Peter Rigby is executive vp, creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, Toronto.

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The advertising business in Canada has more than its fair share of English creatives and I’m no exception. But since I am probably the most recent among you, I’d like to offer up a few observations after my first year working here.

Until I arrived here, I had no idea of the wealth of talent that Canada possesses. It only goes to show how little awareness outsiders have of Canadian advertising.

Like it or not, Britain has it own distinct advertising style as does the u.s., Australia, France, Italy, Spain, etc. But Canada?

March ’95 and my arrival here coincided with the annual award shows in Toronto. It was an opportunity for me to gain quick insight into what the distinctive qualities of Canadian advertising might be, and what it could be that sets it apart from other markets around the world. Unfortunately I didn’t find it.

For too long now creative people have been working under the misapprehension that in order for a client to buy into an idea, the more finished it has to be. Unfortunately, one can make a non-idea look good. But if it lacks a real selling proposition, one that my Mum could respond to, then it’s not advertising the product – it’s displaying it. Canadian advertising displays the product more often than it sells. And it leaves the consumer wondering, ‘I’ve seen your ad now what do you want me to do?’

During the year, I’ve interviewed some very talented young creative people with some very intelligent approaches to advertising. However, here again I am surprised by the need they feel to ‘finish’ everything they present. Of course it’s useful to prove you have a command of today’s Mac technologies, but it’s the ideas that count more than the execution. To change the face of Canadian advertising, or rather to give it a new face, we have to start with the young – ‘the pretenders to the throne.’

This preoccupation with highly finished work has a potentially damaging effect on client relationships too, getting over involved in production issues and not focused enough on the real thrust of the communication.

It’s curious that while great Canadian music travels the globe, as does your art, your literature, even your sport, your advertising doesn’t. Shouldn’t it also have a distinct place on the world stage as well?

I don’t claim to have all or any of the answers as to what might still be missing but I will make a few observations.

Most advertising is something that consumers don’t trust. It’s something to be wary of and doubted. And yet all advertising has been approved and paid for by our clients. If one tells the truth in an entertaining way without being boring and without deceiving, it only adds to the obstacles which make great advertising such a challenge.

Yet if I had a dollar for every time a Canadian has said to me, ‘Welcome to Canada,’ whenever I’ve suggested something different, I’d be a rich man. Shouldn’t we be aiming for the moon in the hope of maybe hitting a tall tree? Caution seems to be what rules in Canadian advertising. Where’s that Canadian ‘edge’ that I hear talked about so much in other countries.

I don’t claim to be an authority on world-class advertising, but I’ve participated in a number of shows around the world. And after attending the recent Marketing Awards I was disappointed in the way it was run, by the repetitive nature of the campaigns recognized, and the inevitable ‘old pals act’ evident, even to a newcomer.

I’m not against award shows but I do have a big problem justifying the need we all seem to share in having our work endorsed by our peers. Are we really that insecure?

Compare with the world and not with your local counterparts and you’ll reach much higher. Don’t look back at old annuals, look forward to a different newer future. One with a more acutely defined character. One that’s more Canadian.

Current Canadian advertising is hard to describe. It’s nearly always workmanlike, well executed, with more than enough production value. Thank God for some great film directors, without whom we’d all be floundering. Nothing really sets it apart, nothing makes it recognizably Canadian. Maybe there is a fear of standing out too much.

Canadians like to comply. They’ll wait at the lights even when the road is clear. ‘Don’t stand out from the crowd. You’ll get noticed.’ Problem is, that’s just the opposite of what we’re supposed to do for our clients.

‘Come to the edge, come to the edge, he pushed and they flew.’