Awards, schmawards. Everyone knows an award isn’t the sine qua non of a successful ad, nor would anyone suggest that awards are important for their own sake. But, given that everyone writes strategically sound ads in the first place, what of the ads for which the idea and the production supposedly represent the pinnacle of the discipline?

New York Festivals notwithstanding, Canada is a long way from the place it should occupy in the international ad forum, say those in the game.

Is Canada gaining profile in the world of advertising?

‘I guess so,’ says Roche Macauley & Partners’ Geoffrey Roche with the level of enthusiasm that one would associate with an award of merit. ‘There’s been stuff in C.A. and the One Show, but I don’t think people sit up and say Canada is doing great stuff, and I don’t think until such time as we do well in a place like Cannes will the world do that.’

Most of his contemporaries, in many respects, echo Roche’s assessment of the Canadian creative scene.

Leo Burnett creative director Jeff Finkler says the overall quality of Canadian creative is on the rise and points to recent examples of Leo Burnett’s work being translated to the u.s. market and more recently to Europe. But Finkler also acknowledges the lack of success to date in penetrating the global player ranks. ‘We somehow haven’t been able to play on the world stage yet,’ he says.

ddb creative director Marta Cutler says while the awards books indicate a stronger Canadian presence, domestic creative ‘hasn’t cracked the European market yet.’

‘I’m an idealist,’ says Cutler. ‘I think the quality is going up, but I still don’t think we’re being as fresh or original as perhaps we could be.’

Cutler points to what could be considered a commonalty in the Canadian advertising that passes her way as an award show judge – an intelligent approach.

‘There is a lot of intelligence in the work I’ve seen, work that treats the consumer with respect,’ says Cutler.

From the production standpoint, Imported Artists director Richard D’Alessio points to the same phenomenon.

‘I don’t think we take a ton of risks but the ads are insightful and clever,’ says D’Alessio, who is familiar with advertising and production particulars on both sides of the border.

D’Alessio says budget is a factor in the ethic of Canadian and American ads, where bigger u.s. budgets allow spots like the Pepsi extravaganzas that ran during the Super Bowl this year.

‘We usually can’t afford to do the visually irreverent conceptual stuff that isn’t necessarily idea-driven and where the only connection is just the attitude,’ he says.

Canadian car ads, he says, use the situation as an opportunity to shine with good, solid stories rather than the glitzy shows or the lingering on engines that can occur in u.s. examples in the category.

Palmer Jarvis ddb creative director Chris Staples is disturbed. ‘There are glimmers and bright spots but overall it’s pretty disappointing,’ he says. ‘There is some real standout stuff, but generally you see the same things over and over. You’d think there would be a little more adventure happening.’

Is it lack of risk taking or budgets or any of the other factors that are often associated with the lack of international recognition of Canadian advertising?

‘I dismiss the notion of budgets not being high,’ says Finkler. ‘You can go to Cannes any year and see a huge production value commercial win, but you’re more likely to see even more small, succinct, clear ideas done on a shoestring win.’

Some point to hard-to-figure cultural peculiarities, lack of cultural peculiarities, self-consciousness, the political climate at award shows and other less tangible factors that diminish Canada’s international industry recognition.

Says Roche: ‘If we do great work it will get recognized; it’s people sitting down and doing truly original stuff.’

Staples points to a trend that has emerged over the past few years, where, like tubes of smoked breakfast sausage, ads are way overprocessed.

‘There’s been more focus on the process rather than on the product,’ says Staples. ‘Oftentimes a spot will get on the air and it’s been through a dozen focus groups and two and even three stages of research. Research can wear off all of the interesting edges from creative work and you end up with something that pleases the vast majority of people but in effect pleases no one because it’s so dull and bland.’

By extension, Staples says clients should be made aware that not being bland can mean phone calls from audience members who may not be in synch with an ad’s approach, citing the agency’s lauded Playland work as an example.

‘Unless you are getting complaints the work is not cutting through,’ says Staples. ‘You can’t please everyone if you aren’t doing stuff that’s bland and generic. The solution is to make clients understand that you can do all the testing you want, but there isn’t really a way to predict the success of a tv commercial, it’s not a science. And sometimes a little controversy is a good thing.’

While clients are acknowledged to be, rightly, primarily concerned with business results garnered by advertising, creatives say awards are an important dollop of sauce on a well-seared piece of advertising meat and point to research which does show a correlation between award-winning and bottom-line-enhancing creative.

‘Clients should look at awards, not for awards themselves, they are a byproduct of good work,’ says Staples. ‘Clients don’t care about them but creatives care about them, whether they admit it or not, and good creative people want to work on stuff that wins awards. For a client looking at an agency, one winning a lot of awards means there are smart motivated people working there.’

While also acknowledging an appropriate lack of concern for awards for their own sake, Finkler says some clients do look at the recognition gained by creative that lands in the critical spotlight.

‘It is heartening to hear how many clients call up after, for example Strategy’s Agency of the Year, and say, `What do I have to do to get the kind of advertising that gets in there?’ ‘ says Finkler. ‘If an ad is smart and it sells product and wins awards, that helps the cause of the client’s company and the whole endeavor of marketing in Canada.’

ALSO IN THIS REPORT:

Winning isn’t everything. But it’s a really good thing.

Playback goes behind the boards on recent trophy-winning spots:

– BBDO puts the Doc Martens to truck touting, shows the doors to the pickup pitch, and subverts safe soup spots 29

– Y&R colors outside the emotional lines 30

– Burnett’s bait-and-switch gambit 31

– Marshall Fenn’s low-rollers gamble pays off 32

– PNMD bellies up to the international bar with milk boards 33

– Saatchi’s shadowplay and wordplay win for simplicity 35

– Gee Jeffery’s short-form meta-media features 37

The year is 2035, and executional enablers dig up a dangerous advertising artifact: Instinct. A cautionary tale by Randy Diplock. 4