About us

Viva Media is a Toronto-based video production company that's been helping brands turn viewers into customers since 2017. We're not a massive agency with layers of account managers between you and the people doing the work. We're a tight-knit team of cinematographers, editors, and strategists who genuinely like each other and have spent years figuring out what actually makes video perform.

Our client list includes brands like McDonald's, Pepsi, TD Bank, RBC, and Nestlé, alongside dozens of startups and mid-market companies who took a chance on us before we had a fancy website. We've produced everything from national broadcast commercials to internal training videos, social campaigns to product launches.

What hasn't changed since day one: our belief that video should drive measurable results, not just look pretty on a portfolio page. We're not trying to win awards. We're trying to win customers for the brands we work with. Awards look nice on a shelf. Revenue looks nicer in your bank account.

Three things. And yes, every agency claims to be different. Bear with us.

Results over pretty. Most production companies optimize for what looks good in their reel. We optimize for what performs in the real world. Every creative decision gets filtered through one question: will this drive the business outcome we need? That's why one client saw their cost-per-lead drop to $0.84 on a campaign we produced. Pretty is easy. Results take strategy.

Right tool for the right job. We're not precious about production approaches. Some projects need cinema-grade production. Others need scrappy, authentic content that feels native to social feeds. We'll tell you which approach actually serves your goals instead of upselling you on equipment and crew you don't need. Our job is to solve your problem, not show off our toys.

Senior talent, not interns. The people in your strategy meeting are the same people on set and in the edit suite. No bait-and-switch where you meet the A-team in the pitch and get handed off to juniors learning on your budget. Your project gets experienced professionals from kickoff to delivery. We've made enough mistakes on our own dime to know what works.

Toronto, born and raised. Our studio and office are in the city, which means we know the local production landscape like the back of our hands: the best locations (and the ones that look great in photos but are nightmares to shoot in), the reliable crews, the permits and logistics that come with shooting in different neighborhoods.

That said, we go where the work is. We've shot across Canada, throughout the US, and internationally. If your project takes us somewhere new, great. We love an adventure. We handle the travel logistics, local crew coordination, and equipment transport. You get the same team and the same quality regardless of where the cameras are rolling.

Honestly? A bit of everything. Financial services, healthcare, technology, food and beverage, retail, real estate, professional services. Fortune 500 companies and scrappy startups who are betting their marketing budget on one really good video.

We stay generalist on purpose. The best creative often comes from dragging ideas across industries. The approach that worked for a bank might be exactly what a tech startup needs. The storytelling framework from a food brand might unlock something for a healthcare client. If you only work in one industry, you end up recycling the same playbook everyone else uses. We'd rather bring you something unexpected.

That said, we're not for everyone. If we don't believe we can deliver results for your specific situation, we'll tell you. We've sent people to competitors before. It felt weird at first, but it's the right thing to do.

All the time. About half our projects are for clients who've never set foot in our office. Some are elsewhere in Ontario, others across Canada, and a growing number are US-based companies who found us through a referral or a late-night Google search.

Remote collaboration is easy. We're not going to pretend we prefer it to being in the same room, but honestly? The work doesn't suffer. Discovery calls, creative reviews, approvals: it all happens over video. When it's time to shoot, we either travel to you or coordinate production crews in your market while running creative direction from Toronto.

If you want Toronto as your production location, even better. We'll handle everything: locations, permits, talent, equipment, crew. Show up for the shoot if you want. Or don't. We'll send you the footage either way.

Small on purpose. Our core team is tight: a handful of people who've worked together for years and actually enjoy grabbing a drink after a shoot. That's not a limitation. It's how we keep the work good and the communication fast. You talk to decision-makers, not layers of junior staff.

For production, we scale crew to match what the project actually needs. A simple interview shoot might be three people. A commercial with multiple locations and talent could be fifteen. We have a deep bench of collaborators we've been working with for years: DPs, gaffers, sound techs, hair and makeup, PAs. They're not random freelancers we found last Tuesday. They're people who know how we work and deliver every time.

You get the responsiveness of a small team with the horsepower of a larger operation when you need it. Best of both worlds.

We do. Viva Studios is our dedicated production space in Toronto. Controlled environment, great for interviews, product shoots, and anything that benefits from studio lighting and acoustics. It's available for our projects and for external rentals if you just need the space.

But here's the thing: not every project needs a studio. Sometimes location shoots deliver more authentic results. Sometimes you're better off spending that studio rental budget on an extra shoot day or better talent. We'll tell you which approach actually serves your goals, not which one fills our calendar.

Curious about the space? Check out vivastudios.ca for the specs, photos, and booking info.

Just reach out. Seriously, that's it. Hit the contact page, send us a message, and we'll set up a call to hear about your project, your goals, your timeline, and your budget. No forms with seventeen required fields. No automated email sequences. A human will read it and respond.

From there, we'll tell you honestly if we're the right fit. If we are, you'll get a proposal with scope, timeline, and pricing. No pressure, no aggressive follow-ups, no "just checking in" emails every three days. We'd rather you take time to make the right decision than rush into something that doesn't work for either of us.

And if we're not the right fit? We'll tell you that too. We've pointed people toward competitors when the project wasn't in our wheelhouse. Feels counterintuitive, but it tends to come back around.