⭐ Berlin 2026 Halftime Report ⭐
The days are long but the years are short, and here we are halfway through another one. Summer has finally come to Edmonton at long last and we are now getting the lush green benefits of all that rain we had in June.
Though it seems the world moves a little slower this time of year as people close their laptops and head to lakes and mountains, July and August tend to be some of the busiest times of year at Berlin. We are working on campaigns that will launch in the fall, and at last count had seven video shoots lined up or underway this summer.
A few notes on the first half of 2026 at Berlin:
Welcome EPCOR and Stollery Foundation 🎉
We won two big new business pitches this spring: EPCOR, a North American utility provider headquartered in Edmonton, and the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation, which is raising $1 billion to support excellence at Western Canada’s most specialized children’s hospital.
EPCOR is one of Alberta’s most recognized companies, providing clean water and safe, reliable energy to customers across Canada and the United States. Berlin has been selected as the AOR for EPCOR for the next three years, following a national agency review process, and will lead corporate and regulated business-unit campaigns.
The Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation is one of Canada’s leading children’s health foundations. Berlin will work on the Foundation’s No Bounds campaign, a once-in-a-generation $1 billion initiative that supports excellence at the Stollery today while helping to build a new stand-alone Stollery Children’s Hospital for the future.
Turn Up Downtown 🔥
Downtown Edmonton has lost a bit of its sparkle over the past few years, but it feels like it's starting to get it back, and we're here for it. So we were excited when the City of Edmonton asked us to put together a campaign highlighting all of the public performances taking place downtown this summer and beyond. We came up with “Turn Up Downtown”, which is both an invitation to people to physically visit, as well as a rallying cry to turn it up. This work is running on billboards and across digital formats throughout the summer. Check out all of the Turn Up Downtown events here.
10-Foot Nikki 🏃
Speaking of fun things to do downtown, the YMCA hired us to build their Downtown Y campaign, which is also running throughout downtown this summer. One of our favourite restaurants in Calgary is 10-Foot Henry (named after a 10-foot-tall Henry character, which back in the day was on display at the Night Gallery. IYKYK). Well, now there’s a 10-foot Nikki as well. Nikki Howell is our outstanding production manager (who do you think organized all seven of those video shoots?), and for the YMCA campaign, she jumped from “behind-the-scenes organizer” to “model using a treadmill on a 10-foot-tall wall decal.”
You can check out 10-foot Nikki on the second-floor pedway on the east side of the Downtown YMCA, and check out the Downtown Y campaign site here.
Be like Mike ❤️
Mike Vivian has stepped into the role of Director of Stakeholder Engagement and leads the stakeholder engagement/public affairs side of our business. That group has been busy advising municipalities on growth and development issues, managing public engagement on a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project, and leading tourism and economic development strategies in the region. Though our firm has developed a strong focus on creative services over the past few years, we remain well-grounded in our public affairs roots under Mike’s leadership.
We Won a Clio 🏅
The advertising and creative services industry is notoriously self-referential. There are local, regional, national and international awards shows, and many of the world’s top agencies take them very seriously. From the outside, it can seem a bit silly and perhaps pointless. But awards do have meaning in this business. They distinguish the best work, which in turn attracts the best clients and the most ambitious team members. There is a real business benefit, measured in dollars and profits, associated with being a highly awarded firm.
A few weeks ago, we received the biggest award we’ve ever won as an agency—aa Silver Clio Health Award. They send you a little statuette that looks kind of like an Oscar.
We won this for our Venn Mammograms integrated campaign for the Alberta Society of Radiologists and the Alberta Cancer Foundation. We presently have this year’s version of the campaign in development, which will launch across Alberta in October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. View our case study here.
ACE Awards 🏆
The ACE Awards are the top local award show in town and are extremely well done for a market of this size. Entering and attending the ACE Awards is always a highlight on our firm's calendar. It is lovingly referred to as “prom for the ad industry."
For the first time ever, Berlin was the creative sponsor, which meant we came up with the event theme and campaign concept, and designed all the ads and assets. It was wonderful to see our “Creativity is never final” theme brought to life in the call for entries, the evening's decor, and the stage show.
We won a whole whack of awards for work on seven different clients. And for the first time in our history, we won more than any other agency at the show. It was a gratifying experience, the result of many years of trying as hard as we could to build this firm and do great work.
A Star is Rising 🌟
Shannon Glassford has worked in our Creative Department for five years now. She started here just out of school and in the time since has become one of Western Canada's bright creative lights. This year the Ad Club of Edmonton started a new tradition of honour a "Rising Star" in our industry, which will be now done annually. We were thrilled that the first ever winner of the Ad Club's Rising Star Award was Shannon. But she wasn't our only winner. Matthew Brownoff was also named a Finalist of the Rising Star Award. Keep shining bright, Shanny & Matty!
Vuvuzela Buoy ⚽🍻
The World Cup has been fantastic so far. What a gift it has been for casual observers of soccer (or let’s be honest, people who never watch soccer) to discover Erling Haaland videos. And Canada’s run was such an epic uniting force for our country. Our good friends at Whistle Buoy Brewing in Victoria have been hosting massive watch parties on a giant screen in Market Square. So, we popped out there to convert Whistle Buoy into Vuvuzela Buoy.
It will be fun to see how much all of this soccer excitement translates into new youth soccer registrations in Canada. Probably a lot. Can you kick it?
Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged 👨👩⚖️
People have been getting pretty judgemental around here lately. No not like that, we mean awards judging. After a while they start asking you to judge these things.
Art Director Shannon Glassford wrapped up judging the Applied Arts Student Awards. Director of Client Services Dominque Lauf judged the Canadian Marketing Association Awards. Associate Creative Director Nicola Pringle was asked by Strategy Magazine to pick her fave Cannes contenders, and our Creative Director Pierre Chan just finished judging the Applied Arts Advertising Awards.
No, judgement!
What days are coming? KDays! 🎡
We are unapologetic KDays fans around here and look forward to managing the media relations centre for 10 intense days as we have for the past few years. A highlight is always seeing Maple down there. Who is Maple? Well, she is a beautiful golden retriever who belongs to Berlin Account Manager, Ellee McCaugherty. A few years ago we were doing a photo shoot for KDays and we needed a cute dog to star in one of the shots. Maple was only too happy to oblige (she did get a corn dog out of it) and now can be seen all over the KDays grounds on various pieces of creative.
And that’s all folks!
It’s been a great first half of 2026. We hope to see you between now and Christmas.
- Berlin
