Nestled in downtown Montreal’s Place Ville Marie, not too far from the city’s charming Old Port, you’ll find Sid Lee’s headquarters. The agency that’s been around since 1993 – first called Diesel, then rearranged into the anagram Sid Lee – recently renovated its offices so that staff want to go in and create great work in the comfort of their second home.

A little over a year ago, Martin Gauthier, who was already partner and president, took on the role of CEO at Sid Lee Canada with the specific goal of unifying the Toronto and Montreal offices. “In the past, it was always Toronto versus Montreal. There was some competition,” he admits. “We used to function as two distinct units, each with its own president and separate P&L statements. But I wanted us to be one big Canadian agency that serves more and more pan-Canadian brands.”

Now, Montreal’s office, including an architecture arm (Sid Lee is one of the few agencies that has one), and its Toronto arm operate as one family. Gauthier travels extensively between the two offices on a weekly basis, ensuring that Sid Lee’s teams “collaborate seamlessly.”

“While we maintain separate creative, strategy and account teams in each city, they... complement one another. And our production, CRM, digital and architecture studios have been consolidated into unified departments.” In addition, all of the leaders are expected to convene in either Montreal or Toronto for in-person executive committee meetings on a monthly basis.