The creative masterminds Broken Heart Love Affair are intent on building a bomb-proof agency capable of surviving whatever the world throws at it.

Global pandemic? Yep, that’s when Jason Chaney, Todd Mackie, Carlos Moreno, Beverley Hammond and Denise Rossetto decided to quit their jobs and launch a boutique ad firm that hits like a heavyweight. “We were actually signing our shareholder agreement between the five partners as they were announcing the lockdown in Ontario,” Chaney laughs.

If you’ve blinked over the last year, you may not even recognize BHLA now. The team brought in Tyler Robson for the newly-created role of EVP and managing director – adding 15 years of leadership experience to a key management role at the agency. Then there was the addition of two new CCOs in Craig McIntosh and Jaimes Zentil, a new creative director of design in Rasna Jaswal, as well as new directors and other experts.

Meanwhile, at content and production arm Lifelong Crush, the team welcomed integrated producer Demi Veselinovic, production designer Daniel Ong and the creative team of copywriter Jax Cohen and art director Andee Kintanar.

In fact, the two-year-old agency has grown to a team of more than 70 – and that’s not all. “We’ve basically doubled year-over-year from a revenue perspective,” says Chaney.