Out West one of our favourite sports is ‘Spot the Toronto Creative.’ We get all liquored up and go looking for ads that try to be regional, but fail miserably. Problem is, there’s not much sport in it.

National brands should not regionalize their advertising.

Well, not unless there’s real good reason to. Not unless there’s something specific about their brand or their product that addresses a unique regional characteristic. Otherwise, it will just degenerate into pandering. And pandering is offensive, or even worse, it’s irrelevant.

Here are two quick examples from ads that appeared out West in 2002.

Let’s start with what didn’t work. Bell Mobility ran a newspaper ad recently in Calgary that really, really sucked. The strategy was sound enough: Plant the idea that the network has great coverage by connecting the concept of coverage with regional-specific circumstances to which people could relate. The image in the ad, however, showed a man treed by a bear, trying to use his cellphone to call for help. The headline planted the thought that out West, we really value good coverage.

I may be a black-clothed, chunkily-bespectacled, haircare product-laden urbanite, but even I know that people in Calgary do not face bears on a regular basis. There are bears at the zoo. Apparently. If you are in any place where there’s a real bear in the open, you will be a long, long way from any cellular coverage. Calgarians face long commutes, traffic jams, highway travel, and any other type of situation where a city dweller needs coverage. This ad sucked, not so much because it was offensive, but because it was irrelevant.

In contrast, the Rickard’s Red campaign worked well, primarily because of what it didn’t do. Those ads worked because the folks at Taxi, by design or default, chose not to pander to western (wink-wink) sensibilities. They understood the core of the brand, realized that it would play universally and rolled it out status quo. They easily could have degenerated into goofy Yaletown yuppie-isms, Stampede-isms, Portage & Main-isms, or what have you, but they kept it simple. It’s gorgeous beer, and they made it gorgeous. We get it.

What’s the outlook for the next year? I see more of the same. Some brands will translate perfectly well in the various regions of the West, and some will need some translation to help them. For brands looking to translate out West, get a western agency.

PJ rules, and not because of its Toronto wing. BFS continues to do great stuff in Vancouver. Rethink has moments of genius. Push from Calgary is gaining national attention. There are the tried-and-true Calgary shops like Highwood, Parallel, and, last but not least, the powerhouse that is MacLaren McCann West.

How many hot shops are there in T.O.? Close your eyes and count them. Uh huh, just as I thought. About the same number. Therefore, on a per shop basis, the West has more talent. Hell. Forget sending your translating work out here. Send all of it. We seem to be able to speak both languages.

Mark Szabo is a senior suit at MacLaren McCann West.