In a media industry that’s increasingly defined by automation and optimization, Véronik L’Heureux has a more balanced approach to growth. “People are not just data points,” says the CEO of Starcom Canada. “There are certain things that can make people act on something which can only be determined if you look beyond the numbers.”
Starcom turned a snowstorm into a brand activation for Stella Artois, building a 12-foot chalice in downtown Toronto that slowly filled up with snow, creating a “Perfect Serve” moment.
This understanding sits at the core of Starcom’s positioning statement: “Move People. Move Business.” It’s a tagline L’Heureux treats as a belief system, and the results back it up.
Starcom treats its “Move People. Move Business” tagline as a belief system.
Despite a slowing market last year, new business (including Coca-Cola and Mars) and organic expansion with existing clients drove Starcom to double-digit growth, and the it’s now projected to move from nine to four in national new business rankings in a single year. The firm also won Strategy’s Media Agency of the Year award and was the most shortlisted agency for the Media Innovation Awards.
“Our growth is directly linked to our clients’ growth,” says L’Heureux. “We need to stay on our toes to continue to invest in what our clients need.”
In 2025, Starcom took home Gold for strategy’s Media Agency of the Year.
Much of the technology underpinning Starcom is deliberately Canadian. Publicis ID, its patented identity graph, was built from the ground up in Canada. The reason is straightforward: “Owning our data solution wasn’t optional. It’s what allows us to stay platform-agnostic and deliver deeper insights, with stronger connectivity across the entire ecosystem than anyone else. It had to have privacy at its core and be future-proof – not dependent on third-party cookies or partners.”
The result is a single consumer profile that unifies proprietary, third-party and partner data with digital signals and behavioural insights, giving Starcom’s planners a foundation that most competitors cannot match. And Publicis Groupe’s acquisition of Lotame last year further enhanced the Publicis ID offering.
How did this show up in the work? When the Toronto Blue Jays reached the World Series for the first time in 32 years last fall, TD Bank had a problem. After more than two decades as a team sponsor, the brand had become easy to tune out amidst a sea of partners. “Closer to the Game” was something fans heard, but not something they felt. Starcom’s answer, developed in partnership with creative agency Leo, was digital OOH placements noting the exact distance between each billboard and home plate. This campaign expanded to include live broadcasts, social takeovers on game days and digital trucks circling the stadium.
As a long-time sponsor of the Toronto Blue Jays, TD Bank had a problem standing out amid the noise when the team reached the World Series last fall. Starcom’s answer was to take the brand and fans “Closer to the Game” with activations including digital OOH placements that calculated the exact distance from each billboard to home plate.
By the end of the World Series run, TD had increased ad recall and purchase intent among Blue Jays fans. Outcomes included a 10% increase in brand search and a 4% lift in brand association with the Blue Jays – the highest result for customers and non-customers combined since 2022.
To prove that Jeep Cherokee’s quieter hybrid powertrain was evolving the vehicle’s rugged identity rather than compromising it, Starcom partnered with Canadian Geographic and National Geographic, commissioning award-winning photojournalist Patricia Homonylo to document how the silent engine allows it to get closer to wildlife.
The Jeep Cherokee brief presented a different kind of reframing challenge. Returning to market after a four-year absence, the Cherokee needed to prove that its quieter hybrid powertrain was evolving the vehicle’s rugged identity rather than compromising it. Starcom and creative agency Publicis partnered with Canadian Geographic and National Geographic, commissioning award-winning photojournalist Patricia Homonylo to document the new Cherokee being powerful enough for the backcountry, but silent enough to get closer to skittish wildlife than a conventional engine would allow. Positioning the powertrain as the proof point instead of the obstacle led to a 54% increase in leads month-over-month.
True to its people-first philosophy, each year Starcom hosts the Star Awards – an internal initiative to celebrate its people, their work and overall achievements for the year.
In the case of Stella Artois, the opportunity arrived with a weather forecast. The brand’s “Perfect Serve” campaign needed a quintessential Canadian moment, and the biggest winter storm of 2026 provided one. Working with Pattison and Kadence, Starcom built a 12-foot chalice in less than 48 hours and installed it at Front and York streets in downtown Toronto the morning the storm hit. As the record snowfall accumulated, it filled the chalice like foam. Filmed throughout the day and amplified through creators and social media, the campaign generated a 96% positive sentiment on Stella Artois’ socials, breaking the brand’s previous organic record.
The common thread running through all of these examples is putting consumers ahead of channels, says L’Heureux. “There is no better place than media to have the best consumer insights right now. We continue to feed that understanding to creative teams, and together we figure out how and where to bring it to consumers.”
Starcom’s first-place 2026 Star Awards winners, recognized for their work on AB InBev, pictured with CEO Véronik L’Heureux.
This people-oriented approach also extends inside the agency. While many competitors have cut headcounts in response to AI, Starcom has expanded its team. Retention also remains strong – and less turnover not only gives clients more stability, but more importantly, ensures that talent maintains a consistently high level of engagement in their business.
Across the board, Starcom is proving that moving people really does move business forward.
CONTACT:
Brooke Makarchuk
Business development
brooke.makarchuk@publicismedia.com
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