The focus of this regular section is on agencies in Canada. Looking for agency business strategies and creative teams’ secret weapons? We tell all in Ad Missions.

Elspeth Lynn and Lorraine Tao, co-creative directors at Toronto’s ZiG Inc., share an office overlooking Richmond and John Streets in downtown Toronto, with the CN Tower looming in the background. They share, in fact, nearly everything in business, proud to put the ‘team’ back into creative team.

One of the hottest creative teams on the Canadian ad scene, Lynn and Tao have been working together for nearly five years, starting at the Toronto chapter of Leo Burnett and moving to Ammirati Puris Lintas in 1998.

At Burnett, they were the creative minds behind numerous award-winning ads, including breakthrough campaigns for Fruit of the Loom (‘Clothesline’) and Kellogg’s Special K. (‘Resolutions,’ etc.) At apl, Tao and Lynn were the creative dynamos behind last year’s Bessie-winning campaign for Vaseline Intensive Care. The trophies landed on apl’s mantel because the two had already moved on to create their new idea factory/ad agency ZiG, with partner Andy Macaulay.

Now 18 months into their new ad venture, Tao and Lynn have ‘no regrets,’ having hit their stride recently with the incredibly popular ‘Cam’ psa for the Breast Cancer Society of Canada and picking up some new accounts along the way, including Sleeman’s and the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Things were admittedly lean at ZiG for the first few months, which included a period very early on when the two were not paid. But the ladies say everything has come together nicely.

‘Especially now we feel like we are on a bit of a roll,’ says Tao. ‘We feel like we are getting a really nice client list that we are really proud of, and there are going to be great opportunities and people to work with.’

‘People wondered if we could do it,’ adds Lynn. ‘They thought ‘the girls’ are used to the agency world and all the support. The first few months were hard, but since then I feel we have more support than we did at the big agencies anyway. This is smaller and more compact, so we get as much help as we need now, whereas in an agency I felt we were a bit more isolated.’

The agency’s size is also a benefit for clients, according to the duo.

‘When you hire a big agency, you never really get the whole agency,’ says Lynn. ‘Maybe you get a few media benefits because they are buying bulk media for the client, but in terms of the people actually working on the business, it is always a small group. You do get the concentrated core of the people at a smaller agency, so it just seems to make a lot of sense.’

The ladies of ZiG agree it is nice to finally be able to pick and choose among potential clients. They say ‘the fit’ and chemistry between client and ZiG is crucial. A good example of this, says Lynn, is their newest client, Sleeman’s.

‘Sleeman is such a good fit because they compare themselves to the David among the Goliaths, says Lynn. ‘We like to think of ZiG as being like that as well.’

They are also reluctant to think of ZiG as a traditional advertising agency. According to Lynn, ZiG is an ‘idea company that happens to do advertising.’

Their ‘Cam’ spot has garnered the small idea house/agency a lot of attention. Directed by u n t i t l e d’s (the former Jolly Roger) John Mastromonaco, the ad – which features a young man anxious to help women test their breasts for lumps – was the subject to a lot of controversy, even before it aired.

The idea was to take a comic approach to self-testing, but according to Tao, many people who had never seen the ad took the concept a little too seriously, thanks to an article that appeared in a Toronto daily newspaper.

‘I think now that it has aired, the reaction has been nothing but positive,’ says Tao. ‘It took a very controversial angle. Unfortunately, a lot of people who read the article but hadn’t seen the spot took offense to the idea without actually seeing it. You can’t not see the spot. We admit [the concept] seems a bit ‘iffy.’ You have to get the entire context and see the performance to really understand the spot. Now that everybody has seen it, the reaction has been very positive.’

In fact, ‘Cam’ and his buddies manning the phones have proven so popular, the spots will begin airing in the u.k. in the near future, and there has been interest from the u.s., Spain and France.

Tao and Lynn say they are quite satisfied with the Canadian directorial talent pool they have to draw from. However, they feel all too often directors are stymied by lackluster creative. They have vowed to keep their work interesting and risky, despite the short-lived hullabaloo over ‘Cam.’

‘We don’t believe in doing wallpaper spots,’ says Lynn. ‘Why do a spot that is so politically correct, tiptoes around an issue and doesn’t change anyone’s thinking? Some spots are better than others, but we really try to get an honesty with the spots we have. I think there are very few great ideas that come out of this country and that we have to take more risks and not be afraid to shake things up a bit.’

With a few big-name clients to bounce ideas off and 18 months’ experience, Tao and Lynn are relieved to be safely over the speed bumps that come with getting started.

‘I guess when you start a business you always think it is a big risk and a big deal, but once you’ve done it for a few months you realize it isn’t as difficult as you thought it would be, as long as you have the right foundation and the right partners,’ says Lynn.

‘We are doing some work we are really proud of. We are getting paid now as well, so it’s an amazing feeling. The sails are up, we’re out in the middle of the ocean and we’re riding the waves.’ *

-www.zig.ca