya Shan Waley. “As a hospital that delivers thousands of babies each year,  we understand what new parents are experiencing, and that understanding trickles down to the outstanding care we give them. This book is another way we are caring for our community, by helping to normalize the birthing process, all in celebration of our plans to revitalize our Birthing Centre.”

Download a digital copy at this dedicated subsite. Amazon.ca will also stock printed copies.