more involved in the process

Chris Staples,

Creative director,

Palmer Jarvis,

Vancouver

If directors think competition is stiff in Toronto, they should try Vancouver.

There must be at least a dozen viable ad agencies.

In addition to the local competition, Vancouver directors have to contend with Toronto’s massive talent pool, not to mention the entire West Coast – from Seattle to l.a.

Considering all this, it’s a small miracle that Vancouver has any local talent at all, let alone some of the best directors I’ve worked with in any market, at any price.

Veterans like Rob Turner, Randy MacDonald and Derik Murray. And new talent like Wade Ferley, Phil Spink and Jeth Weinrich.

At Palmer Jarvis, we’ve made a conscious effort to use local production houses whenever possible. It not only makes economic sense (their prices are generally thousands less than Toronto or l.a.), it makes creative sense, too.

We’ve found that local directors are far more involved in the creative process. Unlike some imported directors we’ve worked with, they usually stick around for transfers, fine cuts and audio sessions.

They also have a better understanding of our clients and their products. We don’t have to spend time explaining what Sun-Rype is, for instance. (It’s the number one apple juice in Canada, in case you’re wondering.)

There’s a strong economic incentive for using local talent, as well. We don’t have to worry about ridiculous air fares, entourages and hotel bills. We get someone who can use their local contacts to get us breaks on everything from crew rates to special effects. And we get a director who is used to doing great work on meager budgets.

All of these factors give local directors an edge in dealing with us. This doesn’t mean that we never use outside resources. Our local production houses represent plenty of American and Toronto directors. In cases where we use an outside director (about six times last year), we almost always go through a local production house.

In the end, we still make decisions based on a few simple criteria and sometimes this leads us to choose outsiders: What will the director add to the concept? Does the director grasp the essence of the message? Is he genuinely enthusiastic and committed to realizing the concept’s potential?

In most cases, we find the answers we’re looking for right in our own backyard.