Ammirati Puris Lintas chairman and creative director Doug Robinson’s name appears more often than any other on the Bessies 2000 finalists list. He is credited as creative director on six of the finalist spots and two finalist campaigns, suggesting that he and the folks at the seven-year-old Toronto office of apl are doing something right.

In 1993 Robinson left Young & Rubicam to help launch the agency. At the time, the firm only had two clients – ups and Compaq. It wasn’t until apl was given an assignment from Labatt Breweries that big things started happening.

‘Within six months we had picked up 80% of the Labatt business, which was unheard of,’ says Robinson. It was then he realized the move to open the apl office in Toronto was quite possibly ‘the best decision I ever made.’

The Labatt account is still with apl. The Labatt Blue ‘Airplane’ spot (with creative by writers Greg Freir and Angus Tucker and art director Stephen Jurisic) is a Bessies finalist this year. Other apl spots to make the final cut include ‘Igor’ for Lipton Sidekicks; ‘Whoopi Cushion’ for Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup (from Tucker and Jurisic); ‘Table Manners’ and ‘Blind Date’ for Vaseline Intensive Care (from writer Lorraine Tao and art director Elspeth Lynn); and ‘Men’s Room’ for Clarica (Tucker and Jurisic) Interestingly, Lipton Sidedishes was renamed Lipton Sidekicks based on the success of the apl campaign.

Although Robinson wasn’t surprised by some of the agency’s spots making it to the finals, he was surprised, he says, by the sheer number of ads on the list marked with the apl brand. He speculates this may be partly because of the agency’s success at other award shows this year.

‘I think awards are very important personally,’ admits Robinson. ‘They certainly help your career. They can take you to another level of employment, they can help your salary, and they can help your profile, but you have to be careful with them. There are a lot of people who argue that award-winning work doesn’t sell products, but I beg to differ.’

Robinson says the agency’s high-quality work can be attributed in part to the competitiveness of the business – not only between agencies, but within the walls of individual agencies.

‘This is one of the most mature and respectful creative departments I’ve ever worked in, but it is highly competitive,’ says Robinson. ‘Every creative team wants to win here, and I want every creative team to win. I think the looking over your shoulder to see who is down the hall doing something better keeps it fresh.’

Creative coach

As creative director, Robinson tries to maintain a very open, casual and co-operative atmosphere, likening himself to a coach (being an avid hockey fan) and a resource for the teams at apl. For example, he doesn’t interfere too much when creative teams suggest the directors they approach to shoot their work. He does, however, have the power of veto.

‘I do challenge a team when it comes in and shows me three director reels and says these are the ones we want to quote,’ admits Robinson. ‘I am very leery that a lot of creative people get lured in by award-winning reels and only want to work with award-winning directors. That is fine, but it does not mean these award-winning directors don’t have horrible commercials somewhere.’

Robinson is also leery of some directors trying to sabotage the concepts of his creative teams, a phenomenon he has been subjected to over the years.

‘I either found out on the shoot with the client there or I found out in the editing room,’ he says. ‘Hopefully, when we walk into the editing room, we are going to be able to look at the [finished spot] and say, ‘Yes, that is the essence of what we were after.’ There may be some subjective changes, but I have walked into an editing room and said, ‘That is not the commercial we just shot,’ and found out this director had a different agenda.’

Several of the directors on the Bessies finalists list, employed by apl to shoot its work, are Canadian. Robinson, being a self-proclaimed ‘true Canuck,’ says he would be happy if all of the agency’s tv work could go to Canadian talent. However, given the state of the global advertising marketplace as we know it today, and the aforementioned competition deeply rooted in the business, any agency that doesn’t cross borders could arguably be seen as behind the times.

‘Subconsciously I think we think about it,’ says Robinson of picking Canadian versus American directors, ‘but consciously, I think we go after the best talent, wherever it is. If it is in Canada, fantastic; it just makes everything that much more convenient.’

Robinson, quickly approaching his fourth year as creative director at apl, says he likes the ‘Where would we be without television?’ theme the Bessies has taken on for this year’s show. He says with the new technologies and new media, this idea is perhaps more relevant than ever.

‘We have a huge responsibility in everything we do because there are millions of people we can reach with our messages,’ says Robinson, who admits it took him a while to master the medium. ‘As far as this agency is concerned, I think we have gotten better with television advertising. I know I have personally. I hope I am a better evaluator and creator of television spots than I was six or seven years ago. I think it took me nine years in this business to do a television spot I was even prepared to show anyone.’

He says the apl spots gradually became more compelling to viewers as they discovered it is better to go for the gut reaction in advertising, as opposed to putting together spots he calls cerebral.

‘When I turn on a tv, I don’t turn it on for commercials,’ says Robinson. ‘I know what people think of commercials. The good ones they like, but by and large they don’t like them. If I work at that deficit, chances are I’ll do something viewers like because I am working from a negative. You respect them, give them something entertaining and something simple. Leave them with one message and move on.’