“Our location has been very important to us—we’re named john st. after all,” says CEO Stephanie Hurst. “The experiences we’ve shared here—from sneaking chocolates from the reception desk, to the random pigeons who like to visit the first floor—have helped form who we are over the past 20 years.”
The Minecraft office was designed by Gamefruitpulp, a Toronto-based gamer and YouTuber who worked on the Building Toronto Project, a 1:1 Minecraft recreation of the city of Toronto. This was his first agency project, which he called “the perfect addition to the online version of Toronto that I’ve spent so many years completing.”
The digital office space was unveiled during a Friday breakfast all-staff meeting on July 23, the date john st. officially opened for the first time, and people had a day to explore it while engaging in its quests. It kicked off with a digital hall of fame of previous john st. work, just outside the building. Staffers were welcomed in by the longtime receptionist, who bugged them about timesheets before letting them loose. The quests culminated in a rooftop party that included dancing, a virtual bar, fireworks and the presence of agency alums.
“john st., and the people who have made this agency what it is, deserved a big celebration,” Campbell says. “That’s why we had to find a way to be together when we couldn’t do it in person and, most importantly, why we had to make it fun. A 20th anniversary is a big deal, but we as john st.’ers have never taken ourselves too seriously.”
The office does a lovely job of immortalizing the quirky granularities that give an agency unique life and form. It will remain in Gamefruitpulp’s Toronto cityscape, and exploration of it will be open to anyone with a Minecraft Java account for the next few months. If you’d like to access it, the server name is Toronto Server. Here’s the server address.
CREDITS
Agency: john st.
Chief Creative Officer: Cher Campbell
Creative Directors: Jordan Cohen, Cam Boyd
Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: Marc Levesque
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Dan Cantelon
Art Director: Shirley Xu Wang
Copywriter: Marly Dichter
Producers: Aimee DeParolis, Cas Binnington, Matthew DeWaal
Jr. Gaming Consultant/Volunteer: Harris Boyd (9 years old)
Game
Production/Minecraft Build: Gamefruitpulp
Teaser Video
Editor: Nicole Sison
Feature Video
Editor: Peter Guzda
Post Production: Alter Ego
Executive Producer: Hilda Pereira
Producer: Andrew Tavares
Colourist: Patrick Samaniego
