The PNMD Communications creative duo of copywriter Stephane Charier and VP, creative director, art director Martin Beauvais is big in Quebec. How big? Well, at Christmas they were in direct competition with the Beatles. If the Beatles are bigger than Jesus (thank-you, Mr. Lennon), then what exactly does that make these ad guys?

The competition with John, Paul, George and Ringo was over a CD Beauvais and Charier championed over the holidays last year. As an extension of their ongoing campaign for Quebec’s milk producers, Le Federation des Producteurs de Lait du Quebec, a CD featuring the music used in their popular ads was battling it out with the lads’ greatest hits album for top spot on the Quebec music charts.

‘We’ve never seen that before. The CD recalls all the imagery, the look and feel of the campaign and people listen to it in their cars and homes. It was a popular CD gift at Christmas.’

This is a prime example of the creativity and brand extension dreamt up by the team of seven years.

Beauvais and Charier first met in the early 1990s at Taxi Advertising in Montreal. Their partnership is successful, says Beauvais, because of their mature attitude toward the business and their similar philosophies about advertising.

‘Strictly on an advertising level we are exactly in the same place,’ says Beauvais. ‘Whenever we look at ads in an annual, whether it be from London, the U.S. or France, we always like the same kind of work. There is a connection there in the kind of work we like and like to do, and a connection to the references we have. Whenever we work in a category we know what has been done around the world and what work we have to beat.’

The two see themselves as true students of the ad game and really enjoy working together. That is probably why when Charier left Taxi for Cossette in April 1977 and Beauvais for PNMD later that year they soon realized how tight the bond between them was.

‘You don’t realize you’ve found the right partner until you’re with other partners where you know it doesn’t work,’ says Beauvais. ‘It’s exactly the same as being a couple. In fact, you spend more time with your working partner than your living partner in the advertising business. When Stephane was at Cossette working with other people, we both realized it is much easier to work with each other.’

After a year at Cossette, Charier joined Beauvais at PNMD and the two picked up where they had left off.

‘We have a mutual understanding of what advertising is all about,’ says Beauvais. ‘Advertising is similar to show business and there is always a bit of psychology when dealing with clients. We always say to ourselves that the point is to win the war. Sometimes you have to lose battles, but in the end you have to win the war and make sure there is great work out there and that we sell [our clients’] goods or services.’

Beauvais says their philosophy is to keep the work simple and not to worry about impressing anyone but the client.

‘There is a very mature understanding a lot of ad people don’t have,’ says Beauvais. ‘[Many creatives] just want to do ads for their portfolio, whereas we just want to do great work. Bottom line is if it gets into the portfolio that’s a bonus; if it is still great work and it sells, that is the whole point of what we do right there. That’s what the business is about.’

Beauvais says one of the factors in their success is their blind trust in each other. While Beauvais was speaking with On The Spot and taking care of other team business at the office, Charier was on the set of a commercial making sure the shoot was glitch-free.

‘Some teams are so tight together they can’t let the other make a decision individually,’ says Beauvais. ‘I trust him, and he trusts me doing the stuff I have to do here. He’ll report back to me and say these are the decisions we made. If there is something I’m not totally happy about, we can change it, but I trust him to make the best decision. Not a lot of teams can work like this.

‘The fact that our two brains can combine on one issue or problem is a great thing. It means we can take a lot of work and make things go quicker than other teams.

‘With other teams you realize that you always have to be the one that drags the other,’ says Beauvais. ‘Sometimes I drag him and sometimes he drags me out of creative coma.

‘Both of us are good at our trade – I’m an art director and he is a very good copywriter. I can look at his copy and say, ‘You know what? This copy is too long,’ and he can look over my shoulder on my computer and say, ‘This layout is wrong.’ I don’t feel threatened by that and he doesn’t feel threatened. I look forward to him seeing my work the same as he does for me seeing his copy.’

Charier and Beauvais have put together winning spots for Bauer Nike Hockey, Labatt and many others, but the FPLQ’s ongoing milk campaign is the one they’re most proud of.

Beauvais says the campaign has taken on a life of its own and is the most successful he has worked on, ironic since the two had serious doubts about it at its inception. As creatives who believe in simple communication, they worried this campaign was too simple.

‘We thought we had done something very stupid because it was so simple,’ says Beauvais with a laugh. ‘Sometimes you wonder if something is too simple. We’ve basically taken very famous songs from France – nostalgic songs, songs with meaning – and tell a story about milk and how it is an important thing in our lives.’

After four years on the FPLQ account, the two have put together almost adozen ads and a top-selling CD (Beauvais estimates 250,000 copies sold). Today, the spots are ingrained in Quebec popular culture, says Beauvais.

‘It’s similar, in different ways obviously, to [Molson’s] ‘I Am Canadian’ ad,’ he says. ‘Suddenly it wasn’t advertising anymore. It was popular culture and we are really proud of this. People like the campaign and understand what we are trying to say to them. And on top of this, milk sales are slightly up in Quebec.’ *

-www.pnmd.com