Aaron Starkman

Aaron Starkman is one of the 100 most creative people in the world(alongside names such as Ryan Reynolds, Lebron James and Lizzo)
-Adweek Creative 100 List

He currently leads Rethink globally as Chief Creative Officer. This year Aaron led Rethink to become the most awarded agency in the world(this is the first time an independent agency has accomplished this- The Drum World Creative Rankings).

So far in 2024 Aaron has led Rethink to win Independent Network & agency of the year at Cannes, The One Show, The Andy’s & the Clios. Rethink was also named this year’s Campaign Magazine Global Agency of the year and Adage’s Creative Agency of the year 2 of the last 3 years. Aaron’s Creative direction has resulted in NBC News and The Huffington Post calling the agency “viral specialists".

Some of that work includes the recent Outdoor Grand Prix at the Clios & One Show, Coors “Light’s Out”, the Cannes Grand Pix for creative effectiveness (work spanning 5 years with several gold lions on Draw Ketchup, Ketchup Fraud, Heinz “Tilted label” and many other lions for Heinz, plus Decathlon’s ability signs(2023 gold lion), the Cannes Lions winning Molson passport fridge, “See My Name” & WestJet’s Guinness world record breaking Desert Roulette.

Prior to Rethink, Aaron led CP+B as CCO. Some highlights include his "Prison Visitor" ad for Vim - the most awarded cleaning product ad in advertising history, and additional Gold Lions in Cannes for Corus & IKEA.

Campaign awarded him as the #1 CCO in the world and he’s been Adage’s top 5 CCO’s the last 3 years straight. He’s won more Cannes Gold lions on more brands than any other Creative in Canada. Aaron is also on Campaign’s prestigious 40 over 40 list.

Other than industry accolades, Aaron’s work has been singled out by the mainstream press(Buzzfeed named one of his ads the # 1 commercial in the history of the Cannes festival, CNN and Jimmy Kimmel have discussed work he’s led multiple times and Ellen Degeneres declared one of his tv spots as her 'favorite of all time').

Aaron frequently judges award shows including Cannes, Clios and the One Show(most recently he served on the Effies inaugural Global “best of the best awards” grand jury.)He also enjoys writing columns, speaking at events locally and abroad - Seoul, Korea being a personal highlight. Aaron also tries to inspire young industry professionals from around the globe with his podcast, IOFA- Adweek’s advertising podcast of the year.