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Chester Goluch, senior VP, chief creative officer of Halifax’s Corporate Communications Limited, seemed more destined for a career in academia than advertising.

Goluch entered the ad world with a degree in Canadian history from Ottawa’s Carleton University and a Masters in Canadian and British Imperial History from Halifax’s Dalhousie University.

He found his calling through a friend already established in the Toronto ad biz in the ’70s.

‘He and I used to write letters to each other,’ recalls Goluch. ‘He thought my letters were really amusing so he suggested a career in advertising. He said it would be perfect because you don’t do very much and you get paid quite a bit. So I thought, who can argue with that?’

Goluch put together a book of spec ads and shopped it around Toronto. Three job offers later, he took up with Ogilvy & Mather as a copywriter, followed by stints at Leo Burnett and MacLaren McCann. In the late ’80s, he joined Halifax agency McArthur Thompson and Law, where he spent five years as creative director before moving over to CCL, also as creative director. He assumed his present post last October.

Goluch and his team are responsible for the advertising initiatives of Alexander Keith’s, Sobeys, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, Nova Scotia Community College (which he says is a surprisingly aggressive client), Blue Cross and Nova Scotia Tourism, ‘an absolutely fabulous piece of business,’ which recently moved its business back to CCL. Goluch says the agency’s pro bono account, The United Way, affords some opportunities for his younger creative teams.

‘We just finished a print campaign that targets young parents to spend quality time with their children and not just put them in front of a TV set,’ he says. ‘You’ll often find that on those pieces of business you’ll entrust and empower someone that may be a little more junior, but at least it gives them a chance to show their stuff.’

He is puzzled why so many young people looking to make their mark in advertising circle Toronto when opportunities exist across the country.

‘There is a tremendous amount of opportunity [in markets other than Toronto] to make your mark and where you will be given a tremendous amount of responsibility,’ says Goluch. ‘Elsewhere, you’ll be able to build up a reel and work with clients who are often even more appreciative of people, personalities and really good ideas.’

Goluch doesn’t buy into the idea Toronto is the only place a creative person can properly demonstrate creativity.

‘If anything,’ he says, ‘they are going to be in the vanguard [working in markets outside of Toronto].

‘Agencies here [in Halifax] are just starting to realize how much more freedom they have to do their own thing and to take advantage of really fresh and innovative thinking instead of just following whatever it is you see on television.’

Goluch says the Halifax market is extremely competitive, pointing to Bristol Communications, Cossette and his former agency, MTL, as worthy foes. He is also seeing an increase in start-up agencies on the East Coast, many of which are run by people outside Atlantic Canada who are on the fringes of the business, such as design shops, that believe they have a keen advertising sensibility.

‘It is very aggressive here,’ he says.

He says the only major pitfall for agencies in the Maritimes is the small supplier base.

‘It is very difficult to have the same breadth and depth of suppliers,’ says Goluch, ‘whether it is illustrators and photographers on the print side, directors and cinematographers, or just the resources to do a great commercial shoot.’

He says it is particularly difficult to find a top-notch crew when a feature film is shooting in the region. This has been the case lately, as Halifax played host this spring to two major U.S. productions, (The Shipping News, starring Kevin Spacey, and K:19, starring Harrison Ford), as well as three television movies.

‘What happened was all the great crews got snapped up and we had to scramble,’ says Goluch. ‘We just finished doing a shoot for one of our clients and we managed to fill in some of the key assignments on it because The Shipping News had closed down the day before. In fact, we timed our production to the shut down of The Shipping News.’

He says because The Shipping News crew had such a long haul on the film, some opted to take time out. Others, however, crewed the spot as a sort of favor to the agency, which regularly provides them with work.

‘That’s how deep you have to go in this region,’ says Goluch. ‘You have to establish ongoing relationships with your personnel to get favors like that. But it all comes down to the depth of your suppliers.’ *

-www.cclgroup.ca