This week’s Rant is actually an anti-Rant. More of an homage really. And why? Because I just recently launched my own website and it dawned on me how fortunate I’ve been over my career to work with so many incredibly talented people. So, please bear with me as I take a trip down memory lane.
From my junior years, I must thank Tom Goudie and Clark Smith. I remember going to see Tom in the early 90s with my book. Apparently, Tom saw a spark of something and he gave me assignments to work on which I did diligently. Clark did my layouts for free – now keep in mind this was when typography was not done on computers but by hand. And he/they helped me get campaigns in my book that I could’ve never done by myself. So, thank you.
At V&B, Mark Dwyer taught me the art of radio writing and tried to give me every opportunity to apply what I was learning. Thanks Mark.
Then Ambrose Carr Linton Kelly, a truly independent creative agency. I learned so much from Doug Linton as a writer but I also had the good fortune of working with Gary Carr as a partner. And I have to pause to relay one story here. Gary and I were casting for a couple to do the tango via tapes from Miami. We were sitting through hours of footage until Gary hit the pause button. “Did you see that?” he said. “No”, I replied. He rewound the tape then played it in slow motion. “That!” he said. And upon closer inspection, I saw what he saw: the woman auditioning for the role wasn’t wearing panties under her skirt. “In all my years,” said Gary. “I’ve never seen bush on a casting tape.” Funny, but true. And it taught me about looking for the details on a macro level that has stuck with me.
Next up, Publicis where I met who would be my partner for the next 11 years, Chad Borlase (more on that later). But I also had the pleasure of working for Duncan Bruce. Duncan taught me a couple of key things: be kind to your staff and hang in there with them. Many nights when we were working on a pitch, Duncan would be there until 2 or 3 in the morning with the rest of the creative department. Whether he was physically working on the pitch or not – it didn’t matter. He stuck around. And when it was all said and done, Duncan was the first guy to say, “Go out this weekend with your wife and bring me the bill.” He understood that the tireless effort you put in was felt by your entire family.
Then, it was onto Maclaren McCann and things changed radically. Because for the first time, I was acting as a Creative Director. Dave Kelso and Marta Cutler gave Chad and I as much rope as we wanted to take and, in theory, let us run our own little agency within an agency on Rogers. And I thank them for that freedom and faith. At MM, I had the great fortune of working with incredibly talented creative teams like Pete Breton and Dave Douglass (now exec CDs at Cossette) and Richard Boehnke and Jason Kinsella, amongst other teams too. It wasn’t easy learning how to let go of creative control (and I’m sure I made a few mistakes), but I discovered that my job was more about creating opportunities for teams to shine than doing it myself. Great work was done. Big awards were won. And it was huge stepping stone in my career.
And then came Bos. At the time, they were the top of the pops in Montreal but literally unknown outside of Quebec. There were 5 people in the office when Chad and I were appointed as co-CDs. It was sink or swim. Within 6 months, we’d created the Bloody Zit campaign for Mac’s that garnered a ton of attention and controversy. And we were on our way. In 5 years, we helped grow the agency in Toronto from 5 people to 40. And we had the pleasure of working with some really smart young teams, namely Ibraheem Youssef/Fred Nduna and Joanna Barrs/Jen Saunders.
Six years later, as I decided to put together a personal website, I had to look back upon my body of work and it was really hard to crystallize it all. One thing became abundantly clear though. The quality of the work I’d been involved with since 1990 had been significantly ramped up since I partnered with Chad in 1989. And for that, I will be forever grateful to him.
So, in closing, I’d like to invite you all to visit itsgarywatson.com and witness for yourself the work that has driven me, shaped me and given me purpose to continue in this industry.
If your name wasn’t mentioned, I apologize. But know that your work was appreciated.
And that’s my anti-rant for Friday, February 4, 2011.
Thank you :)
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