APG Sideways
About our guest: Anano Korkia
Anano Korkia is a brand strategist and marketer from Georgia (the country, not the state) with over 12 years of experience building brands and leading campaigns that connect business with purpose.
Before moving to Canada, she led marketing, PR, and CSR initiatives for international banks, including programs supporting environmental action. Now based in Toronto, she brings a global perspective and a passion for human-centred storytelling, where creativity and responsibility meet.
Now embracing Toronto’s vibrant melting pot, Anano finds it the perfect place for a curious marketer to observe how culture, values, and shared experiences shape the way people from all over the world connect with brands and with each other.
Brilliant Weird Best
Strategists are curious folks, so we asked Anano to tell us the most brilliant, weirdest and best things she’s come across recently.
BRILLIANT: The Last da Vinci - “Salvator Mundi” (Latin for Savior of the World)
The campaign, created by Droga5 for Christie's, focused on capturing the emotional reactions of visitors who viewed the painting at Christie's New York. Rather than showcasing the painting itself, the campaign emphasized the profound impact it had on viewers. The campaign’s visuals echo a Da Vinci-esque style, with dramatic music, light and shadow that subtly evoke the master’s touch. The campaign resulted in the record-breaking $450.3 million sale, well above the $300 million runner-up. Oh, and including Leonardo DiCaprio is brilliant, both a nod to the name and a way to heighten the campaign’s allure.
WEIRD: Faux hair micro string thong
I was going to talk about Japan's Ekimeso Dansi – the ‘handsome weeping boys’ paid to wipe your tears – but then Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS Faux Hair Micro String Thong stole the show. Available in twelve shades and textures, it launched on October 14, 2025, and sold out in under 24 hours. A waitlist was quickly set up for restocking. The frenzy feels totally intentional to me, part of SKIMS’ usual quick-sell-out strategy (or maybe not? 😊). And here’s a TikTok video (one of many) playing with the hype.
BEST: Merry Christmas!
Since Christmas is getting closer, I thought it would be lovely to share one of the absolute masterpieces John Lewis creates year after year. Celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, the brand brings nostalgia, warmth, hope, and love through its Christmas commercials. I want to share my favourite one, as its heartfelt insight truly resonates with me (and I’m sure, with some of you too). May this Christmas bring you the magic of togetherness and remind us all to share love and kindness.
Top Guilty Pleasures
Not all of our consumption habits can be academic. That's why we asked Anano to give us the sources to her creativity.
I have to admit, I like to scroll through social media, and I do have a few favorite pages I follow. One of them is Ryanair - a budget airline in Europe that, instead of sticking to a conventional airline tone, leans into humour, sarcasm, and self-deprecation. They openly poke fun at their low-cost model and service limitations, which makes their content refreshingly honest and entertaining.
Oh, and Ugly Design on Instagram. Sometimes, the most unthinkably ugly ideas can spark real inspiration - so I thought it might be worth sharing.
Being curious and brave leads to our best work. And these are the two words I’d use to describe Noraly, a Dutch woman motorcyclist who has ridden over 190,000 kilometers solo around the world, inspiring thousands along the way. The places she visits are unlike anything most of us will ever see. Watching her reels on Facebook is admittedly my biggest guilty pleasure lately.
Oh, and if you like some raw, risky, and deeply human adventures, check out Bald and Bankrupt, a British vlogger, sharing honest slices of life captured through empathy, curiosity, and that unmistakable British humour.
This month on Slack
Our Slack discussions this month were quite varied! We spent a good amount of time exploring how intention and meaning change with context, but we also dove into how Big Macs and men's underwear can act as signals of change, with the right lens.
Contributors: Anano Korkia, Michelle Lee, Cameron Fleming, Taisiia Herasko, Jon Crowley, Anya Petrova
Piggybacking off of Anano's "Not Made In Canada" video, we dove into the assumptions and implications surrounding the perceived niceness of Canadians. Specifically, we explored how newcomers can feel as though the default here can be too nice. The conversation then pivoted towards how these cultural barriers can affect our roles, with Jon Crowley mentioning our default of "harmony over progress". The vibe was empathetic and curious, raising a bigger question about reading between the lines to get better collaboration and braver creative outcomes. Stay tuned for more of this on Rebrief!
Lateral Thinking and Unusual Metrics
Contributor: Jon Crowley, Spencer MacEachern, David Akermanis, Colin Carroll, Cameron Fleming, Param Saini
Bringing up the topic of things that are hard to measure as planners, Jon started a fun conversation around unusual metrics. Spencer then pointed out the value of lateral thinking and knowing when to leverage cultural fluency and look towards left of field metrics. These ranged from personal data like tweet history volume to the larger Big Mac Index, Men's Underwear Index, and even Yogurt Spend.
Contributors: Hayden Lawton, Trevon Daley, Shan Hunter, Spencer MacEachern, Jon Crowley, Michelle Lee, Monserrat Videla