Target’s founder and former CEO speaks with LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt about his recent induction into the ICE Awards’ inaugural Hall of Fame, and lessons learned across the journey of building Canada’s longest-standing independent agency
With experiences as a best-selling author, brand manager and university professor, Noel O’Dea is a figure whose reputation precedes him. However, it’s his role as founder and former CEO of Newfoundland-based creative agency Target which most people probably know him for. Having first gained attention in the Canadian industry for launching a full-service shop not in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver, but at the edge of the continent, he’s only built on that as the company, over 40 years later, has become the longest-running indie in Canada.
Known for a distaste of ‘best practices’, Noel’s philosophy revolves around utilising creativity as a business tool, and instilling strong degrees of emotion, local cultural influences and humanity into the work. An approach which has served Target well, earning it recognition from multiple major award shows – Cannes, London International Awards and The One Show, to name a few – he’s been a pivotal player in the agency’s ability to create, position and rejuvenate the brands it works with, across multiple sectors. A track record which recently saw the creative heavyweight inducted into the ICE Awards’ inaugural Hall of Fame, it’s safe to say that his career journey has been a remarkable one, and something worth learning from.
With that in mind, LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt sat down with Noel for a chat.
LBB> Noel, congratulations on being inducted into the ICE Awards’ inaugural Hall of Fame. How are you feeling right now? What does this moment represent to you, both personally and professionally?
Noel> Induction is such an odd word, don’t you think? When I got the call saying I was to be inducted, I hesitated. “Will it be dangerous?” I said out loud. Thankfully, I can now report that the induction itself had nothing to do with magnetic fields (so far as I can tell).
Then, I remembered Groucho Marx’s caution, “I’d never belong to a club that would have me as a member.” I’m glad to report that Groucho was misinformed. Because there was a beautiful and supportive sense of community among the 250 advertising and creative people around that Hall of Fame room.
You know, we all work in such a passionate and competitive industry. Day in and day out, we bear our fragile creative souls for all the world to see, and judge. It felt nice to be there all together, having fun.
LBB> In your opinion, what are the biggest factors which have driven this recognition? In such a competitive industry, what facets of your illustrious career helped you stand out?
Noel> You’d be better off asking the judges.
With that said, I can say a couple of things without feeling too self-conscious.
First, our work ethic mirrors Bill Murray’s advice, “Whatever you do, always give 100%. Unless you’re donating blood.”
Second, paraphrasing Joni Mitchell, I’ve looked at life from three sides now: marketing researcher and brand manager, to advertising and marketing professor, to founder and leader of Target. I guess that I’ve always been creatively curious, always digging and pushing to see life from as many different angles I could imagine.
LBB> Speaking of when you founded Target, given it’s the longest-standing indie agency in the country, what lessons did you learn along the way? And how did they help lead you to this position today?
Noel> Along the way, I learned to take the road less travelled. And it’s been Target’s mantra since day one.
I learned from my father not to blindly follow the herd, and to thine own self be true. (OK, I admit, that last one was from ‘Hamlet’, not from my dad).
I learned that Adam Smith, the father of the ‘rational economic man’, was mistaken. People are not rational – people are rationalisers. We are all ruled by emotion.
I learned that advertising should speak to the heart, and that the heart will persuade the mind. That’s why we try to bake humanity and emotion into everything Target creates. (Of course, it helps that we are inspired by this wildly creative and unpretentious culture that is Newfoundland).
I learned that no one ever bored anyone into buying anything.
And, I learned that creating advertising should never be like having a root canal.
LBB> Building on this, as someone who has built a strong reputation for refusing to follow ‘best practices’, why has this been so consistently important to you and your vision?
Noel> ‘Best practices’ is an oxymoron. We avoid it like the plague, because ‘best practice’ is all about creating uniformity and predictability. That may work for accountants, assembly lines, and sausage factories, but ‘best practices’ are the very antithesis of creativity and surprise. It produces undifferentiated, cookie-cutter ads. It results in a boring, endless sea of sameness.
A product without differentiation is not a brand; it’s nothing but a commodity – one without competitive advantage, customer liking, or loyalty, competing in a spiralling race to the bottom.
When creating advertising, there’s only one ‘best practice’: take the road never taken. Because that road leads to memorable and rewarding advertising, powerful brand differentiation, and enduring competitive advantage.
LBB> Moving over to your career, as someone who has reached such prolific status in Canada, what inspired you to launch a creative shop in Newfoundland in the first place? Was it another case of refusing to follow best practices?
Noel> Why Newfoundland? Would you believe me if I told you that, just yesterday, I was walking down Water Street – the oldest street in North America – when I saw God walking towards me? I said, “Jesus, what are you at?” and over his shoulder, he replied, “I’m working from home today.”
Foolishness aside, Newfoundland is our secret ingredient. It’s the most creative place in the world, simply bursting with creativity, writers, storytellers, musicians, artists, and a terrible beauty you just cannot ignore. And that inspires everything we do.
We see things differently here, through a cultural lens and sense of humanity unlike that in any other place on the planet. This unconventional perspective shapes our strategic and creative thinking. It changes how we think about and solve a client’s problem.
Was it T.S. Eliot who said, “To have travelled the world and returned to where we started only to know it for the first time”? Perhaps that helps explain why, when I returned home to Newfoundland, I launched Target in what some have called ‘the most unlikely place in the world to open a strategic and creative agency’, with aspirations as big as the world. Far from New York, but curiously close to London. Lots of people thought this was nuts. Fortunately, some people understood the differentiation metaphor.
LBB> Equally, why was it so important to do so as an independent, especially at a time of network dominance?
Noel> Why is water wet?
We’re independent because that means we have no one to answer to but ourselves and our clients (and, of course, our moms). Instead of having to focus on meeting the holding company’s quarterly financial targets, we can be laser-focused on one thing: creating unexpected brand and advertising solutions for our clients.
We’ve always believed that if we took care of the work, the money would take care of itself. And I’ve never been that interested in how much money we make; I’m much more interested in what we make.
After 45 years of staying independent because we love creative and what we do, that increasingly uncommon philosophy appears to be another of our secret ingredients.
LBB> Would you say your background in education helped in this regard? What sort of perspective did it lend you when it came to running the business?
Noel> I see you’ve done your homework.
Yes, I spent 10 years as a tenured professor doing research and teaching marketing and advertising in undergrad and graduate programmes. I found this really helped me understand more deeply the art and the science of advertising. Perhaps less obvious to me at the time was how much I learned about understanding students (and all humans) in that academic laboratory that is university: the psychology and sociology of human aspirations, attitudes, learning, and behaviour.
Like advertising, teaching is about lighting a fire. Education is not about cramming information into students’ brains and then asking them to regurgitate it in exams. I loved learning how to engage students, and how to communicate complex information effectively. I loved stimulating curiosity. I loved laying out ‘crumbs’ so students would be stimulated to find discoveries on their own, rather than, like in a lot of advertising, just regurgitating the client brief.
LBB> Across this journey, what are some of the pieces of work which you’re most proud of?
Noel> I’m proud of all our work, because from day one, we were absolutely committed to making sure every single ad that went out the door, no matter how small, was the very best we could make it. No shortcuts.
But I will admit that our ‘Find Yourself’ brand repositioning and destination marketing campaign for Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism has been a passion project for all of us at Target. We set out to change brand perceptions, including how we see ourselves and our culture out here on the most easterly edge of North America. And in doing so, we turned every tourism advertising ‘best practice’ on its head. No laundry list of things to do, places to go, or sights to see all jammed into a TV spot or print ad.
Twenty years later, the campaign is still firmly grounded in our original brand positioning and brand personality foundation. The creative is still building on our original storytelling blueprint, chapter by chapter. And ‘Find Yourself’ has become the most successful and most-awarded tourism campaign in North America.
LBB> Finally, how will you be celebrating this recognition? Any fun plans?
Noel> Celebrations? Two things come to mind. First, “I’ve got nothin’ but affection for all those who’ve sailed with me”, meaning that, in the spirit of Bob Dylan’s lyric, everyone at Target will be celebrating together.
And second, we’ll be guided by our philosophy – that anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Stay tuned.