From Conrad Black to Beirut: How a little advertising and dumb luck bore fruit

I'm no Warren Buffett, so you can take this piece of business advice with a huge grain of salt: you sometimes succeed through dumb luck.

Here's another one: advertising works.

Looking over nearly 30 years in the tribute-video business, two incidents spring to mind.

INCIDENT # 1

It was 1987, our first full year in business, and my colleague, Brian Collins, and I were hand-delivering 50 brochures to Toronto radio stations, ad agencies and other places we thought might be interested in tribute videos. Brian dropped off one at sister stations CKFM-CFRB, addressed to Standard Radio prez Gary Slaight.

Little did we know that Gary had recently been roasted by his dad, Allan, when he left radio station Q107. Gary was looking for serious payback; he called us to say he wanted to stick it to Allan real good at the company's Christmas party.

People today might be more familiar with Allan and Gary Slaight as busy philanthropists, giving hundreds of millions of dollars to Toronto hospitals, children's charities and many more good causes. But, 30 years ago, father and son were busy building Standard as a broadcasting powerhouse and playing tricks on each other.

It was quite the rivalry. Gary and Allan were both tough and gruff and had wicked senses of humour.

Co-writer Jane Widerman and I lucked onto a concept. Seems that in the year 1985 Allan Slaight did two things: he bought Standard Broadcasting from Conrad Black and he served as chairman of the United Way of Toronto's fundraising campaign. We would do a "60 Minutes"-style expose, alleging that Allan stole millions from the United Way and used the money to buy Standard. Our Mike Wallace investigative reporter (played by then-CKFM morning man Ted Woloshyn) went on to accuse Allan of using his powers as an amateur magician to perfect the con job.

We had a hoot. We shot singer Gordon Lightfoot receiving a paltry box of Kraft Dinner at his home from "Meals On Wheels" because Allan's crime had left the agency poor. Conrad Black testified that he must have been hypnotized to sell Standard to Slaight. (Black was hilarious, by the way: Excellent timing and knew how to milk a laugh line. He also graciously served us giant gourmet cookies before the taping).

The video was well-received and led to dozens of subsequent jobs with the Slaights and at least a half-dozen referrals to their friends and associates. I remain eternally grateful to Gary and Allan.

INCIDENT # 2

Fast forward 13 years. It's May, 1990. Our classified ad in the back of the Robb Report, an American leisure magazine, had only been running for about 10 days when the phone rang.

The soft-spoken man said his name was Rami and he was calling from London England. He said his parents were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary with a big party, and could Your Life Productions do a surprise tribute video?

When and where, I asked?

Valentine's Day in Beirut, he replied.

I suspected a prank phone call. But I was wrong.

Seems Rami Makhzoumi couldn't find a tribute-video company in London or Beirut or Dubai--the three places he lived.

His parents, Fouad and May, had been married in Beirut 25 years earlier during Lebanon's Civil War, and it wasn't much of a party--they could barely get the Imam to the ceremony what with all the gunfire. Fouad studied engineering in Michigan, built a ceramic pipeline business and his fortune, and decided to give his bride the grand wedding party she never had--a quarter century later.

Enter their son, Rami, who decided that a tribute video would be the icing on the cake.

It was a large job, and we produced the video without ever leaving Toronto. That video begat another gig four years later--a mock-umentary roasting Rami's favorite cousin, who was getting married in Beirut. We called it "Karim Farra: Mister Right or Mister Wrong?" and, again, we produced the show without ever leaving Toronto.

Then things got really interesting. In 2008, Rami phoned to say that his father wanted to create a documentary about the history of his family--ancient and modern. Seems the Makhzoumis could trace their lineage back to pre-Islamic Mecca, and could claim several very illustrious ancestors, including a wife of the Prophet Mohammed. To Arab Muslims, that is a very big deal.

As for the modern history, Fouad wanted to tell his own story: After building the Future Group of companies and then, with his wife, founding Lebanon's largest NGO, which provided thousands with job training; he created his own, non-religious political party and was running for Prime Minister of Lebanon.

There was a catch: to produce this video, I'd have to go to Beirut. The same Lebanon where, months earlier, Hezbollah had staged a coup, taking over the TV stations and shutting down the airport.

The long and short of it is, in 2009 I went to Beirut for 10 days and that trip was one of the highlights of my life. (Maybe it merits its own blog).

I thought I would return for sure but, sadly, Rami, one of the nicest people I've ever met, died of a ruptured brain aneurysm in 2011, at age 33.

The moral of the story? Sometimes a little advertising and a dollop of dumb luck can move your company forward and provide unforgettable memories.