Since graduating from Mohawk’s Advertising Diploma program in 1992, this captain of the advertising industry has been garnering media attention with a creative slapshot that delivers goal after goal, amidst the cheers of industry watchers, mass media and the general public. 

But how does one describe this current darling of the Canadian advertising industry and all-around good guy? To say he is a hockey fan is like calling Wayne Gretsky a fine player. Factually correct, maybe – but entirely missing the passion it takes to turn Canada’s favourite pastime into a philosophy for living 

“Once I do something, I’ve got to really do it,” says Keith, the award-winning Account Director for DDB Canada in Vancouver. “What I love about advertising is that it’s played like a hockey game. We all have our own things to do and positions to play, but ultimately, we work as a team.” 

Over and over again, Keith has led his creative lineup to the top of its field. In 2003 alone, Palmer Jarvis DDB received a flood of industry recognition: a Silver Lion at the Cannes Advertising Awards, four Gold Canadian Marketing Awards, the prestigious “Best of the Best” Canadian Marketing Award for campaign effectiveness, among others -- and that was just for their Hockey Canada campaign. 

Why all the attention? Keith’s focus on humour and simplicity really pounds out a message. The Hockey Canada commercials were part of an agency-led public service movement to spotlight poor behaviour among the parents of young athletes. They featured children taunting and lecturing their parents in the grocery store, on the golf course – even in the bathroom – and ended with the tagline “What if our kids pressured us the way we pressure them? Relax, it’s just a game.” The popular spots hit home with parents everywhere, drawing nationwide attention and sparking water-cooler debates around the country. Launched on a shoestring, the campaign generated over $4.6 million of North American press time almost instantaneously. 

Not one to rest on his laurels, Keith led his team in the development of a second award-winning campaign in 2003, with the launch of the “bait car” program by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) and the Vancouver Police Department. The radical program, designed to deter thieves with rigged, unmarked cars that trapped them upon entry, was met by a 27 per cent decline in auto theft in the greater Vancouver area. To get a feel for their audience, Keith’s creative team dressed down and spent a day on the mean streets of Vancouver’s most notorious neighbourhood. The message they came up with, aimed at criminals themselves, used such innovative tools as police radio sound effects and washable graffiti to reach its audience where they were. It offered a simple and straightforward statement: “Steal a Bait Car. Go to Jail.” 

“The program itself is just so interesting,” says Keith, “and we’ve done good advertising around it, so it’s fun to work with.” But what, according to Keith, separates good advertising from the merely mediocre? 

“We try to be really insightful and simple. People receive some 3,000 commercial messages a day; 2,996 of them are forgotten. You stand out by being visual, different and smart. We use irreverent, relevant humour and keep our insights clean. The ‘relax, it’s just a game’ line was one example. It has become synonymous with the (parental behaviour) issue and pops up in the weirdest places. Even Don Cherry has put it down because he thinks it makes hockey parents look bad, but eventually, everyone needs a reality check.” 

But reality is still sinking in for this Tillbury, Ontario, native whose media savvy grows each time CTV or Global Television comes calling for an interview. And though the small-town ice rink is a long way from Keith’s Vancouver beach home, he can still be found warding off morning chills with a steaming cuppa Joe. He’s as much a fan of the Good Old Hockey Game as ever, but doesn’t get much of a chance to lace up his skates anymore. These days, Keith’s 10-hour workdays are broken up with scuba-diving and snowboarding jaunts. 

“If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, then you’re doing the wrong thing. I absolutely love this business, and the day I don’t is the day I leave.” 

Though he’s an admitted west-coast sushi fan, the fuel that keeps Scot Keith’s creative juices flowing is his passion for the field of advertising. After catching the ad bug while still in his teens, Keith immersed himself in his studies at Mohawk’s Fennell Campus, launching his career in media buying and planning with McCann Erikson. Career-building moves to DDB Canada (Toronto) and Bryant, Fulton & Shee (Vancouver) followed, before a switch into account services eventually returned Keith to PJ DDB in 2002. As Keith quips with a laugh, “I was an overnight success, twelve years in the making.” 

As for the future? With his nuptials just a few weeks away, Keith is planning to wed his sweetheart – also an advertising executive. He’d also like to continue his career in some of the other 205 DDB offices around the globe. 

“The people are really passionate here -- it’s one of the best agencies in the world. To make good ads, your heart’s got to be in it, and if you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, then you’re doing the wrong thing. I absolutely love this business, and the day I don’t is the day I leave.” 

Score another one for advertising brilliance. And the crowd goes wild.  

By Kate Schooley 

This story was originally published in Spring 2004 in the Mohawk Alumni In Touch magazine.