McMaster University has officially opened a broad archive of materials donated by one of Canada’s advertising institutions: Pirate Group.
The Hamilton, Ont. university has archived 50,000 documents and files pertaining to more than 20-years worth of ads that Pirate helped create. In this treasure are scripts, casting notices, concept documents, music and completed ads made between 1981 and 2007. They feature several celebrities such as Jay-Z and John Cleese, and cover a wide range of advertisers such as Molson and General Motors.
The archive, which arrived at the school in June but was officially unveiled Thursday morning, will be open to all McMaster students. Some specific programs, such Research Methods in Communication and New Media, will use it as course material.
“We want the archive to be, first and foremost, a teaching tool, so the next generation of communicators and ad people will enter our industry with even more knowledge,” said Terry O’Reilly, Pirate co-founder and host of CBC Radio’s Under the Influence. “Plus, we wanted the collection to be properly preserved. I’m hoping this will inspire more companies to starting actively preserving their advertising archives.
“When I hunt for older commercials for my radio show, I can find virtually any American ad every done – but when it comes to Canadian work, it’s almost impossible. And that’s shame.”
Prior to its arrival at McMaster, the archive was housed in Pirate’s basement storage. A search for an academic home for the lot began during the production company’s 20th anniversary.
“We hired a small army to comb through every single commercial, which took months, and create a search tool that McMaster could use to begin creating their own catalogue system,” O’Reilly said. The media of the ads is largely tape, but evolves as the industry digitized over time. “Post-1994, it transitions to DAT, CD, DVD and digital files. It reflects the prevailing technology of the time.”
“This is an outstanding collection of truly iconic commercials and advertising campaigns,” said Jeff Trzeciak, a librarian at McMaster. “It is a remarkable source of information for our students and faculty, providing them with concrete examples of the entire creative process.”
