AARDVARK Communications is attempting to destroy a common perception that good marketing talent can only be found overseas.

By pairing creativity with strategy, the Victoria Street firm has successfully placed its clients' products in the public eye and into the homes and hands of consumers.

Now the second largest agency on the island, the company was started nearly 30 years ago, established by a band of individuals who, for various reasons, found it impossible to have their needs met elsewhere.

The company name was chosen purely as a marketing strategy. Those involved felt the name would place them first in the phonebook. The tactic succeeded and failed ? the company is listed first in the yellow pages and second in the white.

Tourism was Bermuda's staple industry when Aardvark was formed and it's where the company's roots lie.

As explained by Kerry Judd, the company's general manager: "Initially, Aardvark was very hospitality oriented. They did a lot of work within the tourism industry, and in fact had the Tourism contract, which was worth about $1 million ? a huge contract at that time."

Just as important was the group's work in the hotel industry. Aardvark played a huge part in marketing two of the island's largest hotels ? the Southampton and Hamilton Princesses. As tourism fell to international business, however, the firm saw a shift in its contracts also.

"We're still very involved in the hospitality industry today, although obviously not with the Department of Tourism ? except for one-off projects," Ms Judd said. "As overtime the agency has grown, so has the scope of the industries we support. Today we also have a number of corporate clients, a lot of retail clients. Digicel is probably the most visual client we have but we also work in reinsurance.

"We're involved with Ariel Re, we're working with CCS and we work very closely with the TESS Group ? Cecile's, Boutique CC, Lusso, The English Sports Shop, Marks & Spencer and Aston & Gunn. It's a very exciting time."

At present, Aardvark has a staff of 11. The success of recent campaigns, however, leads Ms Judd to believe that it might increase in the near future.

"If there's anything I was going to brag about it'd be my team," she said.

"They're the ones that make this place successful. What we've accomplished in the last ten months is phenomenal. We have, in my opinion, some of the best talent on the island.

"There's a misperception, especially within the international business sector but even with some of the larger, local businesses, that you have to go overseas to get the quality and the experience strategically, creatively and from an account management perspective.

"Having worked in and managed eight agencies in the States when I was with (the Department of) Tourism, I would say that that's the biggest misperception in Bermuda. We have the talent, we have the experience and we have the international contacts."

Ms Judd joined Aardvark in July, having gained extensive experience in the industry both locally and overseas.

"I started out at Belco, in their corporate communications division, and then I worked for a marketing consultancy, Total Marketing & Communications, for four years. I spent my last two years in the Department of Tourism as their communications manager, responsible for all of their advertising, direct marketing and industry relations."

She felt it was time for a break and took a few months off to figure out "what I wanted to be when I grew up", she added.

"I was looking around to see what was available out there when Ben (Fairn, the company's managing director) contacted me. He offered me a brand-new challenge.

"Running a department is one thing. Running a company is vastly different. It allows me to use my strength as a marketing (strategist) but to also run the company. I'm now able to implement things that I've been recommending to my clients for years.

"I am a hands-on manager, but it's balanced. If I was that controlling I don't think I'd have a team. I am involved on a day-to-day basis with the large accounts ? where I either have the strategic experience or where there isn't that senior level that's required ? but we have three account managers and one junior and they manage their own accounts. They keep me up-to-date on a weekly basis. I'm not asking to see every single thing that they're writing and doing."

As a rule, Aardvark works in partnership with in-house staff, collaborating towards the best way of getting a specific message to the consumer.

"(Many) companies have an in-house marketing director but we have the creative side and we also have a support team," the general manager explained. "The campaign we ran for Digicel was a multi-pronged campaign.

"To expect one person to be able to implement so many facets when they're also supposed to be able to be determining a company's strategic direction ? no human can do that. How many hours a day can you work?

"We allow the in-house executive to focus on the higher-level strategy.

"For example, the Digicel (team) came to the table with their telecommunications background and experience as did the team that we applied. They were able to pick our brains and use us as counsel.

"We bounced ideas off each other but obviously from the creative side, they were limited in some aspects ? there's not a lot of marketing managers that are also excellent graphic designers."

Marketing in Bermuda has its challenges, Ms Judd admitted. Strategies are frequently limited by the island's small size and conservative nature.

"I'd say we've come a long way in the past ten years. Ten years ago if you said 'marketing', people thought advertising. Consumers today are bombarded by hundreds and hundreds of messages a day. It's actually gotten more difficult to differentiate your client, product, service, message ? whatever.

"As a result, agencies have changed as well. They've had to evolve to become marketing agencies. They now have to take into consideration all of the communication vehicles. So while your core strength might still be advertising, you have to be very strong on the strategic side ? in direct marketing, in guerrilla marketing, in public media relations ? and really use that to service and support your clients rather than just depending on an ad in the paper or running a radio or TV spot."

A SIMILAR evolution has been seen at Aardvark which has significantly changed its strategy in recent years to better appeal to a range of clients.

"Aardvark has gone through a shift in the last few years. We were always known for being the out-of-the-box agency, for really pushing the boundaries. But Bermuda's a very conservative society, especially the business sector.

"In order to go after the business market, Aardvark became more conservative, the seesaw went all the way to the other side. We're now in the re-balancing stage.

"We have a scope of clients that allow us to be as creative as we'd like to be and we also work within the corporate sector ? we push the boundaries a little bit without taking them out of their comfort level.

"It's all about balance. For those clients that are more conservative, we're able to provide that to them. Those who want something raw, who want something that pushes the mark, we're able to do that as well."

Asked how she measured a campaign's success, Ms Judd explained it was determined by two factors: a strong financial return and a public buzz.

"There are multiple ways. The most obvious one for our clients is that they see a financial return but the other side of it is if people talk about it. The Digicel campaign is a prime example."

Part of that campaign saw Aardvark pepper sidewalks in the City of Hamilton with the telecommunications company's logo. The company was later ordered to remove the chalk drawings by the Corporation of Hamilton, and issued a stern warning for defacing public property.

"The guerrilla marketing that we did with the chalk on the sidewalk landed us on the front page. We got our knuckles rapped, but it was also exposure. Was that successful? Yes, because that's what guerrilla marketing is all about. There are so many ads in the paper. Do people remember what you've done? Are they talking about it?"

She added that the company was well aware of such limitations, careful not to go beyond certain boundaries if only because of the effect it could have on the client.

"Bermuda being a conservative society, you just have to be really careful. We want to push the boundaries, but not too far. The chalk on the sidewalk, for example, the Corporation does not support anything like that whereas if we were in New York such things happen all the time.

"When I worked in Halifax, for example, there was a battle of the bands going on and we actually got a flatbed truck, put some bands in it and we drove it through the streets. You couldn't do that here. Would it do what it was supposed to do? Absolutely. But it would have such consequences to the businesses involved.

"So it's a challenge. It's a challenge from a creative perspective ? the types of images we can use. If you look at European advertising, it's vastly different, much more open. Do I think we should go that far? No. I think advertising agencies actually have a responsibility to push the boundaries, not in terms of using things that are inappropriate but in getting people to think outside the box, because that's the only way that we will advance as an industry.

" It's the only way for our clients to be able to differentiate themselves."