Noisemakers 2000: Not straight, not curved

Oblique Creation and Marketing say Quebec advertising could use some new shapes

"I was working at MusiquePlus for eleven and a half years," says John Bourassa-Dutton, "I'm 33, that's over a third of my life. In this day and age, that's way too long to be stuck in any one place."

So Bourassa-Dutton, who spent his last years at MusiquePlus as the token cute-British-guy in the publicity department, defected to indie-land. He and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Stefany Corey, daughter of former Habs president Ronald Corey, have now set up an ad agency of their own.

"Stef and I met while she was the accounts supervisor for Attractions Canada and I was directing commercials for them on MusiquePlus. So we know we can work together."

Good thing. Right now Corey and Bourassa-Dutton make up the entire staff of their brainchild, Oblique Creation and Marketing, which Bourassa-Dutton says will rely mainly on contracted freelancers to get its jobs done.

"People who specialize in different areas," he says. "We don't want to be a one-vision agency. The way we see Quebec advertising now is that there is straightforward stuff, like 'four out of five doctors recommend...' And then there is the 'curved' stuff, like basically, any Quebec beer ad. We want to get away from both those moulds altogether."

Bourassa-Dutton name-checks the youth-centric and forever tongue-in-cheeky U.K. agency Mother as being the source of some inspiration. "There is a whole world of creative advertising out there--good grief, Quebec's going to have to get up to speed on it sooner or later."l

-- MIREILLE SILCOTT

more news...