Having just celebrated 10 years of operations, Grip Limited has produced some great work, and have picked up several awards over the course of the past decade. You’ve probably read their blog, Big Orange Slide at least once and have almost definitely seen the creative they have produced for their clients.
We met with Associate Partner, Patrick Robinson and Director of Production, Interactive, Kathy Herrera for a few drinks to chat about being one of the few independently owned big agencies in Canada, their approach to managing talent, and of course; their office space.
Being independently owned (there are 11 partners) makes business and creative decisions easy (in theory.) This seems to working out nicely for the guys and girls at Grip, as the agency has grown into a creative force in Toronto; producing consistently solid work.
Their offices are housed in what used to be a factory and then a gallery. Most of the buildings original features have been maintained, though they have obviously made some alterations such as a sound editing studio and a big, orange slide that connects the ground floor with the lower levels.
On the bottom floor, there are sliding televisions and stadium seating to accommodate their lunch n’ learns as well as various industry events and educational events that are free for design students.
Grip prides itself on their freeflowing structure. Employees are encouraged to work outside of their titles and change roles within the company’s ecosystem — Account Managers become Copywriters, Copywriters become Programmers, Programmers… You get the idea. They also have Creatives present on all three floors working alongside Account Managers. And, everyone wears nametags to maintain some sense of community among their 100+ staff whose extra-curricular projects such as the Tour De Grip biking team are supported by the company. Not bad.
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