Family as a source of inspiration
By Sylvain Arsenault
What’s the link between the holiday period and Prospek’s twentieth anniversary, besides our desire to have a party? A very simple word comes to mind: family. On one hand, the holidays are a privileged moment to take a break and spend quality time with family members. They’re an invitation to return to our foundations that brings us back to life’s essentials. On the other hand, we’ve always said that Prospek is like a tightly knit family too. So how can we celebrate our twentieth anniversary without alluding to this family? It can’t be done!
The Prospek family
One day, Kurt Cobain said, “Playing music is what I do. My family is what I am.” This statement inspires me and gives me a sense of what I feel when I think of the family we’ve made at Prospek. As president of the agency and on behalf of my colleagues, I would say this: producing marketing communications campaigns is what we know how to do, but Prospek represents what we are as professionals. Beyond our know-how, it’s the values that we put into practice in our profession that define us as an agency.
Family: the nucleus of civilization
Family is the foundation of our identity. Families provide a comforting place where we can learn and reach our full potential. Will Durant, an American philosopher, historian and writer wrote that “the family is the nucleus of civilization.” No families are perfect of course, yet they usually give us the momentum that we need to realize our dreams and take flight. Family drives our development and our contribution to the society in which we evolve.
Since its foundation in 2002, Prospek has enabled hundreds of professionals to blossom. How? By creating a workplace environment where it’s possible to realize their full potential, to innovate and to be authentic. However, no organization can claim to innovate if it does not allow mistakes. Like in a family, at Prospek we have the right to make mistakes, because we’re committed to learning from them. In fact, it’s an obligation. We have the obligation to grow to our full potential. Like in a family.
So let’s take this important moment in our history to salute the marketing communications professionals that we have seen blossom at Prospek over the past twenty years.
By and for Quebec families
Prospek is the property of a couple of Quebec families. By investing in the business, my partners and I have believed in the talent and commitment of people who share our values. What’s more is these people could have never invested and supported the development of the agency without the support of their own families. Agency life is not a long, tranquil river. The work hours are sometimes demanding and our families are inevitably affected. In this sense, it’s families who drive our growth!
Finally, where would we be without our clientele, who are mostly Quebec SMEs? According to the most recent figures published by the BDC, 85.2% of Canadian jobs are created by SMEs, which are most often founded and run by families. This is pretty much the reality for most of our clients. We’re flattered that a good number of Quebec entrepreneurs have trusted us to ensure the heritage of their family business. I often have the impression that they trust us with their baby and ask us to raise them as if they were our own!
In this period of festivities and taking stock, family is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for me and the agency!
To all this family who I love deeply, I say THANK YOU and happy 20th anniversary!
Sylvain Arsenault, President
