Conflict | Why Conflict

Conflict is what creates interest, and interest is what drives action. So if you want your brand’s story to be more effective, you need to start by identifying the unique problem your product or service can solve in people’s lives. We help our clients find their conflict and then build their whole story, identity, and experience around it.

What we do

Brand Creation

We work with some of the most ambitious start-ups in North America to create brands from scratch. From category definition, brand strategy, and brand name development through to visual identity and launch materials, we build battle ready brands for today's competitive marketplace.

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Brand Activation

We create and produce breakthrough campaigns for our clients, helping them permeate pop culture and earn more than their fair share of attention in the process.

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Brand Transformation

We transform the way established brands present themselves and go to market by reimagining their story and modernizing their image and voice.

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Brand Design

We’re experts at defining and visually expressing the essence of a brand. Whether it’s evolving a current mark or overhauling an entire design system, our studio builds brands informed by a competitive brand story, not by trends.

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Leadership Team

Jason Last

Partner & Strategy Director

Jason is one of Canada’s most highly regarded brand strategists. Prior to co-founding Conflict Advertising, Jason served as Director of Strategic Planning at john st., and as a Senior Planner at Leo Burnett Toronto. He holds a master’s degree in English & Cultural Studies from Western University, as well as a master’s degree in Strategic Foresight & Innovation from OCAD University. Jason is also an Instructor in the Strategy and Planning program at Miami Ad School Toronto, Canada’s preeminent advertising school.

Tamara Staines

Managing Director

When it comes to nurturing high-performing teams, there's no one better than Tamara. As Managing Director at Conflict, she ensures that entire project teams collaborate effectively and efficiently to achieve the best possible outcome every time. An honours business grad from Acadia University, Tamara has 10+ years of experience in client services and production at Canada's top ad agencies, including DDB, Taxi, and john st.

Niall Kelly

Partner & Creative Director

A multi-disciplined art director, designer, and writer with an insatiable appetite for music, film, art, food & fancy liquids. Niall's work has been celebrated by every major creative and effectiveness award show, repeatedly covered by local and international news organizations, and his first short film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Father to a wiener dog named Eugene and a human named Eloise. Inventor of the pizza cake. Expert level karaoke skills.

The team pairs creativity and strategy better than anyone. Their instinctual ability to just ‘get it’ set them apart from any other agency I have worked with.

Transformation starts with having the right people on the team and Conflict has been a great partner since the beginning. And the results speak for themselves.

Outstanding creative happens when you toss assumptions aside and instead seek and embrace tension, so Conflict couldn’t be better named. Brilliant minds, fun people, actual partners.

Conflict's brand development process ensured that the right internal stakeholders and voice of the customer was incorporated into every phase. Our new brand positioning, brought to life with a fresh new visual identity, is a perfect reflection of who we are. Our customers and stores love it!

Working with Conflict was always the highlight of my day. Most importantly, they were always accessible, passionate about the project, and fun to work with.

Conflict provided a high level of expertise, creativity and energy to our branding efforts. Our story is clear, our brand conviction guides our work day in day out, and our visual identity is clean, modern and reflects who we are.

I needed senior partners who could get to a really smart solution, really fast. I called Conflict, and within days we had a fully developed, highly strategic integrated advertising campaign ready to launch.

Conflict was critical in helping us launch this new brand to market. From strategy to branding, they did it all, and always with a smile on their faces.