Creative. outstanding. money well spent. These are not qualities Noel O’Dea ascribes to advertising campaigns conducted by most financial services firms.

The head of Target Marketing & Communications Inc. of St. John’s speaks with the authority earned by making his Newfoundland-based company a leader in Canada’s advertising industry over the past 25 years. It’s a career studded with awards and a business that boasts numerous national and international clients, among them: Air Canada, Molson Cos., Unilever, McCain Foods Ltd., CHC Helicopter Corp., Irving Oil Ltd. and Rogers Communications Inc. In February, Target was a winner of several prizes at the annual Crystal Awards, a gala event that recognizes Canada’s best in radio advertising.

O’Dea hasn’t let geography or size get in the way of success. Indeed, Target’s achievements are notable, in part because of its small size — only 45 employees — and its isolation from the mainstream.

“Newfoundland is a huge source of inspiration, and it is a good place from which to have a different set of eyes to look at problems,” O’Dea says. “The ideas that are inspired here in Newfoundland come about because of our location and culture.
These ideas stand out in an ocean of sameness in advertising.”

There was a time the company was slightly larger, but O’Dea discovered that bigger is not always better in his business, the business of ideas and creativity.

“When we grew larger, the agency’s informal organization ended up becoming a number of different organizations,” he says. “We lost
some of the magic that was there.”

To re-establish the non-hierarchical structure of the company, he reduced the firm’s roster of employees. By keeping Target relatively small, people are able to operate in an informal, collegial atmosphere that encourages the creativity necessary for success, O’Dea says. “The culture of the firm is very important because our work is based upon collaboration. If we don’t have a warm, shared culture, then we become just individuals working on our own rather than a working team.

“Our company is a meritocracy. We’re not big on titles and position — so we get teamwork and collaboration,” he says.

Target has consistently ranked among the top advertising firms in Canada, despite being located in the nation’s second smallest province. But its modest suite of offices in a nondescript building along the St. John’s harbourfront are deceptive. Inside, the firm boasts the latest advances in computer and communications technology.

Investments in telecommunications have always been a high priority, due to Target’s geographical position and its dependence upon out-of-province clientele. Almost 95%
of the firm’s work is derived from
international customers and clients in other provinces. In addition, the majority of advertisements — television, radio, billboards and magazines — are produced off-island.

“For 10 years or more, we’ve been shipping huge graphic files electronically to Kentucky — for making billboards — and to Britain and Norway,” O’Dea says. “The world is becoming so much smaller due to laser networks, fibre optic pipelines and the Web.
We can be anywhere in the world.”

Being in Newfoundland may actually provide Target with a competitive edge over its rivals, which are typically located in large cities such as Toronto, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Although advertising is a business that thrives upon creative energy, O’Dea believes many big-city firms lack this critical component. Most advertising companies merely borrow ideas from one another, he says, and seem unable to develop truly new concepts. This “culture of sameness” is partially a result of the generic nature of North American business culture and also of the superficial environment prevalent in most large cities.

Being in Newfoundland and isolated from the mainstream is an advantage for Target because its culture differs from the rest of North America. “One critical truth about this business is that it is based upon ideas, and ideas are not connected to geography,” O’Dea says. “A good idea can as easily come from a mud hut in the Kalahari as from a cubicle in the 55th floor of some office tower in New York or Chicago.”

O’Dea believes providers of financial services would benefit from questioning why much of their advertising looks and sounds the same. They should certainly demand a far greater level of creativity from firms that are paid handsomely to conduct what turn out to be mediocre advertising campaigns, he says.