Leo Toronto’s founding principle, quoted from Leo Burnett himself, is simple: ”What helps people, helps business.” It’s a belief that raises the question for any agency operating in this country: how well do we actually understand Canadians?
For agency president Ben Tarr, that question became the driving force behind a significant launch. “We asked the question, do we understand Canadians better than anyone else?” Tarr says. Five years ago, Leo Toronto set out to make that happen, launching The HumanKind Study – a proprietary annual survey of Canadians authored by Leo’s chief strategy officer, Tahir Ahmad and his team.
This annual report has become key to helping clients plan. “We’ve gone into pitch rooms with people we’ve never met, and they say they look forward to it every year,” Tarr says, adding, “we’ve even seen competitors citing it!”
What keeps HumanKind from becoming “something on a wall” is how directly it feeds into each brief, Tarr notes. Every project starts with the human need and the tension people are facing, then works outwards from there. For instance, a HumanKind finding that loneliness is on the rise – particularly among younger people, who have anxiety around phone calls – led directly to Bell’s “Just Talk” campaign, which encourages staying connected to family and friends through everyday conversations no matter what you’re talking about.
The 200-person agency’s read on culture also extends to real-time listening. When Blue Jays fans flooded Reddit complaining that a neon green TD ad behind home plate was distracting them from the game, the agency worked with TD to evolve the brand guidelines, pulling a new colour called Turf Green directly from the playing field.
The colour swap generated 3.1 million earned impressions and flipped the negative story online, with comments like, “Wow, that’s actually more human.”
Leo Toronto added an in-game element to its “More human.” campaign for TD Bank when it swapped the brand’s traditional bright green in digital billboard spots behind home plate for a new softer turf green that fans approved of.
In another example, Bell’s “Trade-In Deadline” campaign combined the frenzy of the NHL trade deadline with Bell’s phone upgrade offer. In-broadcast ads on Bell Media’s TSN mimicked the look and feel of the live hockey trade coverage, offering a minimum $500 value for any phone traded in at a Bell store on NHL deadline day. The smart integration technique made it feel like the “Trade in” commercial content was part of the live show.
Leo Toronto turned hockey’s biggest trading day into one for phones with Bell during TSN coverage of NHL Trade Deadline Day.
The goal of the one-day promotion was to strengthen the tie between the NHL and Bell among hockey fans, says Devorah Lithwick, Bell’s SVP and chief brand officer. “Leo reimagined what a retail promotion could look like during a national sports moment,” she says. “We’ve been partners with Leo Toronto for over 18 years, and it’s the trust and the unique agency model we have that encourages Leo and the others to constantly surprise us with fresh new ideas that are culturally relevant.”
The Trade-In Deadline spots reached more than 3.8 million unique viewers and boosted week-over-week phone trade-ins by 320%.
For Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank, Leo built the “CDB Diet,” recruiting influencers to publicly attempt to live on $200 a month before revealing that was the maximum amount provided by the Canadian Disability Benefit. On the heels of this campaign, the Canadian House of Commons passed a bill to increase the Canadian Disability Benefit, after previously voting it down twice.
Pairing with influencers who touted going on a “CDB Diet” of $6.67 a day raised awareness of the everyday struggle for Canadians receiving the Canada Disability Benefit and resulted in over 64,000 petition emails sent to local MPs.
This commitment to innovation is further demonstrated by the agency’s investment in the three-person creative innovation team, led by Adam Pickard, creative director, innovation. Adam and his team work alongside creatives to integrate AI and other technologies into the creative development process. Being part of the Publicis Groupe network also gives Leo access to one of Canada’s largest datagraphs, representing more than 34.5 million unique device IDs. This access allows for an even deeper understanding of Canadians to make its way into the strategic thinking and ultimately the work.
Heading into the second half of 2026, Leo Toronto is also bolstering its creative strength, promoting Angus Tucker to a new role as creative chairman and bringing in Adriano Matos – a global creative leader and 55-time Cannes Lions winner – as chief creative officer. “At a time when everyone is talking about reducing humans through AI, we’re doubling down on the need for creativity and human talent to lead our people along the AI journey,” Tarr says.
With humans as the throughline and HumanKind as the inspiration, Leo Toronto is proving, campaign after campaign, that what’s good for people really is good for business.
During a period of heightened alien conversations, Leo Toronto launched a campaign for Pizza Hut encouraging extra-terrestrials to eat pizza, and a promise of free pizza if they made contact.
CONTACT:
Sarah Soteroff
Communications director
sarah.soteroff@leotoronto.com
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