Creative Others Collective Inc. Handling everything from brand design to building physical and digital elements, they’ve worked with some of Canada’s best known brands. With a knack for outside-the-box thinking and installations, they’re making their mark on our city’s creative landscape. Please enjoy our conversation below.
What’s the story behind Creative Others Collective Inc.?
I moved here five years ago as an Architect but found myself drawn to ideation and creativity through many mediums such as, branding, web design and strategy, and physical design and fabrication. It was exciting to explore outside of Architecture. My journey took me through a role as a marketing manager for a restaurant chain in Ireland, which I continued remotely after relocating. Here in Vancouver, I took on a project for Translink at the PNE, which opened doors to more opportunities. During one project, the client attributed all the work to me which didn’t sit well with me. In reality it was a collaborative effort and I wanted everyone to feel equally accredited. That’s how “Creative Troy” evolved into “Creative Others.” Around the same time, I reflected on my core values and landed on community, creativity, and integrity and built Creative Others rooted in those principles. I’ve since surrounded myself with people who share these values, and together, we’ve thrived.
Why did you choose Strathcona?
The affordability was a major factor. MakerLabs offered reasonably priced studio space and access to tools, which made it an ideal starting point. I previously had a desk downtown, but it lacked soul. The dream was always to have a street-facing retail space to connect more closely with the community. So we’re delighted with our new studio.
What are some of the high points of being here in Strathcona?
What challenges do you face in the neighbourhood?
The open drug use, alcohol abuse, and occasional violence are significant issues. We’ve had to call the police for violent incidents, and one of our team members was recently chased, which was very unsettling. As a result, we often escort each other when moving around the area. While we’d love to create community-focused window displays or collaborate with art schools, the current environment makes it difficult to pursue such initiatives as we have to keep our street facing studio low profile so as not to attract unwanted attention.
What challenges do you face running your business?
Rising costs are a primary concern. We can only increase our rates so much before pricing ourselves out of projects. Competing with businesses that leverage cheaper labor abroad or use alternative methods adds to the difficulty. While we aim to maintain fair margins, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to balance costs and value.
Do you feel like you’re part of the ecosystem?
Yes, though there’s room for improvement. We are part of the Strathcona community but often discover businesses we didn’t know existed. A more comprehensive directory could help foster stronger connections.
What are your thoughts on zoning policies in Strathcona?
We understand the need for more residential spaces in the city, but proper planning is crucial. It’s possible to integrate high-density residential buildings with industrial areas like ours, but the streets must be improved to attract residents.
What are the advantages of operating in a light industrial mixed-use area like Strathcona?
Our work relies on access to industrial resources like MakerLabs for building and fabrication. The collaborative atmosphere here is invaluable, allowing us to work with skilled professionals and learn from other businesses.
What initiatives would you like to see from the BIA?
A structured monthly meetup for businesses to connect and support one another would be fantastic. Additionally, an app-based directory with robust tagging and categorization would make finding and collaborating with other businesses much easier.
From branding and marketing to VFX and animation there are so many unique businesses to discover that work within this space.
You can find at least a dozen businesses located in our Vancouver neighbouhood that can get the job done for almost all of your creative needs. Keep reading for an extensive list of creative agencies in Strathcona – we hope you discover something new!
If you are a creative agency in Strathcona and would like to be added to the list please contact info@strathconabia.com
A creative studio specializing in brand and communications. Whether they’re building a brand from the ground up, or creating a campaign that makes one famous, crafting ideas that have real depth and relevance is what puts wind in their sails.
Brand and marketing strategists, writers, and designers who’ve honed their craft at fast-moving direct-to-consumer brands and agencies. They’ve come together to help boundary-pushing performance brands reach new heights.
Burnkit is brand and digital. Driven by ideas, inspired by technology, and passionate about elevating design, they are a creative studio that works with best-in-class brands across a variety of sectors and industries. They provide services for interactive, brand development, graphic identity, packaging and print design.
At Form3, industrial designers work together with product engineers, resulting in a powerful union of technical and aesthetic expertise. They share a passion for design and a desire to make the world a better place through long-lasting, high-quality products. Their diverse team of international designers come from a mixture of disciplines, including Industrial Design, Product Design, and various engineering backgrounds.
We the Collective helps entertainment brands better understand, engage, and relate to youth audiences through digital experiences. They create fun, educational and immersive marketing experiences that are never about the hard sell, and always about connecting to the brand. Specializing in Video Games, Toys, Movies & Television, and Music. A digital-first creative agency.
Brand builders, believers in the magic of an idea and driven to win. They are people who love what they do, where they do it and that their work is driven by purpose. They build and invest in cannabis brands that give back to people and the planet.
Goldtooth is an award-winning creative agency, production company, animation, live action and VFX studio, based in Vancouver, BC.
A seasoned group of planners, designers & developers with years of experience making simple and complex websites & applications (and everything in between).
The Bannermen design banner ads for websites, social media & programmatic advertising campaigns. They are the digital display, MPU & rich media specialists. With offices in London, UK and Vancouver, Canada, they have not one but two offices ready to help you get your digital display campaigns out the door.
Hot Soup Marketing Group is a vertically integrated network of creative teams, aligned to help you navigate today’s complex marketing systems. As a group, their mission is simple: they build relationships with clients to drive progress, process, and change. Hot Soup Marketing Group provides its clients with strategic marketing services, branding and campaign management. But more importantly, they believe in nurturing a relationship that fosters growth.
Domain7 is a change agency fostering innovation through people-centric methods. Their vision is to co-create a more empathetic world. They offer a holistic set of services to achieve meaningful organizational change, including digital transformation, facilitation and workshops, organization design, and digital civic engagement.
Junction builds digital from the inside out. Services include digital strategy, social media strategy, training program development, workshops, coaching, and team development.
Every week, Junction authors The Brief, a thoughtful email about what’s happening in digital, what you should (or shouldn’t) be paying attention to, and why it matters. Visit their website to learn more.
