Ever since TOPIX/Mad Dog finished posting a 14-spot campaign for Pepsi in Mexico last year, work has been streaming out of that country to T/MD’s Toronto offices.

It’s a phenomenon executive producer Sylvain Taillon sees as one of the quirks of commercial productions.

‘You do one gig, people notice and it keeps coming,’ he says.

T/MD completed visual effects for Spanish-speaking Pepsi Star Wars promos, and more recently, for a series of Mexican spots for Cheetos.

The specialist in character animation has also been flush with work out of the u.s., says Taillon. T/MD is completing its third spot for Russell Stover Chocolates that will feature animated chocolate figures. The visual-effects/animation company’s success hooking major u.s. clients is something Taillon attributes partly to a close proximity to the u.s. market.

‘For Chicago and New York, we’re next door. [Canada] is an hour’s flight, it’s cheap, it’s got a great reputation, so people come,’ he says.

‘Part of it is just the dollar, obviously,’ adds Taillon. ‘But because we’re not in New York, Chicago or l.a., we don’t have the same kind of structure they operate with.

‘Typically, [Canadian] companies are a lot lighter, in a good way, so there’s even more substantial savings that we can pass along.’

T/MD is also working on spots for Payless Shoes, Sears, Kmart, Ricola and Nyquil, all out of the u.s.

‘If [Canada] didn’t have the quality and we didn’t have the demo reels that prove we can do international-level work, we might be cheap, but we’d be a really bad deal if we couldn’t deliver the goods,’ says Taillon.

‘It used to be that people would come and shoot here and leave. Now, they’re staying for the post. They know we can do really good work.’