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Paul Lavoie is a Canadian advertising legend and visionary entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of TAXI, one of the most influential and awarded independent agencies of its era. Beginning his career as a designer and Art Director at JWT, then Creative Director at Cossette, Paul co-founded TAXI in Montreal in 1992 with partner Jane Hope — during a recession, with no office, no phones, and an unshakeable belief that doubt could be a creative superpower. Over 25 years, he grew TAXI from a scrappy Montreal startup into an international creative powerhouse with offices across Canada and the US, selling to WPP in 2010. His agency's defining mantra — *Doubt the Conventional. Create the Exceptional.* — wasn't just a tagline; it was a methodology that consistently delivered business results for clients including Molson, Telus, Reactine, Viagra, and Clear Channel. Paul's creative philosophy, which he calls **Constructive Doubt**, is rooted in the belief that great ideas only emerge after rigorously questioning and discarding the obvious ones. He championed radical simplicity, integrated thinking, and a design-led approach that erased the lines between advertising, strategy, and brand experience. His work earned him the prestigious **2015 ACA Gold Medal Award**, recognizing his measurable and distinctive impact on the practice of marketing communications in Canada. He also played a pivotal role in elevating Canadian advertising to international standards, rallying the industry around Cannes Lions participation after winning a Gold Lion for McDonald's Pizza in 1991. Since departing adland, Paul has launched **Beau Lake**, a luxury paddle board and lifestyle brand — giving him a fresh, client-side perspective on the very industry he helped shape. At Ad Legends Academy, Paul brings the rare dual perspective of a world-class creative director and a seasoned entrepreneur. Students can expect a masterclass in challenging assumptions, deconstructing briefs to find the *real* business problem, and building ideas with the clarity and simplicity to cut through in any medium. Paul teaches not from theory, but from hard-won experience — including the disasters, the pivots, and the moments where faking it became real. His sessions are equal parts strategic rigour and entrepreneurial candour, designed to rewire how you think before you ever pick up a pen or open a brief. A self-described open-minded door-opener, Paul's job description has always been simple: *"Open Minds. Open Doors."* Whether he's mentoring the next generation of creative leaders or building a paddle board empire, that philosophy hasn't changed a bit.
