Taxi is one of Canada’s premier creative companies. As such, they’re not satisfied with merely making ads. It’s 2008 after all, and “the agency” as we know it is rapidly morphing into something new—part media arts studio, part brand incubator.
Which is why I’m grateful to Ed Cotton at Influx Insights for finding this article on Taxi Cafe in Vancouver, BC.
Cotton sees the agency’s move into retail as a way for ad peeps to get out of their chrome towers, mingle with the people and soak up the culture. Robert Dall, the coffee loving blogger who wandered in to Taxi’s space—one that features concrete floors, white walls, marble counters and the agency’s ads on the walls—sees the cafe as a “proof of concept.”
I think this makes perfect sense actually and having the cafe open to the public helps the bottom line a bit and because the agency is all about marketing a brand (Yes those Viagra Commercials are a Taxi creation). So why not show your clients what you can do with a brand and market your own coffee shop in a city that has one of the most competitive coffee environments?
Apparently, Taxi plans to open another Cafe in Toronto that will be a stand alone. The cafe in Vancouver is also the entrance to the agency’s offices, much like Brains On Fire in Greenville, SC.
