Trent Thompson

I’ve been doing this for almost 25 years. And by ‘this’, I mean being a writer and creative director. I’ve done work and won awards for some of bigt brands. And I’ve done it at some of the biggest agencies.

Currently in my second run at Cossette, I’m stepping in to lead an incredible team at an inflection point for the storied agency. I’ve got the privilege of helping lead some of the agency’s biggest and most-exciting accounts with more to come (knock on wood).

Before returning to roost at Cossette, I was at Oliver Agency, leading their Manulife business. With Oliver’s innovative in-house model, I was be able to form intensely collaborative partnerships with my team and clients alike. I learned so much from my team and the clients I worked so closely with.

From 2020 to 2023t, I was at No Fixed Address Inc– Strategy Magazine’s 2021 Bronze Agency of the Year. .. There, I formed great friendships with colleagues and clients, while helping create some of the agency’s most-awarded work on brands like Canadian Centre for Child Protection, TWIVI and Dairy Farmers of Ontario.

Before that, I spent three years as VPCD at BBDO. And even before THAT, I was Group Creative Director at Cossette – Strategy Magazine’s 2016 & 2017 Agency of the Year. 

In my time at Cossette, I helped launch the ground-breaking SickKids VS campaign – a career highlight, to be sure. I also oversaw the agency’s 1:1 accounts, including SickKids Foundation, TD Canada Trust, BMW and TELUS.

But it all started at MacLaren MRM where I cut my teeth and honed my craft. From there, I headed to Proximity Canada – a division of BBDO. Over my nine years there, I weaseled my way up from intermediate writer to Creative Director and a member of the agency’s leadership team (fun fact: I sat in 14 offices/desks on four different floors in my time at 2 Bloor W).

When I left Proximity, I went to help lead the creative department at TrackDDB (formerly RAPP). 

And between doing great work with even better people, I’ve judged at award shows like National Advertising Challenge, The International DMA ECHO Awards, New York Festivals, Anvil Awards (Western Canada) and The Canadian Marketing Awards.

And yes, I acknowledge I wrote this timeline like Tarantino writes screenplays.