When Shaw Communications went in search of a new agency last spring, the ‘smart, funny’ creative and ‘button-down’ sensibilities of Bryant Fulton & Shee cocreative directors Lisa Francilia and Dan Scherk brought the cableco to a screeching halt.

‘As a creative team they are one of the more button-down teams that I’ve ever met and had the pleasure of working with,’ says Shaw VP of marketing Deb Avis. ‘What I mean by that is they are tons of good fun and extremely creative people, but they also understand it is about business. It’s not all about creating ads. It’s about creating good ads and messaging strategy that can help to grow a business. Both of them are wise that way and that was something that impressed us.

‘Their ads are smart,’ says Avis. ‘I guess that is the quickest and easiest way to say it. Their commercials are funny, but their message always comes across quite clearly. They have a totally warped sense of humor [in their work] that a mass consumer can relate to.’

Scherk and Francilia are also very quick reads, says Avis. ‘They get it fast, from a business perspective,’ she says. ‘It will be a year in May since they’ve had our account and some could say that the tech sector is a high G-force learning curve. But for all the products that we launch or have to talk to our customers about, like high-speed Internet, digital cable and all the various cable products and the company itself, they get it. They’ve absorbed the information and have been able to turn it into some pretty cool creative in a short period of time.

‘We tax them as well, but they’re up for it, and I guess that is the part about them we respect.’

Avis also likes the up-front quality shared by Scherk and Francilia, who are never afraid to speak their minds. She says it is ‘refreshing’ to see two creative-minded business people who are able to cut through the clutter so effectively.

‘They call a spade a spade,’ she says. ‘In the pace that we all do business nowadays, you really appreciate that.’

Avis says, though, what is perhaps most interesting about the two is observing them as a team.

‘They almost finish each other’s thoughts sometimes. You can tell they are very close and that they’ve worked together for years.’ *

-www.bfs.ca

-www.shaw.ca