Jolly Roger’s roster of six Canadian directors has several finalists at this year’s Bessie Awards. A campaign for Nike, directed by Curtis Wehrfritz, as well as an individual spot from that campaign, ‘Perfect,’ have made the shortlist for the coveted awards. Also, the accolades keep piling up for director John Mastromonaco, who has been nominated for his campaign for Vaseline Intensive Care and for two individual spots from the same campaign.

James Davis, Jolly Roger chief, is proud of his directors. According to him, it didn’t take long to figure out these spots were winners.

‘When we were doing them,’ Davis begins, ‘we knew they were good. And when we saw the scripts, we knew they were good.’

Despite all that goodness, Davis explains that ‘with award shows, you can never really judge how well you’re going to do. They can do well at one show and then poorly at another. So it’s good to see the recognition [at the Bessies]. A lot of work went into both campaigns and it’s nice to see the payoff.’

The Nike campaign features three spots: ‘Perfect,’ ‘We Can’t Hear You’ and ‘Courage.’ ‘Perfect’ depicts several diverse athletes in action as one female speaks about some of the notions of ‘perfect’ beauty that are entrenched in our society. It finishes with her saying, ‘The perfect ass is anyone who believes all that crap.’

‘We Can’t Hear You’ involves female hockey players as several voice-overs express doubt about women in hockey. It closes with the female player saying, ‘You know the great thing about wearing a helmet? We can’t hear you.’

The last spot in the campaign, ‘Courage,’ involves Canadian Olympic hero Silken Laumann. Over quiet music, she reflects on those who have given her courage in life. It ends with a child, who gave her the courage to quit competitive rowing.

All the spots conclude with the ‘Just Do It’ tagline.

Wehrfritz credits the Cossette Communication-Marketing creative team of writer Chris Dacyshyn and art director Lily Cocetta with ‘a really smart idea.’

‘I think Chris and Lily are really sensitive about what they are writing about. And then it was just making sure things didn’t upset that,’ Wehrfritz explains.

Besides protecting the strong creative, Wehrfritz also added some of his own magic to the production.

‘A key part was getting the right casting,’ Wehrfritz explains. ‘There’s a lot of real athletes in there. One of the contentions I had with it [the original creative] was, it would be great to open it up from just one person. There would be more breadth brought to the spot if it was widened out, in terms of age and diversity. A wider tribe of people.’

Wehrfritz, who has been nominated before, explains what the Bessies mean to him: ‘I think peer recognition is always flattering and interesting. I think it shouldn’t be dismissed and it shouldn’t be given too much importance in either how great your work is or how great your career is. Given the right balance, it’s a great deal.’

Currently, Wehrfritz is back in Toronto (after a time in Montreal completing responsibilities on his feature Four Days) and doing commercials again.

The other nominated Jolly Roger campaign, John Mastromonaco’s spots for Vaseline Intensive Care through Ammirati Puris Lintas, also received individual nominations for two spots from that campaign, ‘Blind Date’ and ‘Table Manners’.

‘Blind Date’ follows a blind man on the subway with his guide dog. The man, strangely, begins caressing the arm of the woman next to him. She takes his hand and gives him a good feel of her diamond wedding ring.

‘Table Manners’ involves a waiter in an Italian restaurant caressing the leg of a female patron.

Both spots are shot in black and white and end with a product shot and the tag line: ‘How beautiful feels.’

Mastromonaco was in Prague at press time, and could not be reached for comment. Davis, however, feels the nomination is great for his director’s career.

‘I think the nomination has already helped John,’ Davis says. ‘Just for some of the other award shows it’s won [at]. Hopefully, it’s something [agencies] see and they [will] love how we treated the performance or the story. It’s something that, in the past, they may not have considered him for. And the same way with Curtis. Hopefully, it will help.’