For the release of their Canadian Arctic Expedition series, the Royal Canadian Mint wanted to create something groundbreaking while making coin collecting and history irresistible to children. Our solution was to invite children into an immersive experience that transformed them into arctic explorers. The adventure wove truth, fantasy, and Inuit mythology together in unexpected and intriguing ways. Users had to unlock 4 magical coins in a 72,000 pixel wide parallaxing website, seamlessly delivered on both desktop and tablet using HTML5.
The adventure continued offline with teaching material that was sent to schools across Canada including games, collector's cards and a nationwide contest. In addition to this we also created a branded mobile game called 'Catch-a-coin: Arctic Edition' in which users had to catch, unfreeze and store the right coins in their collection.
Company: Cossette
Role: Interactive Creative Director
AWARDS 2014
One Show
Silver - Website / Other Consumer Goods
Merit - Website / Branded Games
Cannes Cyberlions
Bronze - Craft / User experience
Bronze - Craft / Illustration and Graphic Design
Clio Awards
Silver - Digital and Social / Microsite
Silver - Digital and Social / Games
D&AD's
Yellow Pencil - Digital & Mobile
Digital Marketing Awards
Gold - Websites / Microsites - Corporate
FITC
Best of show and best in design
Adobe Cutting Edge Award
Google Creative Sandbox
The Royal Canadian Mint needed a way to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday and promote it's products in a way that set it apart from the many organizations wanting to do the same. We decided on an integrated campaign centered around a digital hub that highlighted a series of coins commemorating the events and people that have shaped the nation. Also included was a contest that called on the public to translate their passion for their nation into an original drawing. The five winning designs would then be imprinted on a new set of coins and be released into circulation across Canada.
Company: Cossette
Role: Interactive Creative Director
When mountain bikers are on the hunt for a new ride, they tend to seek advice and info from their local bike shop, their friends, or from online reviews. MEC was low on the list, since they were seen as a retail 'generalist' rather than a specialist. Consequently, sales in their mountain bike category were down.
The solution was an integrated campaign that mostly focused on an insight that is crucial to engaging this audience when they're looking for their next bike: Access to knowledgeable staff. A variety of initiatives were developed in-store including the introduction of mountain bike specialists who were clearly identifiable and mountain bike ‘outposts’ that showcased the latest bikes and helped Identify the specialists. Online, quotes demonstrating specialist’s knowledge were featured on MEC.ca, in paid media, and in the MEC blog. Specialist know-how was also featured in a series of videos about maintenance and repair on the trail.
Results was a significant increase in mountain bike sales in-store and online, as well as a marked increase in engagement with MEC staff.
Tourisme Québec needed to revamp it's image in a way that cut through the clutter of tired clichés that are often associated with Canadian destinations. Québec Original was launched as a series of campaigns featuring lively, quirky videos that lived on it's website as well as in rich media banners, pre-rolls, social media touchpoints and European cinemas. In addition, a bold new identity was developed in order to match the vibrant energy of the films. To top it off, a clean graphic language was designed, peppered with translations of the province's colourful expressions.
Company: Cossette
Role: Interactive Creative Director
La Presse, North America's largest French-language daily, decided to join the digital age by launching a remarkable new product called La Presse+, unique in the news world for its stunning design and user-friendliness. Our campaign presented the product from the reader's point of view: their reaction to the product's features and the way they integrate La Presse+ into their daily ritual of news consumption. The campaign was built on the notion that La Presse was actually "inspired by it's readers", who were rapidly adapting to new technologies, devices and platforms.
Company: Cossette
Role: Interactive Creative Director
Developers The Katz Group and the ONE Development Group needed an online destination that focussed on a major part of their $2.5 billion mixed-use sports and entertainment district: Their properties. Not only did the site have to drive sales of their office and residential spaces, it also had to provide all the latest news surrounding the project as well as highlighting career opportunities within The Katz Group.
The solution was a bold, clear site structure with the ability to highlight the complexity of the architectural renders while ensuring that all content on subjects such as availability, floorplans, interior design, connectivity and sustainability had adequate space to breathe. The interface focused on simplicity and ease of use, while the overall design incorporated many of the textures and colourful elements of the Ice District branding without allowing it to compromise design harmony.
The site has so far delivered impressive results, helping to finalize the occupancy of over 90 percent of office and retail spaces. In addition, most of Stantec tower has already been occupied by notable companies such as PwC accounting as well as law firms Dentons and DLA Piper LLP.
Agence de l'efficacité énergétique is a government organisation that strives to increase Quebecers’ awareness of energy efficiency. One of the insights we uncovered was that people are often too lazy to change their habits when it comes to saving energy, even when the tasks required are very easy. The solution was to launch a campaign that revolved around the tag line: "Are you waiting for someone else to do it for you?" Print, TV and online ads drove people to 'Energuy', a humorous, educational game in which users had to literally drag a lazy man around, making him perform tasks that help save energy around the house. AEE saw a big boost in awareness and a 48% increase in site traffic.
Company: DentsuBos
Role: Interactive Creative Director
AWARDS
Applied Arts
Winner - Public service or charity (non-profit)
Boomerangs
Grand Prize - Website
Annual program guide for Arts Umbrella, a non-profit art school where people aged 2 to 22 come to cultivate their creativity. They reach more than 24,000 students every year, with nearly 80% participating at little to no cost. The challenge was to bring together info on all their dance, theatre, and art programs and combine it with info on their donors, bursary funds, and policies in an easily digestible format.
The solution was a 56 page 9”x13” guide on premium stock that used colour coding and the generous use of white space that allowed readers to find and understand all content with ease. Full colour, full page photos of the students and their work featured throughout, allowing the organization and its talented students to take centre stage.
Role: Art Director
Himachal Expeditions is a tour operator offering treks to some of the most remote parts of the Himalayas. Their services are aimed squarely at Millennials, with a core belief in trying to make a positive impact on the places to which they travel. Everything from accommodations, food and supplies is taken into consideration to ensure that that their clients' experiences benefit local communities and helps protect their environment. In keeping with Millennials' speedy browsing style, the site is image-heavy and text-sparse, with a focus on simplicity, accessibility and intuitive navigation.
During the Stanley Cup playoffs, we helped McDonald's comment on each Canadians game in real time. For every goal, penalty, miracle or mishap, our team of art directors and online experts posted clever, relevant photo tweets and produced impressive results. A 288% increase in audience engagement, a 21.6 % increase in twitter followers, 200 000 impressions, and over 70 000 users reached.
Company: Cossette
Role: Interactive Creative Director
Guru manufactures high end, custom tailored bicycles for people who are willing to pay a small fortune for the perfect ride. These are people for whom biking is almost like a spiritual pursuit. In order to reach out to them, we created “Devoted to Cycling”, an integrated campaign that borrowed heavily from religious paintings of the 1600's. One of the tactics was a microsite featuring games that tapped into the private jokes used by cycling enthusiasts. These included the importance of turning your head to spit when you're at the head of the pack, and of how to escape your spouse during those long, blissful rides.
Company: Sid Lee
Role: Interactive Art Director
AWARDS 2005
One Show:
Gold - Gaming and websites
Cannes:
Gold - Direct
McDonald's wanted to to keep their brand top-of-mind leading up to and during the summer weekends. Our insight was that people can't wait for the weekend to arrive, and as the days drag by, their anticipation keeps growing. To tap into this, we came up with Weekend Countdown, a series of looping numeric animations that appeared on Instagram and Facebook from Wednesday to Saturday for eight straight weeks, reminding everyone how many days were left until they were free. In addition, we needed to emphasize that no matter where you go or what you do, McDonald's is the perfect place to fuel up for your weekend adventure. To address this, we featured a wide variety of activities while embedding McDonald's products and branding throughout.
Company: Tribal/DDB
Role: Creative Director
Inbredboy.com was my portfolio site when I moonlighted as a freelance designer, animator and illustrator. The experience revolved around the story of a ghoulish swamp creature and his motley collection of mouse slaves, each of which hosted a different area of the site. The butler took care of the work section, the high priest offered sacrifices at the alter of the creator, and the femme fatale worked the mic in the mail room. Every inch of the experience featured hidden easter eggs for visitors to discover, each one offering ever increasing levels of insanity, fun and gore.
Company: Inbredboy
Role: Creative and Art Director
AWARDS 2004
Cannes
Shortlist - Self promotional website
Digital Marketing Awards
Gold - Self promotional website
The Arts Umbrella building at 1400 Johnston Street is a 50,000 net-square-foot building dedicated to arts education for young people ages 2-22, featuring state-of-the-art studio, exhibition, and performances spaces to inspire future generations. In order to match the modern style of the organisation's new home, a comprehensive wayfinding system was designed that would be able to stand the test of time while also being able to accommodate the variety of different types of student work that would surround it.
Role: Art Director
The Home Depot wanted to demystify the process of buying a barbecue. So we built a simple, step-by-step walkthrough in HTML5 that was launched within their existing site. Featuring bold, kaleidoscope graphics and fun animations, the walkthrough made things like choosing BTU's, surface quality, accessories and fuel type simple and easy to understand.
Company: Cossette
Role: Interactive Creative Director
The Montreal Fringe is an annual theatre festival in which anyone, from amateur to professional, can win a chance to put on their own live show. The client needed a campaign that was edgy, oddball and low cost. The insight we uncovered was that due to the unique selection process, you never know what you are going to get when you attended a Fringe show. They’re sometimes brilliant, often outrageous and occasionally terrible, but one thing is always guaranteed; every entertainer in the program pushes the limits 'til it hurts. Posters, a website and TV ads were produced.
Company: Sid Lee
Role: Art Director
AWARDS 2004
Digital Marketing Awards
Gold - Online advertising broadband
