Seattle Agency, Creator of Alaska Airline Ads, to Open Office in L.A.

The ad agency that put Alaska Airlines on the map now plans to place itself in the Los Angeles atlas by opening an office here.

Livingston & Co., the Seattle agency that creates those passengers-as-saps ads for Alaska Airlines and the 1950s-themed ads for In-N-Out Burger, will open in Los Angeles by Jan. 1.

“You cannot ignore Los Angeles and practice advertising in Western America,” said Roger Livingston, the president and chief executive who will move here to oversee the office.

Although 7-year-old Livingston & Co. is regarded as one of the top firms in Seattle, its move to Los Angeles comes at a precarious time. The ad industry is in a deep slump. Three Los Angeles ad firms have closed since Jan. 1.

“I think they’re going to be shocked at the competitive level in this market,” said Gene Cameron, president of BBDO/Los Angeles. “They’ve got to find some point of distinction.”

Livingston, 54, insists that his agency will do just that. He says he will strip most management layers and operate the Los Angeles office more as a “workshop.” Instead of using a commission system, the office expects to write contracts for individual projects. Livingston said he regards this office as a prototype that, if successful, could be duplicated in Northeast.

“The agency that looks, acts and smells like a law firm is passe,” said Livingston, who plans to eventually lease space in a refurbished warehouse. “The days of agencies trying to look like their most prosperous clients are over.”

For the hundreds of laid-off agency employees in Los Angeles, Livingston’s move is a glimmer of hope. The firm plans to hire about a dozen employees. But for the mass of local agencies fighting desperately for new business, the additional competition is hardly welcome news.

“A lot of agencies see a large pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in Los Angeles,” said Larry Postaer, executive vice president at Rubin Postaer & Associates. “But the funny thing is, it never rains here and there is no rainbow.”

Two years ago, Livingston opened a San Francisco office that has struggled for business. But that has not stopped plans to move to Los Angeles. He had hoped to enter the market by purchasing the agency Keye/Donna/Pearlstein, a very creative shop that has run into a spate of bad luck over the past few years. Those negotiations, however, fell through.

With annual billings of about $50 million and little room to grow in Seattle, Livingston decided to make the move anyway. Besides, In-N-Out Burger, its Baldwin Park-based client that spends $5 million annually on advertising, is poised for growth.

To show he is serious about the market, Livingston will move to Los Angeles. “If you go into New York or Los Angeles, you’d better send the guy whose name is on the door,” he said.

Nearly two decades ago, Livingston cut his teeth in the ad business in Los Angeles as a copywriter for what’s now Chiat/Day/Mojo. He was later sent to Seattle to open Chiat/Day’s first branch office and, in 1981, he purchased the unit. Now, he will be competing with Chiat/Day head-on.

“Roger is an advertising aficionado,” said Jay Chiat, Chiat/Day/Mojo chairman. “He’ll contribute to raising the creative standards in the marketplace.”

Livingston may be best known for the more than 30 TV commercials it has created for client Alaska Airlines over the past 12 years. Most of the spots feature off-the-wall examples of what can happen to people who fly other airlines. One ad showed a guy whose pants and shirt are literally sucked off at baggage check-in. Another featured a man who runs up and down the aisles of a plane pleading with passengers for change for the pay toilet.

Although regarded by many peers as a bubbling optimist, Livingston can also be a realist. “I believe advertising is a real simple business,” he said. “It’s still a couple of guys sitting in a room dredging their minds for an original way to say something.”