Miami-based creative agency Gut, led by two senior creatives with a worldwide reputation for award-winning work, has officially arrived in Toronto.
It’s been an open secret around the industry that Gut was coming to Canada, with Tim Hortons consolidating its creative business with the agency, and evidence of Gut hiring in Toronto appearing on Linkedin since the fall: Ryan O’Hagan as business director; Dino Demopoulos as head of strategy; and Matthew Kenney and Frederick Nduna as creative directors.
But Gut co-founders Anselmo Ramos and Gaston Bigio confirmed Toronto would become the young agency’s fourth office on Wednesday night.
“Yes, it’s true. Gut Toronto is happening,” they posted. “We can’t believe we’re opening our 4th Gut office in less than 3 years. We’re coming to Canada feeling humble and confident. We have a lot of respect for all the great work coming out of Canada. We have no doubts we’ll find gutsy talent and gutsy clients to make Gut Toronto one of the best agencies in Canada and beyond. An indie shop driven by courage, transparency, and especially intuition. Let’s do this Gut Toronto. With all the support from Gut Miami, Gut São Paulo and Gut Buenos Aires.”
Requests for comment from Gut were not immediately returned. The post says the office will officially open next month.
Prior to launching Gut in 2018, Ramos and Bigio co-founded the WPP agency David. Named for David Ogilvy, the agency had a distinct Latin orientation, but earned a reputation worldwide for popular, award-winning creative work for Coca-Cola, Unilever, Heinz, and perhaps most famously for Burger King—winning multiple top industry awards for “Proud Whopper,” “Burning Stores,” and “Google Home of the Whopper.”
While also serving as chief creative officer for Ogilvy Brazil, Anselmo also oversaw Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches,” which won a Titanium Grand Prix.
Despite its independent agency attitude and approach, Ramos and Bigio left David in late 2017 to start their own truly independent agency. Although Gut has its roots in sunnier locales, Canada is a logical new office option, with Toronto being the head office for Tim Hortons and, officially, Restaurant Brands International, the parent company of Tims, Burger King and Popeye’s.
Gut started working on Tim Hortons in late 2018, and was awarded the Popeye’s account last year. RBI’s global chief marketing officer Fernando Machado led the Burger King brand from 2014 until early 2020, when he took the RBI role. Prior to that, he was the Unilever client behind Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches.”
