About

Let's make this simple.

We are a creative consultancy. Part strategic consultancy, part creative boutique. But only the good parts.

We create marketing solutions that are unexpected, transformative and, in hindsight, obvious.

If there is one trait that differentiates us, it's our ability to take complex challenges and express them as simple ideas.

And if our experience has taught us anything, it's that simple is hard to do. But that's what we do everyday at Smith Roberts.

The company we keep.

Work

• The United Church

  

   

  Wonder Cafe

  How do you bring young people back to church?

  Simple Idea:
  

  Create an online ministry.

  The United Church is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada, embracing core liberal values of inclusion and acceptance.

  But, over the past decade the number of people attending services has fallen sharply, and those who do continue to attend are increasingly older.

  To introduce The United Church to younger audiences, we created a virtual Wonder Cafe and positioned it as the place for open-minded Canadians to explore spirituality on their own terms.

  We invited people to join the conversation and drove traffic online with social media and web, print and poster advertising. The campaign generated an avalanche of PR and helped breathe new life into the church with its bold and irreverent approach.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  
  

  
  

  The Breakdown

  + $4 Mil

  Earned Media

  6 MTH

  web-traffic objective met in first week

  3 HRS

  of TV coverage

  8%

  awareness increase post launch

  34%

  “more favorable to United Church” post launch 

• Toshiba

  

   

  Canada’s Land Watch

  How do you connect people to an impenetrable database?

  Simple Idea:
  

  Let pictures tell thousands and thousands of words.

  Since 1962, the Nature Conservancy of Canada has been securing land that will forever provide a home for wildlife, an escape from the city, and a vital resource that cleans the air we breathe and the water we drink.

  Our client, Toshiba, is working alongside the Nature Conservancy of Canada to help ensure that those lands and their rich biodiversity remain protected.

  Canada’s Land Watch is a new web portal we developed that showcases the partnership we catalyzed to preserve our most diverse ecosystems.

  Intuitive, visually immersive, and punctuated with thought-provoking statistics, the new portal provides insights into the threats that face our landscapes. And what we can all do to protect them.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  

  The Breakdown

  2.6 MIL

  acres of ecologically significant land

  16 MINS

  AVERAGE SITE VISIT DURATION ON MOBILES/TABLETS

  1

  SOCIAL GOOD DESIGN AWARD, 2013

• Ford Motor Company

  

   

  Human Car

  How do you make people believe in your cars again?

  Simple Idea:
  

  Make your cars more human.

  Ford was under siege. Their product was improving but public perception was lagging. (And keep in mind, this was six months before the government bailout.)

  Through countless hours of focus group research, we heard that people thought Ford was out of touch with what ordinary people wanted.

  So we knew that just saying “Ford is changing” wouldn’t cut it. We had to give a demonstration of the thinking and commitment to its customers.

  “Human Car” is an imaginative and creative way that gets across the idea that people are the inspiration of everything Ford does.

• Colleges Ontario

  

   

  Obay.

  How do you get students to choose college over university?

  Simple Idea:
  

  Tell parents to step aside.

  Colleges Ontario is a non profit advocacy organization for Ontario’s 24 colleges of applied arts and technology.

  Given the level of educational excellence now being offered, our task was to help future students overcome their parents’ bias toward a university education and to encourage them to explore Ontario’s colleges.
  

  
  

  

  

  

  

  The Breakdown

  35+ Mil

  Impressions Worldwide

  6 Week

  Campaign reversed five-year declining enrolement

  6%

  Impressions Worldwide

  Grade 8

  Case study in grade 8 media-literacy textbooks

• Nabob Coffee

  

   

  Nabob Coffee

  What’s the best strategy to compete against Starbucks?

  Simple Idea:
  

  Make it all about the coffee.

  Nabob long held the position as the premium coffee in the grocery aisle. That all changed when Starbucks entered the market. All of a sudden, the experience of leisurely drinking coffee, green-aproned baristas, a new language (grande, vente, etc.), richly designed interiors, and exorbitantly high prices all conspired to knock Nabob off the shelf

  The temptation to meet Starbucks head on and begin to act like them was strong. But even stronger was the fact that loyal Nabob customers continued to prefer their coffee over other brands in blind taste tests.

  This was the time for Nabob to play to its strength. What makes Nabob a great tasting cup of coffee are the beans. Pure and simple. And to exude some brand-building confidence, we felt it would be more memorable to be playful while we were at it.

• Sick Kids Hospital

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  Voices from the heart

  How do you help scared parents bond with their premature infants?

  Simple Idea:
  

  Let their babies talk to them.

  Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) is one of the leading paediatric healthcare centres in the world. Its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit caters to the most fragile infants.

  The NICU can be intimidating for new parents who feel overwhelmed and uncertain about their role there. Their babies do not have the same opportunities for bonding as typical newborns.

  Our task was to help them understand the essential role they play in their children’s recovery. Messaging emphasized that the lines of communication were critically important to recovery.

  The concept is now being replicated in hospitals around the country.

  

  

  

  

  

  

• Corby Spirit & Wine

  

   

  Black Sheep Rum

  How do you make a rum stand out in a sea of sameness?

  Simple Idea:
  

  Make it bad ass.

  The spiced rum category is the fastest growing spirit category in both volume (+18%) and retail value (+20%) and has more than doubled in size in the past 3 years. The market is highly competitive and has been evolving over the past few years with many new entrants.

  Lamb’s Black Sheep had remained unchanged from its original launch liquid profile and positioning, and research was showing that the liquid, the label, brand positioning & story needed to be completely overhauled and relaunched in order to be competitive with brands such as The Kraken and Sailor Jerry’s.

  We created an entirely new personality for the brand – dirtied it up to appeal to its young audience – new positioning, new packaging, new liquid, new advertising – all consistent with a “bad ass” theme.

  The campaign idea “Plunder the Night” became the calling card for the brand and represented all things dark and forbidden. Advertising, promotional activity, extensive sampling and social media were used to relaunch the brand

  

Partners

• Malcolm Roberts

  

  Founder/President

  E: malcolm@smithroberts.ca

  “The most effective and enduring campaigns that I ever created all share one thing in common: they are incredibly simple ideas.”

  Malcolm’s 25-year career as an award-winning creative director and agency principal has spanned multinational agencies, in both the UK and Canada, including Ogilvy, Saatchi & Saatchi, JWT, DDB and Publicis, on blue-chip accounts in both the private and public sectors.

  Since founding Smith Roberts Communications in 2004, Malcolm’s strategic vision and creative leadership grew his agency in size and reputation on the principle that they didn’t just advertise clients’ brands, they solved business problems with ideas that were smart and brave but, above all else, simple. This approach consistently delivered exceptional ROI for their clients. In many cases, far exceeding expectations and industry norms.

  Now with partners Prasad and Chris, Malcolm’s passion is unearthing powerful, simple ideas that cut through the ever-increasing proliferation of today’s media landscape.

  AWARDS:
  Marketing Awards, Advertising & Design Club of Canada, Applied Arts, Golden Marble, Extra Awards, Graphis, One Show, London International Awards, Social Good Design Awards, Internet Advertising Competition, Web Awards
  INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT:
  Board of Governors – Institute of Communication Agencies
  Judge at 2014 Marketing Awards
  Judge at 2015 Applied Arts Awards
  Contributing Author – Wharton School of Business/Future of Advertising Program
  Speaking engagements at marketing conferences across Canada

• Prasad Rao

  

  Partner/Strategy

  E: prasad@smithroberts.ca

  “This is simple. I have a Bachelor of Science degree and a karate green belt. I’ve been known to brandish both in tense meetings.”

  Prasad has led, built and grown brands and agencies across three continents. He has served blue chip accounts such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, J&J, GM, and Royal Bank, as well as public sector clients such as Ontario Ministry of Health & Long Term Care, Brampton Transit, University Health Network and West Neighbourhood House (formerly St. Christopher House).

  His entrepreneurial instincts led him to co-found Rao Barrett and Welsh, an idea centric communications agency in 2005, and in 2011 The Multicultural Partnership, providing clients with deep insight into the emerging multicultural markets in Canada.

  A champion of great creative, Prasad fully understands that great work is borne from insightful, informed and strong strategic planning.

  Prasad is a global thinker, a champion of cross-cultural communications and a brand builder. He finds brand truths and connects them with cultural truths.

• Chris McGroarty

  

  Partner/Creative

  E: chris@smithroberts.ca

  “If simple was easy more people would be doing it.”

  Chris’ journey begins with writing the Sears catalogue. Sit-on lawnmowers, dusty rose valances, four-way stretch polyester pants. Not a glamorous job, but it taught him the importance of a word count.

  Twenty years later, Chris looks back at the agencies where he’s worked. Cossette, Leo Burnett, JWT, FCB and Y&R. Clients, like Bell, McDonalds, Scotiabank, Kellogg’s, Cadbury, Kraft, Unilever, S.C. Johnson and the biggest of them all, Ford.

  This gives insight into why he wanted to start a small agency. Which he did, called “Jimmy.” Along the way he still felt something was missing. As it turns out, it was Prasad and Malcolm. Chris is now very content to be working alongside two partners who share the same outlook on creativity and the same love of Japanese comfort food.

  AWARDS

  Marketing Awards, Applied Arts, Advertising & Design Club of Canada, One Show, London International Awards, Cannes, Extra Awards, Crystals

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