Last year at the Cannes Advertising Awards, Canada scored a Gold Lion and five Bronzes. It was a banner year for the biz in our country. This year, Canada left the Cannes awards, held June 20-23, with three Lions. Ammirati Puris took home a Silver for its Vaseline Intensive Care spot ‘Palm Reader’ and a Bronze for its OB Tampons ad ‘Wine Bottle.’ The Toronto chapter of J. Walter Thompson scored the other Canadian Bronze with ‘Golfing’ for Halls throat lozenges.

Canadian creative people cannot accept that only three trophies were checked through Customs this year. And so they shouldn’t. If you go anywhere to compete, you should go there to win.

U.S. agencies took home six Gold Lions this year, with Cliff Freeman & Partners even garnering the Grand Prix, and England won eight Golds. True, creative from both markets, as well as many others, traditionally has been more daring than what Canada has produced, but Rick Kemp, creative director at JWT, has another theory on why the ratio is so slanted.

‘I think, if you compare us to London or the States, we’re not as major a market,’ says Kemp. ‘We get fewer trips to the plate than they do in other countries, so we have to knock it out of the park on a higher percentage.’

Given the size of the market, says Kemp, Canada did not embarrass itself this year in Cannes. Sure, Canada only brought home a trio of trophies, but there were 25 Canadian spots short-listed out of the thousands entered from around the world.

Then what is the problem exactly? Many creative people privately blame their clients for not allowing the really good work to make it to fruition, afraid of making the wrong kind of impact (if there is such a thing). Kemp feels this is a ‘cop out,’ but admits that perhaps some education is in order.

‘One of the best things we could all do as Canadian agencies is bring our best client to Cannes each year and let them experience the show and the advertising that is being awarded and recognized from around the world as being breakthrough, innovative and leading edge.’

Kemp also feels a lot of the best work dies in research and focus testing, but Palmer Jarvis’ wacky Bud campaign made it through, as did Zig’s ‘Cam,’ both of which are fine examples of what Canada can accomplish with the right amount of verve.

Maybe the key to winning at the big shows is education of the client. It may be very costly to fly your favorite marketer to the Riviera, but when was the last time you invited one (or a dozen) to join you for an afternoon of screening the Cannes reel? (Champagne is from France, after all…)

Canadian agencies have about 350 days until their next opportunity to impress at Cannes. Until then, it is important to keep spirits high, because inspiration to create a truly world-class piece of bold and irreverent television advertising can hit at any moment. Please be sure to tell us when that happens.