The histories of design and advertising in Canada have long been intertwined. That entanglement has gone through cycles of integration and separation since the ’50s, with design shifting from a department inside agencies, publishing houses and printing operations, to standing on its own, only to be absorbed back into agencies again by the early 2000s.

One of the firms launched in the midst of this back and forth was Cossette, founded in 1972 as Cossette et Associés, Graphic Designers-Consultants Limited. Its offering quickly expanded beyond design to include advertising. In 1982, it created a new business unit that combined design with brand strategy and named it Graphème. In 2003, it acquired London-based design firm Identica. By 2010, all business units were unified.

In a way, this reflects the cycle of integration over the last 20 years that has seen ad agencies either acquire design firms or build design teams in-house.

Richard Bélanger, VP Design at Cossette, has a perspective on this. “Design used to be regarded by many agencies as the poor cousin to advertising. Back in the day, agencies would go to designers whenever they needed a logo or a ‘look and feel.’ Design was not seen as a strategic practice, but as a cosmetic one. But in the last 20 years, that perception has changed.”

Bélanger believes agencies have a new understanding of the ways in which design touches all aspects of marketing communications, beginning with branding. It’s no longer an afterthought but the visual foundation of a brand’s positioning, setting the tone for every expression of that brand.

Perhaps the most memorable result of the integration was Cossette’s “Follow the Arches” outdoor campaign of 2018, in which billboards placed in high traffic areas across the GTA broke the famous Golden Arches into four pieces, each acting as a directional sign with copy like “On your left,” “Next exit” or “Just missed us.” The campaign showed how fragments of a globally recognized logo could carry an entire message. It went on to win the Cannes Outdoor Grand Prix, One Show Design Gold and Outdoor Gold, D&AD Outdoor Wood Pencil, strategy Agency of the Year and strategy Marketing Awards Best in Show.