Director Randy Diplock helped his home base, Apple Box Productions, secure a spot on the Bessies finalist list, not once, not twice, but thrice. The public service announcement campaign he shot for Saint John Ambulance nearly a year ago, depicting a series of humorous ways to get Saint John Ambulance to, well, notice you, has been well-received by viewers and the Bessies judging panel.

Diplock, emerging from his rookie year as a full-time commercial director virtually unscathed, has actually stepped up to the Bessies podium once before.

‘I won a Campaign Silver about four years ago, directing for Sony Walkman, while still with the agency,’ he says. ‘This is the first time I’ll be there solely as a director.’

The former agency writer and art director has mixed emotions about award ceremonies.

‘I think awards are incredibly overrated,’ Diplock states. ‘That doesn’t mean that it is not nice to win them, but I think we all worry way too much about awards.’

Of the Saint John psas, which show people sustaining outlandish injuries, Diplock remembers the shoot fondly, recalling the quantitative challenges it brought him.

‘It was really early in my directing career,’ Diplock says. ‘We were at the preproduction meeting and the agency producer said, ‘So Randy, have you ever shot eight spots in two days before?’ I said, ‘I’ve never shot eight spots.’ The agency had a good laugh over it, but the client wasn’t too sure.’

Working on the psas, Diplock says he was encouraged somewhat by the number of people willing to work for free on the spots.

‘It’s always great to see how many people donate their services and how willing so many people are to do that sort of thing and give back to the community,’ he says. ‘Everything was donated on that. It was really nice.’ Apple Box and Diplock also recently shot another psa for Parent Help Line.

The busy Diplock says he hopes to attend the Bessies on May 10, but this is subject to his shooting schedule.

‘It’s always a good time,’ Diplock admits. ‘Out of all the award shows, I think it is the most fun.’

Meantime, the creative for the three Saint John spots – ‘Meat Cutter,’ ‘BBQ’ and ‘Tablesaw’ – featured in the finalist campaign is the product of former Palmer Jarvis ddb creative director Chris Staples, with art director Ian Grais and copywriter Alan Russell. Staples, now the head of his own agency, Rethink, is credited with the creative direction on four Bessies finalists, as well as the campaign. Three of those spots were with Apple Box (two of which were part of the Saint John campaign), with the third being the Telus ‘Small Business’ ad, directed by Apple Box’s Craig Worsham. The fourth spot Staples helped conceive was ‘Turbulence’ for Playland, produced by Sezwho Productions and directed by Vancouver-based Gavin Wilding.

Despite Staples’ and Grais’ much-publicized departure from Palmer Jarvis last year to build Rethink, those at Apple Box say the relationship with both the Vancouver and Toronto offices of Palmer Jarvis continues to thrive.