Alongside his creative partner, Martin Strazovec, John is responsible for leading Direct Antidote’s creative department. He heads up multi-disciplined, creative professionals who deliver strategic solutions, enabling clients to build long-term customer relationships.

John has spent 20-plus years in advertising, with a focus on direct marketing and online communications. He has worked at Grey Advertising, OgilvyOne, Carlson Marketing and Digital Cement, and has been instrumental in creating award-winning campaigns for some of North Americas Fortune 100 companies. They include American Express, IBM, Procter & Gamble, DuPont Canada, FedEx, Ford Canada, NBA, Kraft Foods and General Mills.

When John isn’t mentoring his creative team or partnering with his wife to motivate their kids in the art of cleaning up after themselves, he can be found indulging in one of his many pastimes, which includes fine tuning his motorcycle.

Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, Martin celebrated his seventh birthday running from the Soviet army. Good training for a career in direct marketing.

That career has spanned 20 years in the creative departments of leading agencies, working on behalf of global, national and local brands at Wunderman, BBDO, Ogilvy, Grey Advertising, and Draft Toronto, moving from Art Director to Chief Creative Officer with only minimal increases in antacid dosage. He is the recipient of numerous Canadian and U.S. awards for work he has influenced, and is an active judge as well. Some client highlights include: Apple, FedEx, HSBC Bank USA, Pfizer, Sprint Canada, Macy’s, Amex, Nestlé© Purina, and Mercedes-Benz. Martin also led the digital creative for Virgin Mobile’s launch in Canada, the most successful national launch to date, according to Sir Richard Branson (Dickie to his pals).

With his creative partner, John Halley, Martin currently heads up Direct Antidote's creative department. He also maintains an ever-changing guitar collection, and has even learned to play a little.

Yvonne is responsible for the day-to-day leadership on Direct Antidote's new business team. Using a consultative approach, she works with clients to understand their business inside and out – from the small details to every competitor. Yvonne keeps her eye on key industry trends, proactively addresses challenges, and ensures effective communication flow and collaboration between everyone on the agency and the client teams. Yvonne is no lightweight when it comes to understanding data, either. While she isn’t an analyst, she will challenge convention and push everyone to seek out new ways to look at and use data.

Yvonne brings an enormous amount of industry knowledge to the team. She has held positions with the AIR MILES Reward Program, TD Bank Financial Group, OgilvyOne Worldwide and Grey Advertising.

Though Yvonne spends most of her summer weekends on the golf course, admittedly her passion for the game is not always reflected in her score.

Randy has worked in the agency biz for more than 20 years, moving into the print production field because of the excitement of taking a creative vision and turning it into a finished product. He has worked for a number of agencies, including The Cohen Group, Carlson Marketing, Euro RSCG 4D, Bimm Communications and Sharpe Blackmore. Working at these agencies gave Randy the opportunity to work on campaigns for Dell, TD VISA, British Airways, VIA Rail, Ford, General Motors, Scotiabank, RBC, Fido, Chrysler, Foster Parents Plan, Bell, Telus, Volvo, Diagio and more.

Beyond the world of print communications, Randy is a slave to the many activities of his children – whether it be spending fall and winter in arenas, or coaching baseball in the spring and summer.

Andrea is our resident operations guru. She ensures DA's operational success through the implementation of new ideas and technologies that provide greater efficiencies, improved workflow, and strengthened relationships within DA and with clients.

Prior to DA, Andrea worked at AIR MILES in marketing services, with stints on both the managerial and analytics sides of the business. In fact, she’s a 14-year veteran of the LoyaltyOne team. Andrea also holds a Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo, which makes her good with numbers and all that statistical stuff.

When Andrea’s not working, she’s still working – working hard at taking care of her young son and overseeing his many adventures in toddlerhood.

As Chief Client Officer, Sarah leads our Account Management, Business Development and Strategic Planning functions.

Sarah's last gig was as CCO with MediaCom, Canada's largest media agency, managing a client services group of over 75 people. She has extensive experience in direct and digital marketing, having been President of Proximity BBDO, and Managing Director of Mighty digital, direct + design.

She started her agency career at OgilvyOne and rapidly ascended through the ranks to Director of Client Services.

In addition to her business accomplishments, Sarah is an active member of the community, as both an Ontario and National Board Member of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Originally from the US, Sarah has two children and is an avid horse-rider. Giddy up.