Global independent creative agency GUT is announcing the appointments of Natalie Street as Head of Accounts and Christian Buer as Executive Creative Director in its Toronto office. Buer will lead the creative team alongside ECD Brynna Aylward. Both Street and Buer will be based in Toronto and will report to Managing Director & Partner Ryan O’Hagan. Juan Javier Peña Plaza also oversees the office as Partner and North America CCO.
“I’m incredibly excited to see how much GUT Toronto has grown in such a short amount of time across the board,” said Peña Plaza. “Now having Natalie leading our Account team, and Christian working alongside Brynna as our newest ECD to lead our Creative team, I know GUT Toronto will be even stronger and more creative than ever for all our clients, making their businesses thrive even further in the years to come.”
Over Street’s nearly 15 years of experience, she has built her career at some of Toronto’s most well-respected agencies, including DDB and TAXI. Additionally, she has been a trusted partner to some of Canada's biggest brands, including Canadian Tire, Boston Pizza, Rogers Canada, Manulife and now, Tim Hortons. Buer has spent the last 12+ years working to bridge the disciplines of design and advertising, and has worked at several of the country’s most celebrated agencies in collaboration with respected leaders for some of the nation’s best-loved brands, including McDonalds, Toyota, HomeSense and KFC.
“The growth of the office over the past two years has been inspiring to lead and witness, and we are continuing to strengthen our Account and Creative teams with Natalie and Christian on board,” said O’Hagan. “They’ve both made an immediate impact and are a perfect compliment to the existing leadership team. I’m excited to see what we’ll achieve together in this next chapter of GUT Toronto.”
After being inspired by the work coming out of the Canadian market, Co-Founders and Creative Chairmen Anselmo Ramos and Gaston Bigio opened GUT Toronto in 2021 with a 40-person team and Tim Hortons as its AOR. Over the last year, GUT Toronto has expanded its client roster, including winning the AOR business for GoodLife Fitness, along with projects for K-Y Jelly and Spin Master’s Rubik’s Cube and GUND. In 2022, GUT Toronto also won a Cannes Lion award for the “TimBiebs” campaign, which was the first-ever Lion for both GUT Toronto and Tim Hortons. The campaign also received the Grand Effie at the Canadian Effie Awards, among other top honors.
The news of GUT Toronto’s rapid progress follows the success of the GUT Network at Cannes, collecting a total of 35 Cannes Lions and officially being named as the #1 Independent Network of the Year. Additionally, GUT recently celebrated its 5 year anniversary this year, and opened GUT Amsterdam in the spring, GUT’s first office in Europe.
