Clean Sweep: FCB Canada Dominated the Country’s 2023 Effies
This year’s Canadian Effie Awards was, by all accounts, an exceptional affair. The work was great. The event itself, hosted at The Institute of Canadian Agencies’ (ICA) Canadian Marketing Effectiveness Summit, was fantastic. But (and perhaps most notably), FCB Canada did the extraordinary by sweeping the awards board - winning Agency of the Year, the Grand Effie, and having its client, BMO, take home Marketer of the Year.
Perhaps this was bound to happen from the get-go. After all, the agency literally had 50% of the Gold Effie-awarded work: ‘NXT LVL’, a gaming-based campaign with BMO that put the bank on popular streaming platform Twitch, and ‘Trending 2 Table’, a campaign for grocery delivery service Voilà that made viral food TikToks shoppable in one click. However, that just speaks to the quality of the agency’s offerings. To receive such recognition across the board means that, internally, things at FCB must be going right on all levels. The leadership is smashing it. The employees are flying. And the brands the agency works with are asking the right questions - pushing everyone to reach a little bit further creatively and put out the best work possible.
So, to learn a little more about how this was all made possible, Josh Neufeldt sat down for a chat with the team from FCB Canada, including chief strategy officer Shelley Brown, strategy director Stephanie Gyles (Steph), VP, client services lead Jess Lax, and Eli Ferrara, VP, creative innovation.
LBB> Congratulations again on your recent Effies sweep! What does this achievement mean to you, as well as FCB Canada as a whole?
Shelley> Thank you! Sweeping the Effies was a huge achievement for the team, the agency, and the network. The Effies matter to us because we believe - no, strike that - we know that creativity is an economic multiplier. We know that the best ideas are more effective and have a bigger impact. We drive business, we build brands, and we do it all at the same time because we believe great ideas do both. The marvellous thing about the Effies is that these are the awards that prove us right.
LBB> To what do you attribute your success? What went into making FCB Canada the agency of the year, the Grand Effie winner, and having your client win Marketer of the Year?
Shelley> There are many ingredients to our success, so let’s talk about three important ones:
We strive for repeatable success. Great ideas are often seen like lightning strikes; powerful certainly, but hard to predict. However, a clear process and effective tools can make success repeatable. Our tools were not developed to fill in boxes and substitute for thinking, but to prompt us and help us think, dig deeper, and leap further. Process can sound slow and almost bureaucratic, but ours is designed to be both nimble and scalable, allowing us to get smart and then have the creative freedom to get stupid.
We also bring strategy and creative together. We don’t think of strategy and creative as two separate processes; everything we do is creative, everything is strategic, and production and deployment must be considered from the get-go.
Finally, we think in journeys. We don’t love TV more than a shelf-talker, TikTok more than search, or in-game more than an e-coupon. Our approach to creative is not driven by channels or formats. Instead, our goal is to unleash creativity across the journey. We think of our ideas as interconnected systems - each channel, touchpoint, and moment has a role to play.
LBB> Success doesn’t come without good people. How did the agency combine leadership and exciting talent to create so many winning entries?
Shelley> People come to FCB to do the best work of their careers. The sustained success we have had over the last few years has allowed us to attract and retain exceptional talent across all departments of the agency.
We also have a pretty straightforward hiring policy: no wankers. We hire amazing, talented people who also happen to be nice. We like each other, and we like our clients. Together, we create groundbreaking things.
To this end, the success of BMO’s ‘NXT LVL’ is based upon a committed partnership, and the same can be said for our wins on Voilà’s ‘Trending 2 Table’, LOTTO MAX’s ‘Dream Drop’, and BMO’s ‘Rainbow Deposits’.
LBB> Clearly, in many ways, this success was carried by the strong partnership between yourselves and BMO. Tell us more about this! How did the two of you push and elevate each other throughout the year?
Jess> For us to win the Grand Effie - to go along with a Gold, Silver, and Bronze - with BMO, it’s very much the culmination of eight plus years of partnership. With an institution as large and with as much history as it, you don’t turn the ship overnight. Deciding to step into unexplored territory like this together takes time and an immense amount of trust that has to be earned over and over again.
LBB> And why is this best embodied by the ‘NXT LVL’ campaign? What does it represent, with regards to your partnership?
Jess> One of the reasons our partnership is so strong is that we have a shared vision for the brand and are equally invested in seeing it come to fruition. Having that deeply-ingrained commonality means that each of us is always looking for ways to push the other just a little bit more - giving just a little extra. And, all of this happens within the safe, inherently collaborative space of that shared goal.
So, when the idea around ‘NXT LVL’ first came up, we didn’t face the challenge of trying to convince the client to see the opportunity. They saw it right away, and we were able to focus our efforts on making the work the best it could be.
LBB> Building on this, what were you hoping to achieve when you made ‘NXT LVL’? How did this award-winning project come to life?
Steph> When we started brainstorming ‘NXT LVL’, we knew we had to shake things up. The stark reality was staring us in the face: millennials and gen z were tuning us out, preferring almost anything over listening to a traditional bank's message. We needed to not just reach them, but really connect with them. So, we thought, ‘why not dive into their world? Let’s explore gaming!’.
That's how the idea of using Twitch came about. It was uncharted territory for a bank. But, we were determined to meet these young gamers right where they were, along both their gaming and financial journeys. Our goal? To transform the way they engage with a bank. Could a bank really be cool enough to talk about gaming and finance in the same breath? With ‘NXT LVL’, BMO proved that it could.
We spent over 8,600 hours playing games, discussing finance, and changing the game, quite literally. The results were beyond our expectations: significant growth in brand awareness, account openings, and a complete shift in how gamers saw us. It wasn't just about being a bank on Twitch; it was about showing that we understood gamers and could be a part of their world. And the buzz it created? Well, that was just the cherry on top!
LBB> And did you expect it to be as successful as it was?
Steph> Obviously, we expected some level of success going in, otherwise we wouldn’t have pursued the idea, but we didn’t expect to receive acceptance from the gaming community as quickly as we did, or to see the consistent viewership that we have had over 75+ streams.
LBB> Creating meaningful marketing in a space where many brands and agencies struggle is no small task. What did you do differently that enabled this success, and will you be building on this going into the future?
Eli> Diving into the gaming world, we knew authenticity was key. Let's face it, gamers can spot insincerity a mile away, and we were well aware that we could get absolutely creamed if we didn't get it right. Our secret weapon? The world's first Gaming Relations Specialist (GRS), a charismatic gamer plucked from the BMO team in Windsor, Ontario. This wasn't just any bank employee; this was a gamer who knew the ins and outs of both worlds: gaming and finance.
By pairing our GRS with top Canadian gaming influencers like Wardell, MTashed, and Kate Stark, we hit the sweet spot. They weren't just playing games; they were having real conversations about finance, taking questions live, and genuinely engaging with the audience. It was about building trust and being part of the community, not just a brand trying to sell something.
And yes, we're definitely building on this. We’ve started a conversation that's resonating, and we’re just getting warmed up. The future? It’s about staying true, staying real, and yes, staying in the game!
LBB> Have these wins put new momentum into your sails? What do the coming months hold for FCB Canada, as well as your relationship with BMO?
Shelley> We are always looking forward to new challenges facing agencies and our clients. And, as Canada’s most innovative agency, we have been focusing on commerce, culture, and content. We know that 91% of consumers are already purchasing through digital commerce channels. As part of our creative commerce journey, last month, over two full days, we hosted an Amazon Hackathon, a global first. We brought together FCB Canada, the Amazon brand innovation lab, and the IPG Creative Commerce team to innovate and disrupt the Amazon canvas for several of our clients.
LBB> Finally, will you be looking to defend your titles next year? And if so, how will you be getting started?
Shelley> Repeating an Effies sweep is a tall task, but we are up for the challenge. We will continue to prove that creativity is an economic multiplier, bringing our clients innovative and effective solutions to their business challenges. We never stop creating, so next year’s cases are already in the works!
