After 10 years of working with MINI, the account came up for review. We decided not to participate and agreed to part ways. In the ad agency world, news of a coveted account moving is a big story and gets a tremendous amount of press. Our strategy was to co-opt the conversation and shift the focus from winning/losing to raising awareness for a great local charity. We wanted to use the (free) platform provided to us in the marketing trades and national papers to do some good for those in need.

The news was released to the marketing trades and local papers. The response was incredible. We changed the conversation, gave a free platform to a local charity, and raised 30% more than our expected donation amount. Nobody was talking about MINI leaving TAXI or where it was going; instead they were talking about Covenant House Toronto, the great work they do, and the money we raised for a great cause.