Here at FreshGigs.ca we recently had some jobs posted from Kellett Communications up in Whitehorse, Yukon (Sr. Art Director & Team Lead Client Services) and that made us want to learn more about the creative scene and what goes on over there. Check the interview we did below:
Hi William Welcome to the blog, first off introduce yourself to the FreshGigs.ca community
I’m one half of the ownership team at Kellett Communications along with my partner and CD, Allison Camenzuli. Together we run a 20-person shop headquartered in Yellowknife. I moved up after university looking for a place where change was still happening and have loved it ever since. Now married with a couple kids, the community has been a great place to start a family. And our friends are always right around the corner.
The thing about a smaller community though is that it’s more intimate. From our twitter and social media scene to any business-networking event, we get out and say hi any chance we get.
Yellowknife is a place that lots of us from cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary haven’t yet been to and don’t know too much about. Introduce the city to the reader, what makes it interesting?
This is an easy one for me. Working on NWT Tourism the last two years, and living here for the last 15, there’s so much to fall in love with that makes the average Canadian jealous – if they only knew! Yellowknife is a big little city. It’s unassuming in that you don’t expect 20,000 people to enjoy all the amenities we have. It’s really a hub for a whole lot more and that brings the restaurants, entertainment and services you would expect from a larger centre.
And in the summer it all comes alive in an unreal way. 25 degrees combined with 20 hours of sunlight is an awesome combination. In July there’s a killer music festival right on the beach of a lake on the edge of town, annual Aboriginal Day celebrations and even a golf tourney under the midnight sun… just to name a few. Really though, any time of year, if you’re the type of person that likes to get out and do things, it’s an amazing place to live.
What is the scene amongst businesses and creative folks in Yellowknife?
Perhaps we’re a bit biased because we’ve been working with NWT Arts for several years but the creative scene in the north is alive and well. As with most things, it’s still a bit untapped but that’s as much opportunity as anything else. The GDC has an Arctic Chapter that our CD chaired for several years and is still going strong.
The thing about a smaller community though is that it’s more intimate. From our twitter and social media scene to any business-networking event, we get out and say hi any chance we get. It’s not big enough to have dedicated events for creative folk up here but we use the 4 airlines flying into Yellowknife for easy access to Calgary and Vancouver events.
Tell us about Kellett Communications? What are you folks all about and what kind of projects are you focusing on and working on?
Primarily we’re a full-service shop with two offices – Yellowknife and Whitehorse – servicing a mix of government, private sector and NGO clients. It gives our team a wide-range of opportunities. In part, we’ve become full-service to grow, but also because the north is insular by nature. What client doesn’t prefer local and relevant service after all?
Right now though, we’re focusing on integrated marketing campaigns for our flagship clients and digital builds for government clients. It’s a healthy mix but it requires a new-media skill set to succeed with us. Continue reading
