Toronto-headquartered brand and advertising agency Funday is embarking on a new era—"Funday 2.0," said co-founder Philippe LeBlanc—with the appointment of former Wunderman Thompson Canada CEO Jeff Dack as its new chief executive. Dack has also become a partner and shareholder in the four-year-old agency.
LeBlanc said the hire arose out of coffee meeting he had with Dack shortly after his departure from Wunderman Thompson in December 2022. Funday wasn't searching for a new CEO at the time, but the pair immediately hit it off, said LeBlanc. "[Co-founder Mark Homza] and I said 'The moment we are looking to replace ourselves, he would be ideal.'"
LeBlanc said the hire arose out of coffee meeting he had with Dack shortly after his departure from Wunderman Thompson in December 2022. Funday wasn't searching for a new CEO at the time, but the pair immediately hit it off, said LeBlanc. "[Co-founder Mark Homza] and I said 'The moment we are looking to replace ourselves, he would be ideal.'"
LeBlanc and Homza decided earlier this year to step back from the day-to-operations of Funday to focus on its business incubator division.
They wanted to entrust the agency to someone capable of executing their vision, and Dack's extensive resume, which includes a stint as CEO of Carat Canada, as well as strategy roles with Lowe Roche and Taxi, a client-side role with Jamieson Laboratories, and creative roles with agencies including Cossette, the former Zig and TBWA\Chiat Day made him an ideal candidate.
Dack will be based out of Toronto, but Funday has no plans to abandon its remote-only approach, with its 50 employees scattered across North America and Europe. "We believe that by being remote-first, we can actually provide more value to our clients and a better experience for our employees," said LeBlanc. "We don't have the overheads of some of our competitors."
Dack was also attracted to Funday's by the "passion and excitement" of Funday's co-founders, especially since they arrived in the agency world from a technology and product-based background.
The "fun" aspect of the agency's proposition to clients also appealed to him, he said. "As an agency, we really can and should be the best and fun part of our clients' day and that really resonated with me," said Dack.
Dack was also impressed by the calibre of work being produced by Funday for clients including Microsoft, 7-Eleven and Arla Foods, all as the agency remained largely under-the-radar.
"The work was great, I started learning about the culture and was very excited about it, and the fact they built a pretty sizeable agency in Canada all while working remotely and producing the quality of work they're producing at scale for legitimate clients, got me pretty excited."
"When it comes to the margins as they are in the agency world, the idea that we can all be remote and yet producing at this level, is a huge benefit to clients," Dack told The Message. "There was a lot of intrigue and excitement and reasons for joining."
Dack is also "super-excited" at the prospect of returning to an independent agency after spending the past decade of his career within the large holdcos.
"I was looking for a chance to be a little more involved and, selfishly, use more of the tools in the box," he said. "I find in the large agencies you kind of get pigeonholed into a particular role, but I've only been here two days and I've already got to do a bunch of different things. That excites me."
