Coming out ahead.

Northern firm competes with major players from south

Hard on the heels of signing their first major client based outside of Northern Ontario, Theodore William Group is preparing to jump into the southern Ontario market with both feet.

The North Bay marketing and communications company, less than five years old, is set to spring into action, buying a larger Toronto company later this year.

"We have a short list," says co-founder of the company, Theo Margaritis, who declines to divulge further details. Margaritis is half of the Theodore William brain trust that has quickly moved from nowhere, to being a contender for any high-end marketing project in Northern Ontario.

The company, founded by Margaritis and fellow Nipissing University graduate Bill Ferguson in 1996, recently signed a contract with Wescom Solutions Inc. of Mississauga, a health care software company with more than 1,000 clients internationally.

"It's encouraging to see a Northern Ontario firm involved in the marketing of a leading-edge company like Wescom," Ferguson says. "I think it shows that Northern firms can compete on an equal footing with the major players from the south and come out ahead."

It's not the first deal in southern Ontario for the firm, he adds. Margaritis maintains a home-office in his home in Toronto and works there occasionally. However, the recent signing with the Mississauga-based company is an indication the company is ready for the push south, he says.

"We like Northern Ontario. We're very happy in North Bay. We're not just content, but really happy with what North Bay has done for us," Margaritis says.

The company boasts a client list that includes the successful North Bay Heritage Festival and Air Show, the Northern Ontario Heritage Nipissing University, Canadore Insurance, and the forestry industry.

That's a far cry from the initial plans of the two recent university grads who had first thought of selling advertising on washroom billboards. Ferguson's a history major and Margaritis is a geography major. The washroom billboard idea was discarded after some thought, he adds.

"We had a preference to get into strategy and design rather than just sell space," Margaritis says, explaining the shift to high-end marketing, a task that seemed just as unlikely for two novices as washroom billboards.

"It's really difficult to target high-end accounts without a high-end portfolio," Margaritis says.

They stuck to it for three years in a small bedroom-sized office, building a client base they were confident could sustain them in larger, more luxuriant quarters and moved when the business hit ever-increasing strides.

"Winning big contracts led to winning more big contracts," Margaritis says. "It's definitely a snowball effect." They passed up an offer to sell the company, and now "managing growth has become the biggest job."

"We started with Bill and I and one other staff, and now we're up to seven," Margaritis says.

Margaritis is the account director and Ferguson is the creative director. There is also an art director, web designer, communications director, copy writer and graphic designer.

"We try to provide an environment that is very exciting, a Toronto-style environment" that would provide everything staff would get at a Toronto agency, including the creative stimulus and expectations, Margaritis says.

The new digs, complete with cappuccino for staff and guests, are highlighted, including a colorfully restored 1950's style gasoline pump, products created by the firm, and walls lined with posters from Apple Computer's famous "Think Different" campaign.

Their ambition to enter the larger market place should not make any significant difference to operations in North Bay, which will be the head office, he says. He and Ferguson, a North Bay native, would likely be dividing their time between the two locations.

"None of our clients are strictly focussed on Northern Ontario," Margaritis says. They take a broad view of their market, and an office in Toronto could give them the opportunity to grow, he says. That's the way is it for Theodore William.