If it weren’t for those golden little moments where nothing seems to make sense, nothing could save advertising awards shows from their own drabness. Recently, one fine-spun golden moment rescued the 2000 London International Advertising Awards when Toronto’s Toothin Theatre managed to take the top prize in the low-budget category.

That’s right, a theatre company. Not to limit Mr. Park Bench and Ms. Alex Appel, partners in the Toothin Theatre company, as they do film work as well, but their winning spot, a 30-second psa for mental health awareness, was their first and only commercial to date.

psas often bask at award shows as it is, but the win for Bench and Appel is still quite an achievement. It wasn’t an agency/production house combo involving dozens of people, but rather two people who essentially generated Toothin’s spot. It’s double the achievement given Toothin’s competitors are a virtual who’s who among international ad agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett, J. Walter Thompson, bbdo and more.

The agencies represent the people who do this for a living, while the principals in Toothin Theatre have very minor aspirations about a career in advertising. In fact, on Mr. Bench’s website, he jokes that he usually only accepts roles in commercials to help finance his theatre initiatives.

Did Toothin’s competitors suffer to see Bench up on the stage accepting an award they all take so very seriously and crave so very much? Or did they learn a thing or two about the power of a good idea? How were Bench and Appel able to come up with an idea, execute it and then fly home with a big trophy representing their ability to make a better low-budget commercial than these huge ad firms?

Is it really that easy to make an award-winning commercial and not be a fluke? Of course not, but it doesn’t hurt to have a psa to work on if you are looking to score a trophy. There is little doubt as we approach award season that ‘Cam’ from ZiG and untitled will be a leading contender at the Bessies and elsewhere. psas can give creatives the gift of freedom, the chance to let loose. Client demands are a little less stringent given that many public service spots are pro bono. Plus, they can grab your heart or make you see a cause in a different way.

But we must return once more to the power of a strong idea, executed well. The budget for Toothin’s mental health awareness spot was small. Small budgets sometimes mean little focus testing, so writers and art directors can hold fast to their original idea, Heaven forbid. Many creatives, of course, feel the quest to sell imaginatively is hopeless in the face of second-guessing clients who need to fiddle with ideas ad nauseum.

And there is nothing you can really do about it, unless you quit your agency and join a spot-making theatre company. Or else just tell them, ‘This creative and persuasive moment is brought to you by the letter ‘I’.’ That’s ‘I’ for Idea.