Rethink has been named the most awarded independent ad agency in the world. So, what’s the secret sauce of the agency behind Kraft Heinz’s best work?
Sean McDonald, Rethink
Rethink was founded in Vancouver in 1999 with a vision of creating “an enviable life” alongside enviable creativity – something the founders felt was missing at the networks they’d worked for. Today, it has grown to just under 400 people across four offices – Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and New York – yet still wears its independence on its sleeve. That fiercely autonomous mindset has helped it soar to the top of The Drum’s World Creative Rankings, taking the number one slot among independent agencies and number two overall.
Ask chief strategy officer Sean McDonald what fuels Rethink’s success and he’ll point straight to what’s on the shelf. “Focus on the product and extracting ideas from the brand or the product that brand sells,” he says. “If you look at many of our Heinz ideas, or our ideas with Ikea and Molson Coors, the product is about 80% of the concept. We’ve just played with it. We’ve made it weird. We’ve made it unexpected in some way.”
That philosophy drove the now-iconic tilt of the Heinz Ketchup label to show the perfect pouring angle – turning a slow-pouring quirk into an unforgettable global conversation. Meanwhile, rival Hellmann’s mayonnaise drew flak for putting more emphasis on saving the world than saving sandwiches from tasting bland. McDonald jokes, “I’m a Kraft mayonnaise guy anyway, so I have a bias to begin with,” but he’s serious about the risk of drowning out the simple reason people buy in the first place.
“Yes, I think brands should stand for something,” he acknowledges, “but I also think in some ways, the issues we face in the world today aren’t necessarily the kinds of issues that the brands and products we work with can always contribute to. Maybe there’s a realization that there is a limit to where we play a role, and there is a benefit to communicating within the context we exist. I’m not saying it’s not worthwhile; I just think it might do less to stay in your memory when you’re shopping in the aisles.”
Surprisingly, the place that launches such playful ideas is built around a painstaking process. “Spin is sin,” McDonald notes. “We have a process for how we onboard clients so we can have a very candid relationship, a process for how we get to the truths and opportunities we see strategically, and a process for how those carry through into creativity. We’ve been refining ourselves for 25 years. We want to keep friction low and throughput high, so we actually get work out in the world rather than watch it die in a boardroom.”
This emphasis on clarity and consistency has allowed Rethink to forge client relationships often spanning a decade or more – trust and collaboration that keep the creative momentum strong.
Asked if the agency might ever be snapped up by a holding company, McDonald is crystal clear: “We will absolutely never sell. Ever. We have established ourselves structurally not to sell. We spend a lot of time talking about who the next generation of Rethinkers will be. If you’re speaking to me, my legacy is putting people in a position to run this agency when my partners and I aren’t here any more and that’s what I get most excited about.”
He is similarly pragmatic about technology. “I remember math class before I could use a calculator, and I remember advertising before AI,” he says. “We’re impressed by AI, but I don’t think the experience is really different – it just evolves faster. At the end of the day, it’s about strategy and creativity. If a tool helps us get there, great, but it doesn’t replace that spark.”
After nearly 25 years, Rethink’s spark is burning brighter than ever, as its top spot in the independent agency rankings (and near-top placement overall) attests. By letting product truths and a disciplined process guide the work, this Canadian-born success story has become a global force - and shows no sign of slowing down.
As McDonald’s ethos suggests, maybe the easiest way to stand out in a noisy world is to focus on what’s already right in front of us.
Rethink Toronto
Rethink is more of an idea than it is a business. Rethinking changes everything. It’s how we see the world. Which is why we’re constantly rethinking what’s...