Montreal, August 14th, 2024

Ig2 is the largest independent creative agency in Canada. They believe in the ability of our people and the power of our ideas to make a positive impact every day. For this, they help to shape the world and inspire organizations to reimagine how they can grow responsible. Its services strategy, innovation, branding, advertising and design, among others.

Nicolas Baldovini is a Partner and Vice-President of Creative and Brand Experience at Ig2, based in the Montreal office. In an interview with TIA, he explained how his diverse background and experiences helped shape his current role and listed some examples of his recent work. He also highlighted the role of designers in building accessible societies.

Nicolas, it’s a pleasure to have you with us! Let’s start on a personal note. What do you enjoy most about living in Montreal?

Two things. I’m a runner so Mount Royal mountain is my favourite hidden gem in the city. I love running and enjoying the fresh air in the forest inside the city. It’s an amazing spot. And restaurants. Montreal is an incredible city for foodies. My favourite restaurant from the beginning of this year is Antonietta, an Italian restaurant in the Rosemont neighbourhood.

Can you tell us about your journey and what led you to become the Vice-President and Executive Creative Director of Design at lg2?

I have an atypical background. I’ve only worked at two companies in Canada in the 16 years that I’ve lived here. I tend to be very loyal, and it’s led me to learn a lot. I worked at Nurun as an interaction designer for 5 years so my mindset has been very influenced by design, architecture, and experiences from all over the world. When I arrived at LG2 ten years ago, my main objective was to push this interdisciplinary design practice inside an agency that was very focused on advertising. It’s the reason why I co-created the digital group and worked very hard to merge and connect our design, architecture and digital teams to have a total brand experience capacity inside. Today, I’m leading experts in all of these areas and brand activation, our newest service. Throughout my career, I’ve been influenced by many trends and agencies in the USA where the main focus is to deliver a connected experience across all touchpoints.

With such a diverse background in UX design, branding, and architecture, how have your past experiences shaped your current role?

In school, I majored in a program called human-machine interfaces. It’s a bit unique because it’s really a communication program but I’m not an advertising guy. I wasn’t a technical web or UX designer either. I was and still am an experience designer. It’s all about the thinking it takes to make the best experience possible. I’m a chameleon who can adapt my thinking and always focus on the human perspective. I also learnt a lot from my time working at Nurun where I was in a position to think about all types of experiences, including several stadiums and fan experiences, reinventing an in-store and online shopping experience for Tagheuer, and imagining a traveller’s experience with interactive screens or mobile application for SNCF in France, as a few examples. It’s why I’m so comfortable leading teams in digital, design and architecture. It’s given me the tools to find common ground with all types of creatives and businesses even while having different ways of working. Fundamentally, everything comes back to human beings and their experiences.

Where do you spend most of your time, and what does a typical day entail?

At the office. I’m there from Monday to Friday. I love our space (designed by our architecture team) and its different environments. I’m spending a lot of time with teams and people who each work in unique ways and there is a space for all of them. My favourite place during summer is the terrace, I have a lot of 1:1s and coffees with people there. It’s a great place to talk about projects, situations, and new ideas, whether it’s for scheduled or impromptu meetings.

What are your main focuses at the moment?

I’m trying to do my best to stay connected with the industry and trends. I’m learning a lot of things to be able to exchange ideas with our different teams. My biggest challenge (and fear) is losing contact with the core of our industry. It’s the reason why I’m also learning more and more about advertising right now because I think that the solution to having global brand experience thinking is to be able to connect it with advertising and other areas of marketing.

I would’ve said “empathy” but I think motivation is stronger. I have a lot of discussions with people. Staying connected goes beyond searching for inspiration, it also requires having discussions with passionate people outside and inside the company. I’m a bit of an idealistic guy because I think that by pushing motivation higher, we can accomplish anything. It goes beyond technical skills.

I always want to try to learn many things. I make time to reach out to different teams throughout the agency and brainstorm with them. I love to jump directly into specific projects working directly with our teams as much as with clients. My title doesn’t matter so much to me. All my life I want to work with teams directly whether they need a VP or a creative director.

lg2 is the largest independent agency in Canada with offices in Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City. How do these locations influence the agency’s creative process and approach to branding and design?

I believe Canada is one of the best places in the world for creativity right now. It’s a multicultural place with many different people from around the world (including me, I’m very proud to be a Canadian after emigrating from Europe) which has a lot of influence. You can see the influences in each of our offices. Even creatives who are around the same age or live in the same place, often have different cultural references which makes things more nuanced and brings more ideas to the design process. Each office has a unique vibe but we all work together collaboratively.

Are there any specific industries or sectors that lg2 is particularly passionate about working with or contributing to?

These days we’re especially interested in green energy and ESG work. Our goal at LG2 is to use our creativity to make the world a better place. On the other hand, as a sports guy, I would love to do more work in that industry too.

When working with a new brand, how do you go about unraveling its underlying values and beliefs that set it apart from competitors?

It starts by gaining an understanding of the background of the business. I especially love it when we work with founders because it’s good to know the origins of a company, and understand their passion for what they do. I saw this when I had the privilege to work with the Norda team and its founders Nick Martire and Willamina Leus to help take their brand onto the global market.
Our strategists also do a lot of interviews and thinking about how a business works and its positioning in the market and world. A deep dive into the company’s history often helps, and I find it cool to know why a business works the way it does today. It’s a unique story that always sets it apart from others.

You’ve been able to collaborate with so many brands in your career, but what mistake have you seen from companies trying to stay relevant?

The biggest mistake is being just an order taker. You should avoid forcing personal opinions on clients but sometimes you do need to push them to reconsider long-held ideas. If you want to be the best partner for your clients, don’t be a doer, be a maker.

Can you share a notable project from lg2 that you’re particularly proud of?

My favourite project lately is the work we did for Canopy’s NEXT GEN NOW campaign. It started as a corporate website request but our teams did what they do best. We consulted with their leadership this was a great opportunity to make a more effective experience, following their founder Nicole Rycroft’s TED Talk. We came up with a full brand experience that included a new brand platform, a manifesto video, an advertising campaign, and a storytelling microsite to support their mission. It perfectly aligns with our interdisciplinary experience and our goal to create progress in the world.

Another recent favourite was Mission 2035 for Hydro-Quebec. Mission 2035 is an ambitious plan to reduce the province’s greenhouse gas emissions while ramping up future growth in electricity demand as the energy transition happens. LG2 was brought in to help educate and engage people with the move to clean energy. The result was a campaign that included a one-of-a-kind simulation game where everyday people can experiment with using different energy sources (hydropower, wind and solar, nuclear energy, etc.) and see how their choices impact GHG emissions, costs, and reliability first-hand. It’s a project where we see even more opportunities and there’s more to come.

In both projects, the strengths of the underlying thinking and the ways that we could use design, digital, and architecture experiences to address unique problems really made them shine.

Your work involves collaboration with a variety of experts, from brand designers to UX/UI designers and developers. How do you foster collaboration and creativity within such a diverse team?

Everything stems from the brand itself. A brand has different extensions which include its branding and design, digital, and architecture, so the teams always have the brand in common even if they have different expertise. We share ownership of the brand experience. Every group gets an equal say in the process, and everyone is a maker. No one is just executing. We share equal footing and give equal feedback to make the best experience. To build stronger relationships between the teams we also have many socials together where we share inspirational projects over a beer. It helps everyone to know what work we all admire.

You’ve been a judge for prestigious awards like the Webby Awards, the ADC Awards, and the One Club for Creativity. How has this experience influenced your perspective on creative excellence?

We can’t create amazing work without an international perspective. There are a lot of great agencies and studios locally doing strong work but it’s rooted in the Canadian reality. Culture is king and key in the creative process, so we need to keep an eye on what is happening in other markets. Judging is also a great opportunity to meet and connect with creatives around the world to learn different processes and different points of view. For example, how people use technology to communicate and buy products in Japan is distinct, and I got to learn more about it and what it means for agencies from a judge from Tokyo. It ties so much into my work and the work of my team, and it’s important to me that we think about other mindsets.

What trends do you see shaping the future of branding and interactive experience?

The common denominator is the word experience. It’s not so much a trend, but I think that creating personalized experiences is the future. Everything is very similar right now–shops, campaigns, loyalty programs–and as everything becomes so similar the key to the future is to create memorable, unique experiences. People are searching for amazing and unique moments right now.

In general, what role do you think designers have to play in building more-accessible societies?

Accessibility has many meanings, and one way designers can directly help make a more accessible world is by supporting non-profits, charities and NGOs. We need to balance running a business and using our talents to help make a better world. It’s ok to do work that brands need even if it isn’t changing the world, but it’s important to put just as much strength of thinking into causes and bringing those points of view to commercial work as well.

Outside of work, you’re an avid trail runner and recently completed an ultra marathon in Zion National Park. How do your hobbies and interests influence your professional life?

It’s interesting to compare it to my work because both are about endurance. Like a marathon, you can’t accomplish great things by sprinting only, but you can achieve great things when you can endure. As an immigrant, resilience has played a role in my career a lot. I had to work hard to establish myself in a new country, and I work hard when I train for a marathon.

What are some of the most memorable experiences you’ve had while trail running?

I ran 65 km with my father for his 65th birthday. My father asked me if I’d like to do it, so we trained separately on different continents and then reunited to run it together. It was a big emotional moment, and my longest distance run at that time. After that, I continued running, but my father had some health issues and had to stop. I often say these days I run for my father. He is the inspiration behind why I started trail running, and why I appreciate it so much. He didn’t start to run until he was in his 40s when he decided to stop smoking.

Is there a particular lesson or piece of advice that has been crucial to your success in the creative industry?

Create connections and relationships. It’s complex to maintain relationships over time as your career progresses, but it’s important to make yourself available and keep on meeting people. The ability to know many people and be genuinely curious about them has been key to my success.

Can you name the global issue you are most passionate about and why?

I decided to work on experience because I was passionate about a book by Erving Goffman, a sociologist. One of my objectives was to create memorable experiences for all human beings. There is a lot of division in the world right now, especially about equality between women and men. It’s a tricky and complex subject, but I’m particularly passionate about this one. How the world has been set up and the experiences in place to push people in one direction and not another. I love to understand how and why things are the way they are, and hate when people claim or push something with no discussion. I prefer to be transparent, honest, and tackle this subject directly by talking to my colleagues and understanding their lived experiences. It’s a big subject in our industry where female leadership is still not where it should be.

Finally, on a lighter note, can you share a fun fact about yourself that not many people know?

I was born in Corsica, a really small island. Most people never leave. It’s something I’m very proud of after 16 years.

Thanks Nicolas!

Learn more about: lg2

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