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Dan Wright remembers the disappointment he felt when a pitch he sent to a large corporation came back to him unopened, with a note saying that the company wasn't interested in what his fledgling Calgary advertising agency had to offer.

But three years later, California-based Communication Arts, the largest international trade journal serving the graphic design and advertising industries, did an article about Mr. Wright's award-winning company - and provided a significant boost to WAX Partnership Inc.'s proposition.

The impact was immediate: As a result of that article and the accompanying burst of local publicity, the elusive large corporation contacted WAX, Mr. Wright says, and his company has since secured a "substantial project."

"What that article did was put WAX on the radar screen of companies we want to work with who, in the past, had overlooked us," Mr. Wright says.

"Prior to the article, we actively hunted for new business opportunities; now RFPs [requests for proposals] arrive weekly."

The article about WAX appeared in the magazine's "Fresh" section, which showcases innovative work by individuals and companies in business less than five years. Mr. Wright said making it into Communication Arts is comparable to a photographer's work appearing in National Geographic, or an interior design firm finding itself in the pages of Architectural Digest.

Being featured in the Fresh section is an indication that the agency is doing "cutting-edge work," he says, adding that Communication Arts "would have heard of WAX through award shows, award annuals and word of mouth in the industry. ... In essence, CA noticing WAX gives others the opportunity to see WAX work."

The two-page, colour spread featured an irreverent question-and-answer session (in which WAX listed its headcount at "27 full-time employees and one bitter intern") and started a steady stream of positive media coverage.

The July, 2008, article also had an unexpected result: Design professionals from across North America who were willing to move to Calgary began flooding WAX with résumés The company has expanded from its three original partners by hiring the best talent when it became available, regardless of whether WAX had the work to justify the salary.

"Simply put, our strategy was, 'Build it and they will come,' " Mr. Wright says. "Now we're fortunate to have a list of talented creatives and account people from across Canada and the U.S. who have submitted their résumé, requesting we contact them when a position comes available.

"This puts us in the enviable position of confidently knowing if we win a large account, we have the ability to immediately have the right team in place," he says.

When the WAX founders set up shop in 2005, they quickly found a project to establish their reputation in the Alberta market, despite being rebuffed by some large corporations. Direct Energy, which sells locked-in contracts for natural gas and electricity prices, was looking for help in establishing its identity.

Against much larger competitors, WAX was given a chance to prove itself.

It was a difficult project to take on because although Direct Energy had won the right to look at the provincial utility's customer database, it wasn't allowed to use the list to actually approach those customers.

"We took the approach that [Direct Energy] should look different than everyone else in the marketplace, and it worked out very well," says Janet Pearce, Wax's director of client services. "We were small, nimble and smart."

It was a strong start and, within a year, WAX moved into swanky new offices featuring original art and rows of floor-to-ceiling windows that showcase the Rocky Mountains to the west and downtown Calgary to the north. And the personnel roster has grown to 28 full-time staff.

"We're fortunate now in that we have a client list that spans almost every industry - retail to health care, to oil and gas, to education institutions - and we're not dependent on one client for more than 20 per cent of total revenue," Mr. Wright says.

"At this point, work is not showing signs of slowing, but we'd be unrealistic if we didn't expect that may change in 2009."

• Connect with Dan Wright

Mr. Wright will take your questions on his experience Friday at 1 p.m. ET. Click here  to submit your question.

• Expert insight

"Media are an intermediary between you and the people you want to communicate with, so you need to think about what story you want to tell, and understand how a reporter is likely to hear, interpret and commandeer the story," says Shane Dolgin, Edelman Canada senior vice-president. He discusses how to take advantage of a media hit to ensure it isn't simply a one-day wonder.

Click here for more.

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