For Zulu Alpha Kilo, this last year has been one of investment and expansion – and maybe that’s not all that surprising. Zulu has made a habit of flying in the face of the expected.

This is, after all, the agency that first opened its doors in Toronto in 2008 during an economic crisis. So it made perfect sense for it to undergo a huge expansion during a pandemic that had the whole world in turmoil.

The last year has seen Zulu expand both nationally and globally, with offshoots opening in Vancouver and New York. The latter represents the team’s first international growth, opening under the supervision of former Droga5 creative leader Tim Gordon, who was brought in to Zulu as CCO and partner.

And Gordon wasn’t the only top-level personnel move this past year. Another was the addition of former Rain president Christine McNab, who will serve as Zulu’s new CMO, and has been given the mandate to continue to build the brand globally. She’ll also assist in growing and shaping the firm’s production offering, Zulubot, as well as AR, media innovation and CX operation, Zulumatic.

“We’ve doubled down on our investment in people,” sums Zulu chairman and chief creative officer Zak Mroueh of all the growth. “We’ve doubled down on our investment in the future.”

For good measure, the company also bought its own building during the pandemic to serve as Toronto HQ, hiring a top-tier consulting firm with expertise in the hybrid work model to inform the design.

Although Zulu will continue giving its employees the flexibility to work from home, the hope is that the energy of a purpose-built studio full of creatives will slowly bring people back.

With all this high-level moving, shaking and expansion going on, it might almost go unnoticed that Zulu Alpha Kilo had yet another banner year in 2022. Epica named it Independent Agency of the Year. It was ranked as the number-one agency in the world at the New York AME awards, and overall Agency of the Year at the UK’s Drum Awards. It won Best of Show at the Media Innovation Awards (MIA), and Zulu was the only Canadian agency to win, as well as the most awarded shop, at the UK’s Indie Awards. It garnered 14 nominations and won six awards from the Canadian Marketing Association and was ranked in the top 10 independent agencies at the D&AD and One Show. The list goes on. On top of that, Deloitte named ZAK one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for the fifth year running.