How do you break the stereotypes and convince people that the East Coast can compete with the best? Proving yourself is a start

I was in Toronto with a room full of marketing people from all over the country. Like me, they had just spent the afternoon eating, drinking, and watching the best television ads of that year, as chosen by a panel of a dozen or so judges. It was the Bessie’s (advertising awards for TV commercials) and my agency, Extreme Group, had just won six gold awards and the “Best in Show” for an anti-smoking campaign that was gaining some serious momentum on the awards circuit.

So there I was, standing alone against the wall, trophy in hand when it happened. Someone walked over and said to me, “So, have you ever worked in Toronto?” “No,” I replied. “Well you will,” he said. Excuse me? Why did this guy—one of the creative judges for the show—feel that to be successful in the advertising world you had to work in Toronto? And why did he think that when you become successful, that’s where you inevitably end up? As it turns out, he’s not the only one who feels that way.

That conversation happened about five years ago but I still have the same one on a fairly regular basis. Just a few weeks ago I had the same chat while working with an editor in Toronto. After telling him where I lived and how much I paid to live there, he was amazed. He began to understand why someone like me would choose to stay and work in a place like Halifax—especially in an industry that seems to be most successful in larger cities, such as Toronto.

Since that original conversation, Extreme Group has opened an office in Toronto. We didn’t do it to be successful, but because we wanted to grow—something any business can appreciate. Now I spend a lot of time working in both markets and have the advantage of perspective.

Speaking purely from the perspective of the advertising industry, it seems that not many folks outside the region know what Atlantic Canada has going for it. To be honest, not many people here do either. Students graduating from university or college start planning their careers and thinking about where they’ll move in pursuit of the perfect opportunity.

One of our biggest challenges in maintaining a successful agency is attracting great talent. We look inside the region on an ongoing basis, but don’t limit ourselves to that ideal. We have staff from Australia, South Africa, and all over Canada. But in trying to recruit, one thing has become clear: attracting people to the agency isn’t tough, but convincing them to live in Halifax certainly is. More and more we find ourselves selling the attributes of living here and the idea that we have a healthy, competitive, and rewarding industry.

In the past, I’ve hired junior creative folks who have come from the Toronto market. “More opportunity” is the reason they’ll come out. The thinking is there are fewer people hunting for the same jobs and in some ways it seems easier for them to break into the business. A few years go by and they decide to leave. They go back to Toronto so they can work on “larger clients.” The ones with bigger budgets and more cachet attached to their names. Interestingly enough, those creative folks have yet to find full-time gigs working with any of those “larger clients.”

There are a lot of reasons why doing business in Atlantic Canada can be wildly successful and a lot of challenges in making that common knowledge. There’s a perception attached to this market that not only makes it tough to attract talent but it’s getting hard to keep the talent we’ve got. And it makes me wonder: Is working in Atlantic Canada even a consideration for these students? Are we missing out on talented entrepreneurs who could help this region prosper?

We need to stop limiting ourselves to what can be done within, and only in, this region. It’s an old way of thinking and times have changed. We can support our region by creating and attracting successful business. It doesn’t matter where we are, it only matters what we do, how we do it, and how good we are at getting it done.

Some time ago I had someone tell me they wanted to be the best marketer in Atlantic Canada. I asked why they limited themselves to the region. We have the tools to thrive in this lifestyle-rich environment but in some ways need the attitude to match it. We need to raise the profile of our industry here and highlight the advantages of our culture. We’re good, smart people who can take on the best in the country and the world. But it sometimes takes working outside the region to really highlight this fact.

We have a way about us that people love. We’re “people people” as I’ve been told, and I’ll take it. And that judge at the Bessie’s? Turns out he was right. I did eventually work in Toronto. But do you think he would have imagined I’d complete the statement by saying I work out of our “head office” in Halifax?

I know, it sounds pretty cool to me too.

Shawn King is a partner, vice-president, and creative director of Extreme Group in Halifax.