Maths, Storytelling, and Canada’s Place in the Global Market

While you’ve probably already seen the big winners of the Canadian Effie Awards here, prizes weren’t all the day had on offer. 

The second discussion of the day, which was led by TBWA Group Canada’s chief creative officer, Adam Reeves, as well as the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s Laurence Green (director of effectiveness) was equally fascinating, although far much more Effies-centric than its economically-focused counterpart.

Especially interesting due to the fact that both panellists were coming in with an international view of Canadian creativity (Adam only arrived in Canada this past January after many years in the US, and Laurence is UK-based), each applauded the country’s year of success.

As Laurence put it, “I see that you’re winning in effectiveness, even if there is more to do, and everyone noticed what you did at Cannes this year.” 

But, seeing as discussing “more to do” is probably more productive than 45-minutes of self-congratulation, this specific element would be the main focus of the session. 

Amongst the pair’s criticisms were that arguably, too much of the work involved not-for-profits (although this certainly didn’t stop McCann and Kids Help Phone), and that the abundance of one-off activations was perhaps not ideal.

For Adam, who had been in the jury room as a co-chair, a recurring discussion point for the jurors had been this lack of long-term work. “This kind of brand-work is the bread and butter of our industry,” he explained. “Where was the brand’s health a year ago? Two years ago? That would have helped some of the cases.”

Laurence agreed, affirming that the UK market is all about long-term effects and outcomes. “We got the jump on you guys by inventing this thing called ‘account planning’ in the late ‘60s, and were taught that the highest form of advertising is brand building,” he admitted. “However, there’s this love of new-fangled things that lead to a lot of quick turnaround briefs and activations. I do think that as an industry, we’ve lost sight of the real prize, which, again, is brand building.”

However, neither ruled out the possibility of short-term campaigns leading to something greater down the line, which, in their opinion, is a big part of what separated the Golds from the rest of the pack. 

“How can short term actions lead to long-term building? If you have a North star and know what you’re about, you can build in many ways,” Adam claimed. “Great brands are made of great behaviours and moments. It’s incumbent on modern brands today to make modern actions and promotional splashes, but only in services of the bigger vision.”

Another criticism the pair expressed was for the handling of some of the case studies. “Stuff wasn’t packaged properly”, the chief creative officer mused. “Sometimes as creatives, it’s hard to know what’s special about it, but the Effies is about being able to be removed from the work. The Golds demonstrated they were effective because of the work. They proved the campaign was the cause.”

Offering advice to all the case study builders in the audience, Laurence expanded on this, emphasising the importance of highlighting commercial outcomes, and explaining the way this gets done in the UK. “When we write a case study, we say, ‘we wanted to achieve this, by doing this, by doing this’,” he said. “We’re pathological about it, and that’s the kind of stuff that turns heads in our market, rather than saying ‘we love an idea, we think it works’.”

Adding to this, he also noted that there were only one or two case studies where it actually felt like the story was being brilliantly told. “Storytelling is what we do,” he continued. “In case studies, it is critical that this happens. You can have the best results in the world, but if you can’t tell it well, forget it.”

So, in the spirit of stepping up to the next level, what should Canadian marketers take away? According to Laurence, there are three important things that the country should consider. The first is forgetting about the market, and thinking about the Grand Effie globally. Secondly, maths is something that should be embraced far more than it is. If a brand or agency can prove it won 1% of the Canadian beer market in a couple of months, for example, contextually, that’s good data which should be highlighted. And, once again, there just needs to be more emphasis on persuasion and storytelling. 

“That’s the difference between the two markets,” he declared. “It’s the level of grind and attitude that [Canada] needs to get to. It’s the final rung of the ladder – you’re nearly there, now just push for that extra.”

Even with all that said however, the two couldn’t help but finish with another round of praise for the work. For Adam, this came in the form of encouraging everyone to be a little more American… by celebrating more. “There’s such a reticence to celebrate the work and people, which is lovely, but a little bit of excitement is a good thing,” he commented.

“Really, it’s awesome, global work,” confirmed Laurence. “There’s a prejudice because people just don’t know about Canada, and you need to carve your position out more forcefully, but it’s absolutely plausible in a way where, to my shame, UK agencies are going the opposite direction. You’re the only trade body in the world that has a really persuasive position. ‘Be More Canada’ [The ICA’s motto], for me, means be more creative, keep an eye on effectiveness, and have diversity baked in. That’s a winning platform!”