Gut opens in Toronto with Tim Hortons as first client

The world’s hottest “new” ad market has yet another contender joining its fast-growing ranks. Independent creative shop Gut has officially opened its fourth office in three years, this time heading north of its Miami headquarters to Toronto where a 40-person team will handle agency-of-record duties for a very appropriate inaugural client: Canada’s favorite coffee chain, Tim Hortons. Restaurant Brands International-owned Tim Hortons had previously been working with Gut Miami on various campaigns for the past three years, but opted to hand its top creative duties to the Toronto office after news broke earlier this year that Gut would be heading to Canada. Although now an international chain with nearly 5,000 locations in North America, Europe and Asia, Tim Hortons’ roots are deeply tied to Canada. The company was founded in the 1960s by a Canadian hockey player-turned-entrepreneur named—you guessed it—Tim Horton in Hamilton, Ontario, about 40 miles southwest of Toronto. “We’ve always loved the work coming out of Canada, and we have so much respect for this market,” says Gaston Bigio, Miami-based co-founder of the creative shop that was recently named Ad Age’s No. 7 A-List Agency of the Year. “We came here wanting to create the most iconic work that both Tim Hortons and the Canadian market deserve, so we’re proud and excited to share our creative ambitions with the most iconic brand in Canada,” he says. Gut Toronto’s leadership team includes Business Director Ryan O’Hagan, formerly of well-known Canadian shop John St.; Chief Strategy Officer Dino Demopolous, a veteran of agencies including DDB Toronto and No Fixed Address; and Executive Creative Director Brynna Aylward, who relocated from the U.S. where she was most recently a creative director at Gut Miami. All of the shop’s 40 employees are based in Canada, with Gut saying in a statement that it’s critical for the quickly expanding agency “to open this office with individuals who are passionate about elevating the Canadian advertising industry, and who want to work together as a team to build an agency in this country that is inherently rooted in creativity.” “Gut now in Canada with Tim Hortons as its first client is a huge testament to our relationship and trust with one another,” says Tim Hortons’ Chief Marketing Officer Hope Bagozzi, adding that she is looking forward to “all the great things we will continue doing together.” The prior agency of record was Zulu Alpha Kilo. Founded just a few years ago in the red-hot Florida creative scene, Gut has since been on a hiring spree as it expanded with two South American offices in Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo. And, after laying the groundwork to open Gut Toronto for the past several months, the agency announced earlier this month the creation of a fifth office in Mexico City to complement its expansive network in the Americas.

Gut opens in Toronto with Tim Hortons as first client

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