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

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We are now in the second year of the First Cut Awards, and the idea has taken off in a way that none of us could have imagined when we created it. The original intention was to attempt to flush out, and bring to everyone’s attention, the brightest and the best of Canada’s young commercial film directors, to set a higher standard of execution and communication in the field of advertising in particular, and to give new talent the opportunity to be judged by their peers both in Canada and in Cannes.

In the first year 40 young directors submitted their reels. The winner, Pete Henderson of Spy Productions, went to his first Cannes festival where his show reel played as a significant part of the Saatchi Showcase alongside work from some of the best young talent in the world. As an ambassador for all young Canadian film talent, Pete was outstanding, and I’m told that as a result he is already getting work from around the world.

The method of selection for the First Cut Award has been so well received that next year we are planning on the award going global. Each country will submit its national winner for inclusion in the Saatchi Directors Showcase, and the winner of that selection will receive the First Cut Global Award.

Canada could at last begin to lead the way to better advertising by taking its place on the world stage ­ and that would mean that we can no longer afford to be so parochial: simply put, our work has got to get braver.

The winning work at Cannes this year demonstrated that it’s simple ideas that cut through, where execution is not the idea, but the message is.

A lot of us on the agency side are still guilty of allowing film techniques to take over from, or take the place of, a real advertising idea.

If it seems so simple to do the kind of work that could win a Gold, why is it that Canadians don’t make it?

We could, if only we were to focus on the one thing we are trying to communicate. After all, being single-minded isn’t that difficult, but maybe getting clients to buy into it is.

Thirty seconds is more than enough time to make a point: just make it, and get out. But in making it, get noticed, that’s what our job is.

You’ve just invaded somebody’s living-rooom and you’re only invited there once. You’re unwelcome, so give something back, entertain, make then laugh, cry, scream, but make them remember you because that’s what we are measured by. If you succeed at this, the consumer, who judges us all in the end, will have you back.

This year’s First Cut is now over. Of the 45 entries, only a few focused on executing a simple idea in a striking and memorable way. Many of the reels suffered from fundamental ailments that confront us all, but are easily cured.

First we overcomplicate our messages with wall-to-wall copy, then we throw in too much irrelevant camera trickery, then we overdo things in post-production.

In my experience art directors produce better work with just a layout pad and a marker than they do with the computer. A computer can’t have an idea, but it can hide the fact that there isn’t one there in the first place. Film is no different. Don’t hide the lack of an idea behind techniques: use them to enhance and bring alive a single undeniable truth.

When you all get the opportunity to see the winning work from Cannes I’m sure you’ll agree that, like me, you’ll know you could have done it yourself. We have just got to be a lot more focused. Imagine that the next television spot you make will be your last: it has to be the best you ever made.

To make the First Cut mean more we need to see young directors taking a stand for better scripts from the agency creatives, working with them if necessary. Then, maybe, in 1988 Canadian advertising will get the recognition it deserves on the world stage at Cannes.