A short time ago the Toronto ad community invaded Little Italy to take in some of the best commercials in the world. It was a packed house at the Royal Theatre for the opening night of ihaveanidea’s screening of the 2005 Clio reel.

The series of screenings started with industry night. Ad folks, both young and old, piled into the historic theatre. They were greeted by ihaveanidea front man Ignacio Oreamuno, and event organizers Emily Bergeron and Mimi Martinoski. They quickly passed centre stage off to Clio winners Stephen Leps and Aaron Starkman. The ZiG team shared their experiences of the sunny Miami ad festival and what it really felt like to take home a Clio.

As the projector was getting warmed up Agency Relations Director for the Clios, Rebecca Herman took to the stage to welcome the crowd and hand out some freakin’ sweet swag – a Clios Passport to be exact. And the lucky winner was James Musselman, a partner at Stonehendge Media Group.

After a full 69 minutes of award-winning commercials, radio spots and print pieces, the crowd headed down to the after party. The echoes of the First Light-branded noisemakers could be heard along College as everyone made their way to Lily.

Young hopefuls were given ample opportunity to literally rub shoulders with advertising brass at the packed two-floor bar. The music was pumping, the drinks were flowing and the crowd was buzzing with industry gossip and debate over the best spot of the night.

As the night went on, most of the crowd dispersed; but like any good party, they had to kick the rest of us out. Some of us found our way home, but others found their ways to other bars. I’m sure that made for some interesting Wednesday morning meetings.

The following two nights were opened up to the general public. Closet Creative Directors and advertising enthusiasts filled the Royal on Wednesday and Thursday night. Interestingly enough, they seemed just as amused with the Studio M segment introductions as they were with the commercials themselves. On those two evenings in particular the tune to Honda’s Grand Prix winning “Grrrrrr” spot could be heard inside the lobby and out on the street as people whistled on their way out.

Sunday afternoon brought our screening series to an end. The final showing was a student matinee. “Jancy” was on hand to discuss the Clios and their thoughts on winning awards in general. It was set up as a Q & A sessions between themselves – a format familiar to followers and fans of the ihaveanidea “Ask Jancy” advice column.

All in all it seems that our first crack at a screening series turned out alright. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves: all 1,149 people who came out over the four days. Our thanks goes out to all of our supporters, including those who came to the screenings, and our sponsors, studiom, First Light, adbeast and NOW magazine.