Who we are

Martin Beauvais - Partner, Creative.

As a designer, photographer and director, Martin brings an interdisciplinary approach to all of his work. Before leaving his native Montreal, he was Executive Creative Director at top agencies Taxi, BBDO and TBWA. He worked on consumer giants like Pepsi, Labatt and Chrysler. He also helmed a wildly successful campaign for the Quebec Milk Producers that increased milk consumption in Quebec – the only milk campaign in the Western world to garner such success. Upon coming to Toronto, Martin became Executive Creative Director at zig where he worked on brands like IKEA and Best Buy. Martin has been called many things but some of his favourites have been “one of the most important people in Canadian Marketing” (Marketing Magazine), and “Papa”.

Christian Mathieu - Partner, Strategy.

Christian is a seasoned leader and passionate strategist with a global perspective. His career has seen him lead businesses in New York, Frankfurt, and Toronto. His roles have included Senior Strategist at Roche Macaulay & Partners, Head of Marketing Communications at both IKEA Germany and IKEA North America, and Managing Director at zig where he stewarded brands like Molson and Playboy. In addition to holding a BA from McGill, Christian holds a MSc from the London School of Economics, and speaks English, French, and German. Christian’s experiences with brands and fatherhood have equipped him unique abilities to unlock valuable insights and to discuss the nuances of teeny bop music.

What we do

We use strategic creativity to solve business problems. Operating as the only fully bilingual agency in Toronto, our services include: advertising, digital, design, strategic planning, product innovation, and project management.

We are driven by the core principle of collaboration, and a belief that the backbone of creativity is openness.

Cineplex

Movie tickets without the drama

Buying movie tickets doesn’t have to be like a highly-anticipated-mega-blockbuster production. So to demonstrate this insight, we created a trailer for a highly-anticipated-mega-blockbuster production.

Damiva

Creating a category challenger

Our task was to create a brand identity and packaging system for Damiva, a new female health brand, and its first product, a vaginal moisturizer for menopausal women, called Mae. To empower female health and stand out in a sea of flowers and euphemisms, we created packages that speak to real women. Using old school typewriter font we incorporated stories that use humour and honesty to tell women they are not alone. By challenging the norms of a category, we built a brand that knows exactly who and what it stands for.

Bier Markt

HandleBar

To design an experience for Handlebar, Kensington Market’s new bicycle-themed bar, we created an identity based on adaptation and alteration.

By combining old with new, design elements and communication pieces reinforce the spirit of bicycle culture that Toronto has come to embrace.

We used these new elements to create a special draft lager, The Handlebrew. We even created Handlebar’s signature shot, The Tandem, which comes on its very own coaster built for two.

FB Avocats

We designed FB Avocats to reflect the modern attitude espoused in their approach to corporate law. However, this identity also incorporates traditional elements that create an enduring and reassuring sense of legacy. This is achieved through the juxtaposition of contemporary colours and iconic, historical graphic details like the shield. Specifically, the shield represents what a client looks for in legal counsel; protection. 

Smythe Les Vestes

Make anything spectacular

A Smythe can transform. Talk to any woman who owns a Smythe and they will tell you, it can turn jeans and a tank into a fabulous outfit. We took this thought and stretched it into the hyper-real world of high fashion. With a nod to Smythe’s inspiration, rooted partly in Canadiana, rustic activities are transformed into something glamorous and truly spectacular.

Smythe Les Vestes

Make anything spectacular

A Smythe can transform. Talk to any woman who owns a Smythe and they will tell you, it can turn jeans and a tank into a fabulous outfit. We took this thought and stretched it into the hyper-real world of high fashion. With a nod to Smythe’s inspiration, rooted partly in Canadiana, rustic activities are transformed into something glamorous and truly spectacular.

Smythe Les Vestes

Every Smythe is a statement piece.

The Warbler Jacket makes a unique statement –one of acceptance and non-violence. This special edition Smythe refers to a storyline from the show Glee that featured a singing group called The Warblers. In addition to letting buyers know that a portion of proceeds from jacket sales would go to anti-bullying campaigns, we wanted to inspire thoughtful reflection on the issue of bullying. To get Smythe shoppers into the headspace of bully victims, we created special hangtags that could not be ignored.

OMAC

Taking the initiative

When the Out of Home Marketing Association of Canada (OMAC) approached us they wanted to prove that traditional out of home advertising works successfully in conjunction with social media. Enter the Holiday Initiative, a clever little social experiment we dreamed up to prove this point. Out of home surfaces, armed with snappy headlines and QR codes, directed participants to Facebook and a dedicated microsite in order to collect votes and data. The campaign ran in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Support for the initiative poured in and people offered countless suggestions for what to do with a gained day – now if only the petition can make the government agree.

Environmental Defence

Make up your mind when you make up your face

Environmental Defence is raising awareness of toxic heavy metals, like arsenic and lead, still found in cosmetics in Canada. With this film, Try to Look Pretty without Poisoning Yourself, we spurred consumers to take action on this issue by putting pressure on the Canadian federal government to enact stricter labeling and manufacturing laws for cosmetic products, much like in Europe. To raise awareness of this serious issue, we took an unconventional approach to a PSA: humour.

Commissionaires

A salute to returning soldiers

Commissionaires has an indispensable social mandate – to employ returning soldiers – yet they are virtually unknown. To raise awareness for this mandate we created ‘Thanks’, a highly emotional spot that resonated well beyond our limited media buy.

Lucky Penny

Good friends, good luck, great wine

Good wine. Good friends. Good luck. To launch Lucky Penny Wine in Vancouver, Open created the aptly named Share the Luck Facebook app. The app enabled participants to send messages of luck to friends and family. These messages became not only mini billboards on friends’ newsfeeds, but they appeared as live billboards in downtown Vancouver the next day. By inviting people to write our billboards, we created the first campaign to successfully integrate Facebook and traditional outdoor advertising. With Vancouver awash in good luck billboards, our new friends helped us beat our aggressive sales numbers by 6%, proving that good friends, and good luck really do go hand in hand.

NDP

History in the making

Canadians were fed up with a lack of transparency in Ottawa, the infighting, partisan politics, and the secrecy of the Harper government.

At Open we wanted to make a difference and influence political history.  So, for the NDP we built a campaign based on Trust – trust in the party, trust in the people of this country and, of course, trust in Jack.

The resulting campaign played an instrumental role in making the NDP the Official Opposition.

Newad

Newad came to Open as a media company and left a creative company

After 15 years Newad has greatly evolved from the washroom poster company they started as. Working in close collaboration, we unlocked a simple truth: Newad isn’t a media company, they are a creative company.

To reflect this creative spirit, Open redesigned all elements of their brand – from their website, to their business cards, and even their actual office space.

Frontier Networks

A new Frontier

Working with the new brand promise of Professionally Friendly, we created a comprehensive design system as well as a unique vocabulary that influenced not only how Frontier Networks defined itself, but how it behaved in a sea of parity competitors.