Another month, another “Meet the Team” feature. This time, we’re traveling to the west wing of the Winnipeg office to speak with Carey Pradinuk, Associate VP Creative. He’s giving us his advice on company mergers, the best Ethiopian food in Winnipeg, and reminiscing on an ad campaign featuring life sized raccoons.
How long have you been at the agency for?
Oh wow. Well, that’s a complicated question – I’ve been merged a couple of times now. I came to Winnipeg in 1999 and worked for Palmer Jarvis which merged into McKim Communications.
After 5 years I left briefly for another opportunity but eventually, I came back to McKim. We then merged with Taylor George Design and now my third merger is this latest one with Sherpa Marketing to create who we now exist as - The Show and Tell Agency.
Editor’s note: that's 3 mergers!
Follow up: what is your advice to someone going through a merger?
For me, I always felt like what I did had value to either company I worked for. So, I would put my head down and keep doing the work that was the best for the business.
We’ve been told your dad was also in advertising – how has that helped shape your career?
It was great, I grew up in this business so had an idea of how it worked from a very young age. I had some innate ability to do the writing part of the job and then when I started actually working in advertising, I decided I wanted to focus on the creative side. That led me to Toronto where I learned how to do that professionally.
What has been your favourite campaign to work on?
Oh. My goodness. This is kind of a deeper thing, but the truth is I rarely think about them after I’m done.
This is one of the reasons I love this business - for how my brain works when moving between projects. The next one is always my favourite one.
I’ve had the most fun with our CBCRA Campaign which included us being on video set with people in giant raccoon costumes. Not something you see every day.
What is your favourite platform for advertisements?
Video is always fun, that's what gets me excited the most. It’s fun to be on set but it’s hard work and you must be hyper focused on a lot of different things.
Are you a more creative or analytical marketer?
I would describe my role in marketing as both creative and strategic instead of analytic.
The purpose of what we're trying to achieve, the money a company is putting behind a campaign, and the entertainment of the audience are always on my mind.
I’ll leave the analytics to the other departments but I really like when someone tells me what's working and I can extrapolate - that’s awesome.
Any advice on how to build a successful team?
I look for people who have the same view and want to be in advertising. People that understand the past, present, and future of the business.
Having thick skin and being able to be objective about your own work is important, advertising can be very subjective. People who are objective, willing to put themselves out there and not be worried about it are who I look for.
At the end of the day, a team of problem solvers is what you want.
You work out of our Winnipeg office: What’s your favourite restaurant in Winnipeg?
Ohmygod. *spins in chair*
True story, if I would’ve never gone out for lunch in the last 20 years I would be retired by now. A secret one that I really like is a small Ethiopian place called Kokeb and they have a veggie buffet every day and you eat with your hands – it’s one of my favourites.
I also really like Burrito Del Rio and Baraka. I love different ethnic flavour profiles.
Fun fact - I used to work at mobile Maitre D (which is your OG Skip the Dishes) and I kept that job for the discount on food and when I left that job, they told me I had eaten more than everyone else on the staff combined.
We heard you have an arch nemesis… what are the details there?
*Speechless* 50% of the time you can’t take me seriously and this is the 50%. It was totally a joke and that's what I would say even if it wasn't. (You still know who you are.)
What’s your office ick?
Oh. Meetings before 9am. Ugh no thank you.
You and Ron (Sawchuk, VP Creative) are a bit of a dynamic duo – can you speak a bit about why you two work so well together?
We’re on the same page about a lot of stuff. We’re always on the same page on how to arrive at an answer even when our answers aren’t the same. We both always try to do the best for the business that we can.
He’s a talented guy who has a lot of experience. Together we’ve seen it all
What has been one of your favourite ad campaigns in recent years? Why?
I really like the flat rate pizza campaign from Pizza Pizza. This whole bit on inflation and high interest rate – your pizza rate will never change. That is great because it’s completely relevant to everyone and to the product itself. They took that feeling and make it fun and sell it. It captured a moment in time which advertising is great at doing.
Lastly, what advice would you give to someone new at the agency?
Be open minded about everything - don’t think you have all the answers because nobody does. Have a passion for it. And learn Blue Yeti.
If you’re new, also try to learn the context of each client. Sometimes there is a lot of history that can be crucial to how you decide to word things for them – the way you say something matters!
Editor’s Note: Blue Yeti is our Custom CRM software
Any final comments or anything you want to make sure we include?
Arch nemesis, I’m coming for you
Which team member do you think we’re going to feature in our next interview? Get excited.