Allan Sneath worked for McKim Advertising in Montreal. McKim was Canada’s oldest advertising agency and had been responsible for many effective communicating concepts including Canada’s first bank ads. The film production house director received a phone call from Allan Sneath on Sunday. He requested that the director be on a plane to Calgary the following day with a cameraman, a crew of film-makers and a pair of running shoes because the commercials he had to shoot must be completed very quickly. An explanation on the plane included the information that a person who watched the activities of American owned Marlborough Cigarettes for Canadian owned Imperial Tobacco, had, on Sunday, warned Imperial Tobacco that Marlborough was going to introduce their cigarettes into Canada. A strong and well advertised brand name like Marlborough would do Imperial Tobacco’s brands considerable damage. The ‘spy’ who seemed to have very specific information, claimed Marlborough’s first step would be to run test commercials in Peterborough, Ontario. Allan Sneath’s job was to make three competing commercials that could run in Peterborough at the same time. The Marlborough images were of very strong, healthy looking Montana cowboys riding, roping and living in the outdoors. Allan’s plan was to make commercials with images of strong, healthy, Alberta cowboys. Marlborough had the advantage of time but Imperial Tobacco had an interesting advantage of its own. A smart Imperial executive had, long ago, purchased the rights to the name Marlborough in Canada. If the American Marlborough was going to invade Canada, they had to give the product a different name. The U.S settled on the name Maverick. Allan Sneath’s commercials for Imperial Tobacco could carry the name Marlborough. The Americans put the name Maverick on the papers of their Marlborough cigarettes. Imperial Tobacco took their Belvedere cigarette and rewrapped them with the name Marlborough. Meanwhile, in a field at the Rafter Six Ranch near Canmore Alberta, the director was bouncing along in an old truck as the crew shot a stampede of thirty horses and two handsome cowboys. With that segment completed, they raced over to the Kananaskis River to film a pack train of mountain horses, led by the same, freshly mounted cowboys. The following morning, the director and his crew arrived early at Horseshoe Canyon near Drumheller. They pulled into the viewpoint above the canyon at 3:00 AM to catch a sunrise that was to appear at 4:30. At 4:00 the camera, crew and cowboy were ready but the man with the single sheep that the story needed, had not arrived. At least the worried director didn’t think he had. Finally in a desperate state, he went over to the only other car in the parking area and woke the man who was sound asleep at the wheel. “Of course I have the sheep,” he said. “It’s in the trunk.” When the trunk was opened, a sheep that had never seen a car before, became airborne. The sheep owner fought the leaping, bouncing, frantic animal down into the canyon, found a few blades of grass, tethered it and left it in to recover. Almost Canada’s Last Cigarette Commercial. No. 1 The story the filmmakers were shooting was about a handsome cowboy who looked all day for a lost sheep until, as the sun set, he came upon it beside the canyon wall. The earlier searching portions had already been shot and the sunrise that was to pretend it was a sunset in the story, was what they were attempting to shoot. The sun was an inch above the horizon when the cowboy spotted the sheep and rode towards it. The sheep that had never seen a car, had also never seen a horse, so as the large dark thing with a man thing ontop approached, the sheep pulled its stake and ran for its life. It should be mentioned that in addition to the problems the director already had, the horse had never seen a sheep! When the sheep bolted south, the horse bolted north. The cowboy was good at his job; he rode the horse to submission, then gently led it to the patch where the sheep had been and tied it to a stone. He turned to the harried director and asked, “If you would bring the sheep back here and give me five minutes, I will make it possible for you to finish your shot.” The director, if a little doubtful, was thrilled. The sun was a foot above the horizon. Ten minutes later, the sheep was lifted and placed in the arms of the cowboy. Asking everone to step back, he proceeded to walk in circles around the nervous horse. The smell of the sheep began to mix with the smells of the man and the sheep/man that was walking circles around him, became less frightening. The horse calmed and the man/sheep moved closer until the cowboy was rubbing the sheep back and forth along the horse, again mixing smells. The cowboy quietly asked, “roll the camera please” and hearing the camera start, he gently lifted the sheep onto the horses withers then swung aboard behind it. The rising sun was only a little bit past where it should be for sunset. The commercials were edited in time and sent out from Toronto. The Canadian cigarette ads were shown on the same day, in Peterborough, as the American cigarettes. The stores displayed the two packages side by side. Smokers were confused and both products were dead in a week. The Americans withdrew, their attempt to launch a cigarette into the Canadian market failed. The Marlborough name went back to bed in a vault in Montreal. Alan Sneath smiled a little smile. ____________________________________
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