Matthew Valenzano

A survey we conducted found 65 million North Americans feel they would be shunned by friends, family and co-workers if they revealed they were HIV+. This stark reality is vastly underrepresented in popular culture: There has never been a mainstream television program that has tackled HIV stigma.

As one of the largest purpose-built HIV/AIDS hospitals in the world, Casey House wanted to continue its multi-year campaign to smash stigma. But we had to show the devastating effects in a way that would make people take notice. So we used beloved characters from Friends and The Office, two of the most streamed shows on earth.

We searched 236 episodes of Friends and 203 episodes of The Office to find scenes that could be re-edited and reordered to create the unthinkable: New episodes where iconic TV characters are HIV+ and facing the isolation of stigma. We hired voice impersonators from across North America to replace dialogue, and lookalikes for each actor, so we could swap voices and faces using innovative post-production. To show the episode was more than fiction, HIV+ influencers bravely shared their stories on the website, bringing a personal and human viewpoint to HIV stigma.

200 stories, 10 million social impressions, and 200 million media impressions within the first day of launch. And most impressive, after viewing our episodes, 88% of people felt more empathetic to those who live with HIV.

One of Scotiabank's largest charity programs is it's hockey sponsorship. 

The bank sponsors over 8,000 community hockey teams across Canada and in 2016 they were a title sponsor of The World Cup of Hockey. 

They asked us for an epic spot that would sit comfortably in between big budget beer commercials during the tournament. 

We were happy to deliver it. 

Along with the TV spot, we helped create the look and feel for all surrounding elements of their campaign, including out of home and social. 

Applied Arts

Craft Editing - Scotiabank "Hockey Dreams"

Craft Cinematography - Scotiabank "Hockey Dreams" 

Craft Direction - Scotiabank "Hockey Dreams" 

Canadian Marketing Awards

Silver - Community Engagement Financial - Scotiabank "Hockey Dreams"

Bronze - Integrated Financial - Scotiabank "Hockey Dreams"

Bronze - Advertising Financial - Scotiabank "Hockey Dreams"

Bronze - Direct Engagement Financial - Scotiabank "Hockey Dreams"

Bronze - Integrated Retail - Scotiabank "Hockey Dreams"

Bronze - Advertising Retail - Scotiabank "Hockey Dreams"

Bronze - Community Engagement Retail - Scotiabank "Hockey Dreams"

How do you get Torontonians to break a 20 year habit of calling 40 Bay Street, “The ACC”?

51% of Canadians wouldn’t touch someone with HIV or AIDS.

To fight that stigma head on, we opened a spa staffed exclusively with HIV+ Healers.

We helped SVEKDA show how terrifying Halloween can be for millennials with First World Horrors. 

Marketing Awards

Silver - Digital: Online Film Campaign 15 Seconds and under

Following the success of Hockey Dreams, Scotiabank South America asked us to produce a similar spot for their partnership for FC Barcelona. 

To introduce the high end cannabis brand AltaVie, we leaned on a truth that it can help you appreciate the little things. Intersecting our targets desire for whole body wellness, the campaign centred around a mindfulness message that implored consumers appreciate the moment they’re in a little more. It came to life on social and pre roll in mesmerizing videos that compelled users to slow down or shift their perspective on the present. Wild postings encourage users to think about mindfulness in new and contemporary ways. Guerrilla postings reminded consumers to find the beauty in every moment. We also organized a launch event celebrating art and mindfulness with author Cleo Wade. The campaign helped consumers be more present and introduced them to a brand that could be a part of their mindful journey.   

2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1. Knowing this, TAXI believed that it would be a good idea to present Canadian Tire with an idea for Remembrance Day. 

We knew it couldn’t be insensitive or corporately branded because of the very delicate subject matter. We also knew that the most common commemoration ceremony on Remembrance Day is the moment of silence. We came up with the idea of completely blank ads; a moment of silence in advertising. Those ads would direct consumers to MomentOfSilence.com. At this website, users would be invited to participate in a real moment of silence. They would hit the ‘Participate’ button, at which point their microphone would turn on to confirm they were being silent for one minute. For every minute of silence, Canadian Tire would donate one dollar to a veterans fund. 

Canadian Tire ended up buying this idea and pledging one million dollars to be donated. Unfortunately, the day it was going to studio, a gunman attacked Parliament Hill and shot Corporal Nathan Cirillo. After this attack, Canadian Tire believed it was the wrong time to run this campaign and pulled out. 

The success of the original Hockey Dreams campaign led to Scotiabank asking us to create a new set of commercials staring their new partner, Auston Matthews. Centred around Auston’s record breaking four goal debut and his 40th playoff clinching goal of his rookie season, the spots celebrated how hockey helps kids dream big, and the parents that help them reach them.

Kim Crawford challenged us to introduce their new Sauvignon Blanc with something that reflected the upscale product. Inspired by the double rings in the Kim Crawford logo, we built a custom CG light fixture to shine a spotlight on the best Sauvignon Blanc the Marlborough region has to offer.

Scotiabank's in branch posters are meant to connect the services customers need to experiences they cherish. We shot a wide range of objects and put Scotiabank's signature multicolour font on them to sell credit cards, small business solutions, and more. 

An entry for the National Advertising Challenge 2015.

Scotties wanted to let consumers know that they are a proud supporter of Canadian families in the fight to end breast cancer. We showed this by illustrating the pain that the whole family feels after a cancer diagnosis. 

Print ads for Turkey Hunting products. Canadian Tire likes them because they feature products. I like them because they feature headlines. 

Scotiabank usually marks Remembrance Day with a donation to our soldiers. However in 2015 Scotiabank changed the way it donates money and was not able to. We took this opportunity to let our followers thank our soldiers directly. We invited people to leave a comment on our social posts which we turned into letters and mailed out to soldiers stationed overseas. We were overwhelmed by the response, getting around 2,500 comments which we printed and hand folded into envelopes which were then mailed in bulk to Canadian Armed Soldiers in Baghdad.

These out of home ads build off the success of Canadian Tire's “Ice Truck”. Ads were placed on top of gas pumps during winter to remind Canadians about extreme weather batteries while they’re standing out in the cold filling up their car.