The job description of chairman & CEO of the DDB Group Canada says that it's a full-time position removed from day-to-day operations.

That may be so, but it doesn't mean that Norm Rigg isn't cognizant of the daily happenings within the multi-company operations. Rigg can wax easily about the creative at Palmer Jarvis DDB in Vancouver, the changing needs in pharmaceutical advertising at Toronto's Anderson Advertising and Publicité Anderson in Montreal, the growing importance of Canada Porter Novelli, the global role of OMD, the necessity of a company like EnterActive/DIVA in today's technological world, the automotive expertise of Griffin Bacal Volny, and of the numerous other companies that are related to DDB Group Canada.

DDB Group Canada (1998 billings $320 million Cdn) is the Canadian arm of DDB Worldwide Inc., the largest agency group in North America and third largest in the world with 1998 billings of $14 billion U.S.. DDB Worldwide is a member of the Omnicom Group Inc., the largest global communications company.

Under parent Omnicom Canada Inc., DDB Group Canada is one of the top five agency communications groups in Canada, and if Rigg has his way - watch out, Cossette! - within five years it will be considered the best communications group in Canada - and likely also the biggest.

"My personal goal in five years is to be sitting here toasting just that," says Rigg.

The DDB Group Canada recently marked the beginning of the DDB Worldwide's 50th anniversary celebrations by announcing the DDB Foundation and contributing $20,000 to the National Advertising Benevolent Society of Canada (NABS), the non-profit organization supporting people with special needs in the advertising industry. Rigg hopes to be more involved with NABS in the future and wants to further develop the NABS DDB Foundation.

The donation reflected a $50 contribution on behalf of each of DDB Group's 400 employees across Canada. Besides those mentioned above, DDB Group includes Toronto-based Imagination Youth Marketing, working partnerships with Rapp Collins Communicaide, Glavin & Associates, Trojan Sports Marketing, and Articulation graphic design, and a working relationship with PALM Publicité Marketing in Montreal, all to meet the complete sphere of client communications needs.

Only Five-Star Companies Need Apply

And it's not stopping there. Acquisitions are very interesting.

"We're strongest in Toronto and the west," says Rigg. "We'd like a greater share of market in Quebec. The Maritimes, too. We want effective geographic coverage. But any companies we deal with must have the same philosophies as DDB and be five-star in the way they manage their clients, their work relationships, and their own people. If they're not five-star, we're not interested."

The shining star of the group is Palmer Jarvis DDB, winner of a Gold Lion in Cannes at the recent International Advertising Festival's film sector for a Finesse shampoo ad, and two Silver Lions in the print and poster category for client Playland and for the agency itself - three of 34 Lions won by DDB Worldwide agencies. (Globally, DDB won most lions for the seventh time in eight years, taking, as well, the Cyber Lion for creativity in Web site design, the Media Lion for best use of mixed media, and the Agency of the Year award - along with one of its commercials for Volkswagen being named best commercial of the century.) Winner of other innumerable national and international awards, the company follows a heritage of creativity begun with the legendary Bill Bernbach, recognized as the leader in advertising history by Advertising Age.

"Palmer Jarvis DDB dominates the creative scene in Canada, based on its intelligent insight," says Rigg. "And it spills into all our agencies. To be part of DDB Group, all our members share the one core philosophy and orientation: 'Better ideas; better relationships; better results.'"

Leading such a formidable group wasn't foreseen by the gregarious Rigg in his youth. A London University Economics graduate, he grew up in the U.K. where he was "adequate" in playing soccer, rugby, cricket and tennis. He has a keen interest in sports, something he and his wife of 25 years, Mary, have passed on to their children: Robert, a hockey player and recent graduate now beginning a career in investment banking, and Jennifer, studying on a basketball scholarship and on the Canadian team at the World University Games. (Rigg has been an active fund-raiser for the Ontario Basketball Association, as well as a Board of Directors member of Toronto East General Hospital and a vice-president of the Big Brothers of Metropolitan Toronto.)

These days, Rigg gets in a little golf, along with other passions of reading and travel, only, he says, because of his "steadfast refusal to do home renovations of any kind."

The Importance of Humour

Rigg isn't particularly noted for his wry humour. However, it creeps into his speech and he knows its role is important both is relationships and creativity.

"It's important to be able to laugh at some of the silly things that happen in our business," he says. "Advertising is not brain surgery. But a sense of humour can help improve a poor relationship with a client or a concern about creative.

"Humour is a trend in creative, and because we're in a global environment, humour tends to be and can be global. So you may see more and more humour. And because we all try to outdo the competitor, humour may become more and more outlandish.

"The way we look at it at DDB globally, is that any communications must create an emotional response but also must be relevant. If used well, humour is a wonderful tool. It can surprise and make impact whether it's to address problems with the aging or whether it's to sell shampoo. The surprise element can make for originality, which makes impact.

"Humour may shorten the life of a commercial. But if the idea is good, the investment can make a positive return. So the cost of a one-off commercial shouldn't control whether the client will approve, or deter creative. You can have one boring commercial and run it for five years and it won't do anything for your business. You're better off to have 10 breakthrough ads.

"Not just in television advertising. With so much media fragmentation, it's vital that a brand be instantly recognizable in any medium, not just in brand name but in feelings that the brand emotes."

Creative Rewards are a Report Card

Rigg says that creativity has evolved into ideas of all kinds in the DDB Group, from the thought process all the way to the finished product.

"We take great pride in our creative awards," he says. "Beyond revenues and profits, awards are the only report card that an agency has. But our clients wouldn't be proud if all we did was win awards. It has to come with marketplace performance as well. The ability to measure the performance is key."

That stands for all agencies and related companies in the DDB Group, he says. Anderson, for example, has a specialty in healthcare advertising but brings the disciplines it needs in that area to handle such consumer products as Weetabix, and vice-versa with using its consumer knowledge to market pharmaceuticals. Successful advertising for clients has brought Anderson major growth (quadrupled since 1988) and various awards within the DDB Worldwide family.

The agency is particularly close to Rigg's heart: He was its president & CEO before he and former partners Ian Turner and Dieter Kaufmann brought Anderson into the DDB fold in 1993 and remained its president until 1996.

Government Ethos

Healthcare marketing continues to hold his interest. If there is anything he'd like to see changed in the Canadian communications industry, it would be the direct-to-consumer regulations regarding pharmaceutical advertising.

"I believe that with the aging population, consumers are crying out for information, but the federal government is preventing the information getting out to Canadian consumers," he says. "Communications flows across the borders. Canadians are getting overflow from the U.S.. They can't help but see it and it leads to confusion.

"Selfishly, I'll admit that we have agencies that would be helped by a change. But beyond that, I see a continuing ethos in Canadian government to play a controlling role rather than let us make our own informed choices. Canadian consumers are quite capable of making intelligent choices. Logic needs to prevail."

The pharmaceutical world has played an ongoing role in Rigg's work history. After beginning his career in Canada with Procter & Gamble, he moved through marketing and sales management positions with Richardson-Vicks and Miles Laboratories. Switching to the agency side with Ted Bates in 1977, he became account director for Colgate-Palmolive.

In 1980, he joined J. Walter Thompson as group account director for all Warner-Lambert divisions, quickly becoming client services director. He subsequently became general manager of JWT Direct Communications Group (retail, direct response, promotions and corporate sponsorship) and grew it to become JWT's second largest operating division before moving to Anderson in 1988.

Business Entrepreurial Style

Anderson, like other DDB Group companies, has kept its own name, despite the fact that all company offices in Toronto, other than GBV, are now even located on three floors in one building.

"The companies are all well-known brand names and independent companies," says Rigg. " If the DDB name was on each, it would be confusing and people would consider them the same. We pride ourselves on being a federation of independents. Each business is run as its management thinks it should be. It helps people to have pride in what they do and engenders competition among them. And, of course, because they're autonomous, they can handle competing clients.

"That's the difference with DDB: there's no pressure as in a centralized company. We want each company to retain their local individual culture and inculcate the core philosophies that we have from the centre."

The running of each company and the relationships within are the responsibility of each president. Rigg's job is to ensure that each is achieving its target and if not, to find out why.

"I act as a sounding board and counsel, but my advice is not always taken," he says. "My position gives them someone to talk to, but they are all tremendous leaders and managers in their own right. My job is to get the tools and resources they need to be the most creative and best communications group in Canada. We're not there yet. My job is to find the pieces of the jigsaw that will allow us to get there."

That includes, for example, the time-consuming tasks of building alliances with other firms. Some firms with whom DDB is partner: Glavin, Trojan and Articulation, are ones where there is no equity exchange.

"We look for companies that meet the five-star standard and then see whether to buy into them or partner with them to give us the best," Rigg says. "These companies all have their own clients and we want them to run their business their way.

"The Canadian market is too small to bring them in and say that they can only deal with DDB clients. They need the autonomy. A promotion house has a different approach than an advertising agency. So our goal is to get the best and to partner with them. That's not to say that DDB wouldn't buy into them at some point."

But the system works as is, he says. For instance, Glavin has brought top sales promotion capabilities to the three DDB agencies that were lacking in the past.

DDB Group would like to be stronger in direct and database marketing, so Rigg has his eyes open for further agreements of one kind or another.

"And there's the convergence with interactive," he says. "Trying to keep pace with interactive is a challenge, so that may mean acquisitions."

Experience Helps

The fact that Rigg was involved in selling his own company to DDB helps him in working with others who may be interested in selling.

"There's a real emotional seesaw that you go through when you think of selling something you own," he says. "The fact that I've gone through the process is a big help when companies are talking. With the buyer in New York, I'm not necessarily a buffer, but someone who can be talked to, who understands, who can act as a middleman. It's a big help. I did this with Palmer Jarvis.

"On the other side, I can show what DDB represents to the seller. I have a level of credibility that helps, and can share the vision. There's always curiosity on both sides."

It helped in making the partnership agreements with Glavin, Trojan and Articulation. Rigg thinks the fact that he can sit with people with different interests, whether in a acquisition situation or in a communications milieu, and get them to work together in a positive spirit "without being horribly serious" is one of his strengths. Another is his ability to analyze a situation and come up with a solution.

"I like to believe that I'm honest, straightforward and don't dissemble," he says. "I like to call a spade a spade. People respect where I'm coming from, and if they think a decision is wrong, I respect if they tell me and say what they'll do instead."

On the other hand, impatience is his "biggest improvement opportunity," he says.

"When you're running an operation directly, you have to have the courage of your convictions and move ahead. I try to make people form their own opinions and course of action, but when things don't move quickly, I get impatient."

His experience of working with a smaller agency has taught him the needs of encouraging and assisting the companies in developing and training people.

"The better our people are, the better we compete," he says. "It also helps in the encouragement of the companies to work together with the different communications disciplines for their clients, and in the encouragement of the companies to develop goals which stretch their abilities without being overpowering."

Year 2000 and Beyond

With the new Millennium approaching, communications companies have to lead their clients into new situations and development with the Internet, he says.

The entrepreneurial spirit will still be needed, with skills to deal in the local market. Brands will be seen differently in different countries. There may be homogeneity in their look, but the motivators to sell will continue to vary from country to country and in different cultures.

New tools and knowledge will be needed and these change rapidly. There will always be a mass medium to build a cohesive brand and image, he says, but increased dealing with customers on a one-to-one basis will be a fascinating challenge.

"The Internet is still embryonic, but will increasingly be more and more part of media plans."

And as the world shrinks with so many agencies and media houses merging on the global front, clients are going to have to accept that they'll have to work with competition in the same agency.

"As companies merge, there will have to be modifications made in terms of conflict policies," he says. "I don't foresee any slowdown in the concentration of holding companies."

OMD is DDB Group's media house for all DDB companies for its mass media buys, particularly broadcast, although Anderson handles pharmaceutical media itself.

Expect to see more of such large media groups, he says. They're made for leverage, but also help in the development of media tools such as DDB's Aperture, which analyzes target consumers in terms of the best time to reach them, for use in the planning process.

The industry may also see more of joint buys with broadcasting groups such as the first done recently with Turner Broadcasting Sales in the U.S. by McCann-Erickson Worldwide on behalf of a wide group of clients.

It's the constantly changing industry of new ideas that enticed and continues to intrigue Rigg.

"You're always surrounded by young, energetic, creative people," he says. And the industry offers a chance to use his economics and political science studies in terms of the thinking and problem solving, as well as money management. The latter is a big plus, he says, since agencies operate on thin margins.

Industry Training Poor

The actuality of slim resources has contributed, he says, to the ad industry having done "a lousy job" of training as a whole to renew itself, although he credits the Institute of Canadian Advertising for its efforts.

"As a group, though, we have only ourselves to blame. But the more we build bigger groups, the more funds will be available for training. It's the role of the larger agencies who have more resources to make the industry more attractive to graduates. To that end, the DDB Group will be putting more of of its resources towards training in the future, and has already started an implementation plan."

Community colleges seem to be doing a good job in certain specialties, he says, noting Sheridan College for its interactive training and both Humber and Seneca colleges for public relations.

"But I don't see the kind of movement from client to agency that we used to have," he says. "We must have people with marketing and integration skills come into the industry."

Such talent would perhaps assist DDB Group Canada achieve that number one position and allow Rigg his well-earned toast!