FCB Canada's core objective as an agency is as ambitious as it is simple: do the most innovative work in the business.

“None of it is easy, but we’re not afraid to do the hard stuff,” says Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, the agency’s CCO. “If we need to build something, we will build it. One of my favourite sayings is leap and a net will appear. You have to make that leap and trust that you will find the solutions and people to help you make it happen.”

Despite the difficulty of its goals, FCB hasn’t had an issue “making it happen,” winning Digital Agency of the Year Gold six times in seven years (it’s returning to the top of the podium after a Silver win last year). Some of that innovative thinking comes from the company culture at FCB, but to be successful, it also needs to be baked into the agency’s processes, people and the way they work together.

In the spring, Eli Ferrara moved from leading new products and partnerships at creative data agency FCB/Six to a new VP of creative innovation role at FCB Canada. The job has Ferrara sitting within the creative department, providing advice on the latest media platforms, technologies, data practices and tech conventions that could help with a client objective or really bring a creative idea to life.

Crimi-Lamanna says that means Ferrara works with teams across FCB Toronto, FCB Montreal and FCB/Six, but also with clients to present them with new opportunities and ways of thinking. She credits the approach for projects like “BMO NXT LVL,” a series of Twitch live streams in which one of BMO’s own bankers chats with experts on personal finance subjects as they play a relevant game.

Digital integration at FCB goes beyond one role, but that one role is emblematic of the broader approach the agency takes to innovation.

“We’ve really worked hard to make sure that we didn’t fall into that agency trap of having standalone and siloed offerings,” says Bryan Kane, president of FCB Canada. “A big part of that is co-creation. It’s not like one art director or writer comes up with an idea. It’s bringing subject matter experts from data or culture or technology to build on ideas as they’re forming, as opposed to them being add-ons to an idea. Something that has been key to our most innovative work was a number of people with diverse specialties that iterated on an idea to ultimately make it what it was.”

A lot of agencies tout tech-forward or data-informed creativity, but few are clear on what that actually looks like. In FCB’s case, part of the process is baking in an openness to different perspectives and possibilities.