As the world continues to offer new challenges, BBDO just keeps grinding away with its head down.

But the northern contingent of the eminent NYC- based advertising agency network isn’t just focused on landing awards at Cannes Lions or checking boxes to satisfy clients like Foodland, Sobeys and Rockstar Energy Drink. It’s about taking the next step and doing something more.

“We love that some of our best work could never have been on a brief in the first place,” says BBDO CEO Christopher Andrews. For him and the agency, it’s about going well beyond the brief.

He points to the Lego-style inclusive toys BBDO designed last year for the Canadian Paralympic Committee. The effort was part of the awareness- raising “We’re Here” campaign that put the emphasis on the athletes, with the goal of making them household names. (The work took gold in design at the aforementioned Cannes Lions.)

Another project he highlights is the recent “Missing Matoaka” for Indigenous arts and culture publication Muskrat Magazine. Setting out to tell “the true story of Pocahontas,” the campaign was created as a response to calls for justice coming out of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The creative team included Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee-Cree writers from Chippewas of the Thames, and the Michel Band, Poundmaker Cree and Métis voice talent.

“We know if the work is right – if it’s informed strategically and it’s creatively brought to life in a fresh and modern way – it’s going to work,” says Andrews.