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June 2007 - Strategy Magazine
Taxi Tribute

Taxi deconstructed

by Lisa Sylvain
page 50

The drivers

Taxi's drivers don't spend a lot of time on the golf course; in fact, they aren't even members of a club. "We have a really blue-collar approach," says Taxi Toronto president Rob Guenette. "The partners, myself included, all have dirt under our fingernails. We work in the business day in and day out."

Another plus is senior management harmony. Per Guenette: "It's virtually a politics-free zone. When you respect your partners, it makes it a lot fucking easier." And that makes for a functional mini-network, points out Taxi Montreal president Daniel Rabinowicz, as the shop now has six offices: in addition to Montreal, there's Calgary, Vancouver, New York and two in Toronto. "Contrary to the other networks that tend to be very dysfunctional, ours is different by the closeness of the management and friendship that drives that management relationship."

The journey

Since Taxi opened its doors in Montreal in 1992, collaboration has been one of its key mantras. It continues to be at the core of the network's operations, with offices pooling resources on various campaigns, such as the successful Dairy Farmers pitch in Montreal.

Rabinowicz says the Montreal office handles relationship marketing ads for brands helmed elsewhere, like WestJet, and that it contributes to the Telus campaign with the Toronto and Vancouver offices. "What we have is this totally interconnected network between Montreal, Toronto and New York, and now as we've expanded into Calgary and Vancouver, that model gets replicated."

"One of the things I didn't like about [traditional agencies] was there were all these departments and everyone seemed like they were on their own agenda," says Taxi cofounder/chairman/CCO Paul Lavoie. "So Taxi has always been about breaking the walls down. Collaboration, the need to do consistently good work and profitability - that's how people get paid and bonused at Taxi. If you do really good work, and we're making money, but everybody hates each other, it's not good enough."

In fact, Taxi NYC's president John Berg meets regularly with both Guenette and Rabinowicz to share challenges and opportunities. Says cofounder/EVP/design ECD Jane Hope: "It's all very collaborative, very open communication."

The destination

"I've worked at some agencies where you feel like you're defending the notion of creativity," says Zak Mroueh, VP/ECD of Taxi Toronto. "Whereas at Taxi, creativity is ingrained in everything we do. It doesn't matter what your discipline, you know you're here to do great work. That's never wavered."

Taxi Toronto president Guenette goes so far as to claim it's his duty to stay out of the way of the creative process: "There is no hurdle between the creative department and the client. They don't have to clear me, they don't have to clear other internal hurdles before it goes to the client. We've created a process that facilitates creative and doesn't impede it."

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