Zschau’s Campaign Hires Man Who Did ’84 TV Ads for Reagan

Concerned that it has not captured the “magic” of Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ed Zschau in television ads, the Zschau campaign announced Wednesday that it is bringing in one of the men who helped film President Reagan’s highly acclaimed commercials in 1984.

Zschau campaign manager Ron Smith said that Las Vegas consultant Sig Rogich will now shoot the campaign ads, replacing Riverbank, a Maryland firm, which will remain on the payroll as a consultant.

“The key to winning this campaign is being able to capture Ed Zschau as he is in person, that magic,” Smith said. “We have been trying to find someone who can do it, and Sig has done it.”

Rogich, 42, who was vacationing with his family and could not be reached, has also done commercials for Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.) and is doing the ads for James Santini, the Republican who is seeking the seat of Laxalt, who is retiring.

Not Capturing Charisma

Rogich was primarily responsible for the 30-minute, lushly filmed, sentimental campaign movie done for Reagan in 1984 and shown at the Republican Convention in Dallas, according to California consultant Doug Watts, who also worked on the film.

Although Smith denied that he is unhappy with the commercials being done by Riverbank, many of Zschau’s closest advisers have been concerned for some time that Riverbank was not getting on film the charisma that enabled Zschau to raise more than $3 million in the GOP primary.

One source in the campaign said that concern about the Zschau TV ads went beyond the accepted wisdom that modern campaigns in California are won on television. A major factor was a recent finding by the California Poll that Zschau, a two-term congressman from Los Altos, is not known by almost 50% of the voters.

Because the way Zschau will become known in the next two months is through a massive TV ad campaign, his advisers felt it was crucial to hire a new TV commercial consultant, the source said.

All of Zschau’s advisers give Riverbank credit for one important element in the candidate’s campaign to date--the firm came up with the TV commercials’ catchy pronunciation of Zschau’s name. In those ads, the candidate’s name comes onto the screen in bold, gleaming letters, and a voice-over pronounces it in a loud stage whisper: “Zschau!”

Tough Competition

“Riverbank saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars with that sound effect,” Smith said. “We would have had to run ads just teaching people how to pronounce Ed’s last name.”

Zschau’s TV commercials have had some tough competition from those done for his Democratic opponent, Sen. Alan Cranston.

Long before the Republicans chose Zschau as their nominee in June, Cranston consultants Robert Shrum, David Doak and Patrick Caddell made a series of slick commercials for Cranston, showing the senator on the job in Washington and in California. Even Zschau’s advisers have acknowledged that Cranston’s ads have set a tough standard.