Canadian ad agency opens European headquarters
Taxi, an internationally recognised ad agency with offices in Toronto, Montreal and New York, will be setting up European operations in Amsterdam, most likely in April. Whether it will be their own office or through takeover of another agency is still being debated. Discussions are ongoing between Taxi and three Amsterdam agencies as well as with potential local executives.
It took some time but Amsterdam won out over London; in part due to the city’s appealing tax benefits but also because Amsterdam is an attractive place with a vibrant creative community. It didn’t hurt either when, together with Mayor Job Cohen, this same community treated Taxi’s co-founder and Chairman Paul Lavoie to a grand tour of Amsterdam and big party last August.
When asked if it is wise to expand in these economic turbulent times Paul Lavoie replied: “We are pushing ahead anyway. We tell our clients that this is the time to invest, so we should too.” Lavoie knows. He founded Taxi in the middle of an economic crisis in 1992. “At the risk of sounding naive, I realise this crisis is far more severe than the one we had back then, but these are good times for creative companies. This is the moment to catch everyone’s attention when other companies are forced to make cuts in their marketing budgets. Besides...” he adds, “not all sectors are doing badly. Museums and the entertainment industry are still prospering.”
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