Almost famous

So I took a look at our traffic stats, and in the last week this blog has been read in Norway, Thailand, France, the UK, the US, and Poland.

All of which is weird for something that was just supposed to be a way for us to share articles and links around the office.  Maybe we'll have to start actually trying to make sense.

But hey, if you're reading this from somewhere else, welcome.  I hope we were worth the trip.

Comments

[Wizard]

Hi There,

Just wanted to mention that yes it is worth it, some interesting things you point out such as low attention and engagement:). I have always been curious about planning in Canada, wondering whether most of it was done south of the border or not, how big is planning in Canada etc.. ( for global brands.... stuff like that.

[Jason Oke]

Hey Wizard
Glad you found us, thanks for the kind words.

Advertising in Canada is interesting - you're right that for global brands the strategy and sometimes the creative is done elsewhere, and that is something we deal with from time to time. But we still do a lot of original strategy and creative here, for a few reasons.
1) The business conditions are often different here - global brands often have different market share, or life cycles, or usage in Canada than elsewhere, which warrants a different approach.
2) Sometimes for cultural reasons creative done in the US or elsewhere won't work here (e.g. Canadians, like in other countries, tend to not like things that feel too "American").
3) And sometimes it's for legal reasons - Canada has one of the strictest advertising codes in the world so performance or competitive claims made in some US/global ads can't be made here.
4) Globalization has often actually worked in our favour - we manage some of P&G's brands for all of North America out of Toronto, we've done two global campaigns for Samsung, and local creative for Coca-Cola, Kellogg's and Wrigley have been picked up for use in other markets around the world.

Planning in Canada is still fairly small, but most agencies have a handful of planners. Leo Burnett has 5, that's about the most at a Canadian agency.

Hope that answers your questions.