Welcome to the Ad Industry’s ‘Field of Dreams’

The ultimate dream of many people in the advertising business is to see their commercials broadcast during the World Series.

But there are other Los Angeles ad people who harbor far different World Series dreams. Some of them will soon be playing in it.

No, they won’t crack the starting lineups in next month’s World Series. Rather, they will be playing in the Advertising Softball World Series sponsored by the trade magazine Adweek. Some people might shrug their shoulders at this and ask, “Who cares?” But within the highly competitive world of advertising, the answer is, just about everyone seems to.

“I don’t know how to put this,” said Richard Edler, general manager of the Los Angeles office of the ad firm McCann-Erickson, “but I’d bet there are some agencies in town that hire new people by asking if they can play softball first, and if they can write second.” Edler has shown enough interest in his own agency’s softball team to charter a bus that each week takes the 23-person team to and from games.

Virtually every major ad agency in Los Angeles--from Chiat/Day/Mojo to Hakuhodo Advertising--has a team in the league. There are also several teams composed of employees from various Los Angeles area magazines and newspapers. Many of the agencies and media companies even foot the bills for their teams--which can exceed $2,500 annually.

The man who oversees the annual softball tournament says that he isn’t at all surprised by the intensity of the competition. “In a way, playing softball is an extension of the ad business,” said Michael Meiches, president of Diamond Ad-Ventures, a Santa Monica marketing firm. “Everyone is swinging for the fences.”

Indeed, in the Los Angeles advertising community, a strong throwing arm can be as vital a credential for employment as a strong creative ability. “It is no secret,” said Meiches, commissioner of the Advertising Softball World Series and commissioner of the Los Angeles Advertising Softball Leauge, “that come springtime, if you’re looking for a job in the advertising business in Los Angeles, someone is likely to look at your resume and see if you’ve listed softball among your hobbies.”

Next week, a planeload of Los Angeles area ad employees--ranging from people who create ads to people who print brochures for agencies--will be flying to Orlando, Fla., for the Advertising Softball World Series. For three of the past six years, teams from the city of Los Angeles have won the championship. And this year, Los Angeles is a slight favorite to win once again.

But more is at stake then some fun in the Florida sun. In Los Angeles alone, about 1,288 players from 53 different teams began competing this spring at just about the same time the Dodgers and Angels started their seasons. Now, 103 of them will be representing Los Angeles in the five-day, round-robin softball tournament.

Advertisers seem to show as much interest in this competition as the agencies do. The program for this event is more than 350 pages thick and includes more than 200 pages of advertising, with ads from such national advertisers as Coke, Ford and Del Monte.

And the competing ad agencies have placed some spirited--if not vulgar--ads in the program book themselves. A full-page ad in last year’s book, for the softball team representing the San Francisco office of J. Walter Thompson, featured this headline: “Other teams often ask us how many games we’ve won in the past three years.” Under that headline is a photo of a baseball mitt with only the middle finger outstretched. The photo seems to suggest not only how many games J. Walter Thompson won but also how the agency felt about their one win, which came as the result of a forfeit.

Yet another ad from the agency Della Femina, McNamee WCRS pictures the head of agency Chairman Jerry Della Femina superimposed over a muscular man’s body dressed only in a pair of briefs. Says the headline: “Jim Palmer, Eat Your Heart Out.”

Adweek, the trade magazine that competes fiercely with rival Advertising Age, has managed to one-up the competition by sponsoring the popular softball tournament since 1984. Adweek declined to reveal the annual fee it pays to sponsor the softball World Series--although it is believed to be well into five figures. The total bill for last year’s softball tournament in Newport Beach exceeded $400,000, said Meiches.

“What better way to network than on the softball field?” posed W. Pendleton Tudor, chairman of the executive committee of ASM Communications, which publishes Adweek.

“It’s a chance to not only get to know people on your own team, but also at other agencies,” said Joe R. Eisaman III, chairman of the Los Angeles agency Eisaman, Johns & Laws Advertising. “Someday, they could be working for you.”

The ad firm Chiat/Day/Mojo has consistently fielded one of the best softball teams each year. And some agency creatives--who say Chiat/Day/Mojo often beats them in competition for new ad business--also say that they take special pleasure in occasionally beating the agency on the softball diamond.

“People have not only landed jobs by playing in this league,” said Henry Antosz, vice president and media director at Chiat/Day/Mojo and captain of his agency’s team, “but it has also resulted in people falling in love--and probably caused some divorces.”

At Western International Media, which is one of the West Coast’s largest independent media buyers, the players get together for a “team lunch” each game day.

“It translates into morale,” said Dennis Holt, the company president who picked up the tab for his team’s road trip to Las Vegas several years ago. Holt, who went to USC on a baseball scholarship--but admits to never starting in a varsity game--doesn’t play with his company’s team.

“I’m too old,” explained the 45-year-old Holt. “And I can’t go to my left anymore.”

Coca-Cola Casting Call Reunites War Buddies

There’s often no telling what will happen during the casting of a commercial.

And few know that better than Dennis Gallegos, whose Hollywood casting company, Tepper/Gallegos, has recently cast more than 20 Latinos for two Spanish-language Coca-Cola commercials created by Coke’s Latino firm, Sosa Advertising of San Antonio.

Instead of using actors and singers, Coke asked Gallegos to find Latinos with significant accomplishments outside the entertainment industry. Among those he found was Alvaro Joaquin Villa, whose Valencia company, AVG Productions, manufactures mechanical robots. And in the commercial, one of the robots carries a Coke in its mechanical “hands.”

When the company was casting for Latino veterans of World War II, an unexpected reunion occurred. A Latino bomber pilot and a ground crewman who served together in the war met up at the casting session. “They hadn’t seen each other since the war,” said Gallegos. “Now they’re good friends again.”

Pepsi Ad in Spanish Wins Hispanic Award

Who needs Madonna?

A Pepsi commercial that featured Latino pop star Chayanne using a bottle of Pepsi to magically light a dark stage last week won the top prize at a Latino marketing trade show in Los Angeles.

The commercial won the “Ad of the Year Award” presented by Se Habla Espanol at the National Hispanic Market Trade Show. The commercial was the first Spanish-language spot ever run on English-language network television. Pepsi ran the spot during the Grammy Award telecast in February.

Mall Sponsors Contest for Aspiring Ad Artists

Looking for that big break in advertising? Well, here’s an unusual chance for one talented art student--enrolled in college in Los Angeles County--to make an early mark in the ad business.

Beverly Center, the upscale shopping mall on the Westside, is sponsoring an competition that will feature an illustration drawn by a college student in its Christmas print ad campaign.

The winning illustration will appear in ads in a number of magazines and newspapers, including L.A. Style, Los Angeles magazine and the Los Angeles Times. It will also appear on several billboards. The winning artist will receive a $500 prize and the winning artist’s school will receive a $2,000 scholarship.

The illustrations must relate to the theme, “Beverly Center Defines the Art of Shopping and Dining,” and include the name “Beverly Center” in them. They should also have a seasonal theme. The illustrations--which should have no other written copy--must be received by the Beverly Center or its agency, David/Scott Advertising, by Friday.

“For most students,” said Gayle Kantro, marketing director at Beverly Center, “it’s a chance to have their work published commercially before many of them would ever get the chance.”

Off-Track Wagering Account Goes to Suissa

David Suissa is getting to be a real gambler.

Already, his Los Angeles ad agency, Suissa & Associates, creates ads for the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. And last week it was handed the $1-million advertising business of Southern California Off-Track Wagering Inc. The company sends live broadcasts of Hollywood Park racing to various fairgrounds and other locations throughout Southern California.

How to interest more people in off-track wagering? Well, Suissa is betting on an ad campaign that appeals to the laziness in many of us. “Instead of schlepping an hour and a half to the track,” said David Suissa, president of the agency, “why not go around the corner and see the race?”

Meanwhile, Suissa, who also held the post of creative director since he founded the agency in 1985, has now agreed to share that title with Michael Albright, former vice president and creative director at the Shalek Agency, who just joined Suissa. Albright helped create award-winning campaigns for Ocean Pacific and KABC Talkradio.

With a creative director now on hand, how will Suissa now be spending his time at the agency? “I’ll check for typos in ads,” said Suissa. “And I’ll cook.”

Pioneer Electronics Selects S.F. Agency

Pioneer Electronics has awarded its $10-million account to the San Francisco agency Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein.

Goodby will create advertising for the Japanese company’s consumer electronic products as well as computer software developed by Pioneer LDCA. The account was formerly handled by the Torrance office of Saatchi & Saatchi/DFS Pacific.