Who We Are

The most celebrated creative agency in Canada for the past decade.

If there’s one thing that separates DDB Canada from its agency competitors, it’s our ability to deliver big, game-changing creative ideas year after year after year.

In fact, over the last decade, we’ve been recognized more times for our business-building work than any other creative ad agency in Canada. As testament to this, based on our strategic thinking and creative product, we’ve been named Strategy Magazine’s Agency of the Year for an unprecedented 5 of the last 10 years (including 2009). And in the history of Strategy’s annual Creative Report Card, we have double the amount of points of our nearest competitor.

Who We Are/Our Belief

It's our fundamental belief that creativity is the most powerful force in business.

We fully believe in the power of creativity to touch hearts, change minds and build brands. It’s why we exist as an agency – to create surprising and original ideas that deliver tangible results.

In a world where people have become the most influential media channel, our mission is to instigate "share value". By developing ideas that consumers want to play with, participate in and pass along, we sustain lively, animated, thoughtful conversations in and around our client’s brands.

Our job, as it has always been, is to give them something that they willingly want to share.

Who We Are/DDB Cares

We've been called a lot of things. Do-gooders is our favourite.

Whether it’s convincing thousands of Canadians to donate blood, helping the Looking Glass foundation scale new heights in awareness and fundraising for eating disorders, or simply using advertising to stop crime for our client Crime Stoppers, DDB has a long and rich history of supporting social causes. In fact, the values of giving back and being environmentally responsible are a part of our very fabric and culture. We were the first Agency to "Go Green" conducting waste and carbon audits and setting targets to know where and how we could become better environmental citizens. Both our Chairman and CEO, Frank Palmer, and David Leonard, our President & COO are deeply involved with NABS – our industry’s support organization – The National Advertising Benevolent Society looking after our own. In Vancouver, we conduct an annual Share DDB, an Art Crawl that has raised over $50k in the last five years for local charities.

Services

We humbly believe that we can solve any problem creatively.

Every marketing challenge is unique. It’s all about finding the right solution for the right client at the right time. By keeping our employees well-versed in every communications discipline including social media, interactive, CRM, and design, we are able to look beyond the tried and true. But don’t just take our word for it. Ask any of our current clients (and we encourage you to do so – really, we’ll give you their phone numbers) and you’ll likely hear about how we’re able to deliver big creative ideas that work across the wide spectrum of communications.

Services/Advertising

TV. Cinema. Print. Outdoor. Radio. Ambient. You name it, we do it. In fact, we’ve built our reputation on delivering award-winning, results-oriented creative for clients across all mediums. Working in concert with our account leaders, strategic planners and media experts, our creative teams determine the most effective approach for the given business challenge. And once we do, we pride ourselves on finding the tonality and conviction that best suits each brand. But while every solution is indeed different, they all have something in common - namely, that they’re engaging, arresting, and surprising pieces of communication that are impossible to ignore.

Services/Design

First we think, then we design. This is the underlying philosophy for everything we do, and we believe it sets us apart. We create brand identity platforms, packaging systems, retail point of sale materials, environmental designs and corporate communications. Through the design process, we help guide our clients; defining their needs, developing a strong creative strategy and following it with design that is more than just style. Our team combines the talents of designers, strategists, producers and project managers working in partnership with our clients.

Services/Digital

Consistently delivering in the digital realm takes more than just harnessing world-class talent across multiple disciplines. It takes an unparalleled commitment to mastering constantly evolving technologies, and demands we actively listen both to our clients’ business needs and their customer’s true desires. Through passionate delivery of engaging digital experiences, brilliant creative campaigns and narrowly targeted outbound online marketing, we deliver on both business results and industry accolades.

Services/Social Media

By harnessing the power of online social networks and emerging technologies we’re providing clients with new, non-interruptive and immediate ways to build relevant relationships between consumers and their brands. We work in concert with global community cultivation expertise ensuring clients’ brands are in-market 24/7/365 reaching the right consumers at the right time with the right message.

Services/Media

We believe that innovative use of traditional media is the key to capturing attention and engaging minds. Our planners play key roles within our core agency team. Once the media strategy has been set, the media buy benefits from the kind of volume discounts that only OMD – the largest media buying company in Canada – can achieve. Having dedicated solution-driven media strategists and professional media negotiators gives our clients the best of both worlds: targeted, creative media strategies that are delivered efficiently and effectively through OMD’s consolidated media buying power.

Services/Youth

We are a group of youth marketing enthusiasts dedicated to connecting brands with the under 24 market. Our full service team can help you with strategic planning and execution, primary and secondary custom research and the development and production of premiums. We have created communications strategies for a range of clients that include USAA, MTV Canada, Sun-Rype, BC Hydro, the BC Securities Commission and the BC Dairy Foundation. We also work with McDonald’s, for whom we produce Fun Times, one of the largest annual circulations of children’s magazines and premiums in North America.

Services/Direct Response & CRM

Recognized around the world as a leader in direct and loyalty marketing, we offer extensive experience in getting your customers and prospects to take action. Great creative matters but never at the expense of results. And the best way for everyone to succeed is to build a relationship of respect and trust with our clients. It is all about making connections. Our client list spans many industries, in both consumer and business-to-business sectors as well as not-for-profit. Our breadth of experience includes: complex client organizations with high service needs, relationship marketing strategies across customer lifecycle including retention and acquisition strategies, participating in multi-partner teams and managing multiple stakeholders needs. We’re experts at marrying innovative creative with best practices for both offline and digital channels resulting in data-driven, sophisticated direct campaigns.

Services/Strategic Planning

At DDB our strategic planning resource is the 'creative behind the creative'. We immerse ourselves in our Clients business, illuminate the business problem and identify the best 'angle' to springboard the creative approach that will solve the problem. We provide insight and clarity from a strong understanding of target groups, categories and brands and the deployment of some sharp proprietary tools. Our role is to boost creative horsepower by informing the work so that is more relevant and influential. We carefully craft a plan to ignite conversations that will impact our Clients business performance and then work collaboratively to scale up and sustain those conversations. Good strategic planning dramatically improves communication effectiveness and helps to create stronger attachment with brand users.

Services/Public Relations

Creativity, passion and strategic persuasive communications – these are just a few of the strengths that best define DDB Public Relations (DDB PR). With an unwavering dedication to excellence, DDB PR has created groundbreaking PR programs for both internationally recognized clients and entrepreneurial ventures. A full-service, boutique-sized agency armed with the resources of DDB’s worldwide network, DDB PR offers clients the best of both worlds with seamless integration and best-in-class services. With offices in Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver, DDB PR’s successes have led it to become one of Canada’s most creatively-awarded PR shops.

Services/Recruitment Advertising

Looking for people? You've just found your best hire yet. We deliver recruitment advertising that's engaging, targets the right candidates, and builds brands an approach that gets outstanding results for our clients. From print to digital to promotions and everything in between, we've created and executed successful recruitment campaigns for some of Canada's leading employers. And through our strategic alliance with Bernard Hodes Group, the worldwide recruitment marketing agency, we can offer insight, advice and tools for campaigns anywhere in the world.