When Kraft Heinz came to Rethink last year looking to create a line of ketchup-themed merch, the Canadian indie agency did what it so often does—it came up with a unique take on the idea that was both modern and relevant, struck a chord in culture and also deeply connected to the history and equity of the brand.

The resulting apparel, called “Heinz Vintage Drip,” featured ketchup stains on a thrifted collection of luxe and streetwear brands—Gucci, Nike, Yves Saint Laurent, The North Face and others—sourced through the resale platform thredUP.

The collection got New York Fashion Week buzzing and nicely dovetailed with Gen Z’s commitment to sustainability—all while tapping into a product truth that goes back generations.

“Our thought when we got briefed on a merch line was, ‘Don't we already have one? Haven't we had one for 100 years on most people's clothes?’” said Mike Dubrick, chief creative officer at Rethink Toronto. “Brands have done amazing merch. It’s hard to stand out. So we tried something different, rooted in something notorious with the brand that seems negative—spilling ketchup on yourself—which we turned into a positive.”

This combination of buzzy yet strategic work is Rethink’s specialty. And it’s evident in the agency’s other Heinz Ketchup work as well, such as “Ketchup A.I.” and “Heinz Hot Dog Pact.”

For the former, a sequel to 2021’s human experiment “Draw Ketchup,” the agency asked the A.I. software DALL-E 2, without mentioning a brand, to create images of ketchup—it came back with endless images of Heinz. For the latter, they identified an offbeat consumer pain point—that hot dogs are sold in packs of 10, while buns come in packs of eight—and issued an amusing rallying cry for them to be equal.

Work like this hits a sweet spot that’s always the agency’s target.

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“It’s highly relevant to either a behavior or something hot in the world, and it connects to something the brand is known for,” said Aaron Starkman, Rethink’s global chief creative officer. “It’s not either/or, and they’re not just one-offs. It's about finding the perfect confluence of where relevance meets the brand. That's where the magic happens and it becomes shareable.”

Kraft Heinz couldn’t be happier with the results in building cultural momentum over time. “Ketchup AI,” for example, drove 38% higher engagement with younger audiences in social than past work. 

“For me, ‘Ketchup AI’ was a great example of a simple insight that demonstrated the ubiquity of Heinz, combining technology and consumer engagement at just the right moment,” said Nina Patel, VP of North America brand communications at Kraft Heinz. “With ‘Heinz Vintage Drip,’ reframing the brand’s iconic stains as a statement in fashion culture was simple and clever, but executed in a way that understood the importance of thrifting culture and sustainability to Gen Z and millennial audiences at scale.”

Digging ‘shallow holes’

Rethink was Ad Age’s Creative Agency of the Year in 2020 as well. The shop has doubled in size since then, growing revenue by 30% in 2022, following 45% growth in 2021. It’s nearing 400 staffers across four offices—three in Canada, plus a New York outpost that opened in late 2021—and added 24 new brands to its roster in 2022 alone.

Still, its approach to creative ideation hasn’t changed. If anything, the shop has doubled down on it.

At first, Rethink execs dig what they call “shallow holes,” emphasizing breadth rather than depth of ideas—exploring the top-line shape and cultural potential of each before digging deeper. They constantly vet and peer-review the concepts, getting many diverse perspectives. (In particular, the agency’s peer-review Slack channel focused on diversity, equity and inclusion is “always popping,” said Starkman.)

“We’ll eventually share five to seven ideas with the client. They'll narrow it down and say, ‘Dig deeper on these two,’” said Starkman. “There's no surprises because the clients are in the kitchen early on.”

This rigorous approach puts a strategic lens on everything that’s in development, no matter how playful it is, and also creates guardrails for the work. “It’s not creatives running around with wacky hair and crazy glasses just going nuts,” said Starkman. “It’s about taking the most risk out of the process of getting to bold ideas that stand out like crazy and deliver great results.”

“We both recognize the importance of agility for brands to be relevant in culture today,” added Patel. “Being exposed to lots of insight-driven, high-level ideas and making calls with a commitment to fun, speed and flexibility has helped us develop powerful creative momentum.” 

Purpose by design

Other Rethink campaigns that stood out in 2022 included:

• “The Unburnable Book,” an anti-censorship stunt for Penguin Random House, where the agency made a fireproof version of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and had Atwood try to burn it with a flamethrower.

• “Ability Signs” for sports retailer Decathlon, which redesigned the universal accessibility symbol (the static image of a person in a wheelchair) into dozens of dynamic variations to reflect the unlimited potential of people with disabilities.

• “The Troll,” a two-minute film for Ikea Canada in which a young boy helps a monster under a bridge brighten up his living space.

“Over the years the work has become stronger and stronger,” said Johanna Andren, chief marketing officer of Ikea Canada. “‘The Troll’ being compared with John Lewis (advertising) was kind of a milestone. For me, it’s proof that the agency isn't becoming ‘fat and happy’ but is constantly improving. We want to break through by being different, but it’s never by compromising Ikea's culture and values or the true consumer insight.”

Decathlon’s “Ability Signs” also reveals Rethink’s DNA.

On the one hand, it’s purpose-driven—which the agency says it values above all else, both internally (it’s banned Monday client meetings to protect staff’s weekend time, and gives everyone a free week off in the summer) and in the work. And it’s also very design-forward, reflecting another core Rethink belief—that all advertising in today’s cluttered world must be simple and striking to stand out.

“It's one of the foundations of our process,” said Dubrick. “As a writer, I still love a great headline. But it’s often the visual way that an idea comes to life that gives it that wow factor, that star power.”

Bringing some Canada (and Peru) to NYC

As Rethink grows, it has increasingly global ambitions.

Most clients that arrived in 2022 brought Canadian AOR assignments. But the agency is just as excited about the possibilities for U.S. and global work, especially via its New York office, which in November hired Daniel Lobatón as CCO—the Saatchi & Saatchi veteran whose credits include 2018’s “It’s a Tide Ad.” 

“He’s like the Peruvian brother I didn't know existed,” said Caleb Goodman, Rethink’s global chief operating officer, who’s now based in New York himself after a decade in Toronto. “Daniel brings a collection of experiences on some unbelievable global brands that we always admired. And at the core, there's some shared DNA in the type of work he likes to do and that Rethink likes to do.”

Starkman said there are intriguing parallels between Lobatón’s Peruvian roots and Rethink’s Canadian roots.

“We clicked with Daniel right off the bat,” Starkman said. “The (advertising) budgets in Peru and Canada are both different than the U.S. It's like we were speaking the same advertising language about being scrappy, coming up with out-of-the-box solutions to break through. I like to think we're bringing a little bit of Canada and a little bit of Peru to New York. We think New York needs that right now.”

“You're going to see a lot more work coming out of Rethink New York in the next year,” added Dubrick. “This is sort of going to be the coming-out party for Rethink New York in 2023.”

Rethink is also expanding its content offerings across the network, creating more avenues for its attention-getting approach. These include Rethink Brand Narrative, a PR and branded content practice launched in 2022 that’s now staffed by 12 people working on clients lincluding Scotiabank and A&W Restaurants.

The backdrop to all this is what Rethink considers its true superpower: its independence, which lets it grow in uncompromising fashion.

“As an independent creative agency, we have a lot of passions. And because of our structure, because of who we are, it allows us to work with the types of clients we want to, and not worry about bottom lines and stock prices,” said Dubrick. “Responsibility is a big value for us as an agency. What’s the effect that the work is going to have? What are the types of messages we want to be putting out in the world? We can do the kind of work we want—work that has the kind of impact we want, and that maybe the industry needs.” 

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