Small Wins Big at Awards for Ad Agencies
Small is getting very big in the ad business. So big, in fact, that a string of recent successes by smaller ad agencies could nudge the rest of the industry to return to its roots.
Thursday night, one small agency proved--for the second consecutive year--that it ranks among the giants in Southern California. Stein Robaire Helm, a 7-year-old agency, walked off with the West Coast’s premiere ad prize at the 28th annual Belding Awards. It won nine “Belding Bowls”--more than twice as many as any other firm. Last year the firm also won the most awards at the event, sponsored by the Advertising Club of Los Angeles.
In fact, the evening’s biggest winners were all small firms. Another tiny Venice agency, Livingston & Co., won five Belding Bowls--mostly for its anti-smoking ads. The next biggest winner--with four prizes for its offbeat print ads--was a Santa Ana-based agency, M Group/Acme Advertising, whose 27-year-old founder was working out of his parent’s living room a few years ago.
These results not only show that some of the best advertising is being created at small agencies but that these tiny agencies pose genuine threats to their larger rivals.
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Nationally, too, there has been a whirlwind of activity in recent months of big advertisers hiring smaller, creative ad shops. Earlier this week, Burger King dumped its giant agency and hired a much smaller firm. Coke was also so unhappy with its giant agency, McCann-Erickson, that it turned to the Beverly Hills talent firm, Creative Artists, for its ads--many of which are created by free-lancers. And several car makers--including the Saturn division of General Motors--have recently turned to smaller agencies for help.
“Larger clients are now going with the best agencies--no matter how small the shop,” said Steve Hayden, co-chairman of the Belding Awards and chairman of the Los Angeles office of BBDO Worldwide.
Although generally short on experience, small agencies are often deep on desire. And unlike giant ad firms, most small agencies guarantee that their top creative executives will review almost all work bearing their name. “Nothing goes out the door here that one of us (partners) doesn’t put our stamp of approval on,” said Jean Robaire, executive creative director of Stein Robaire.
All three of the agency’s partners were formerly with Chiat/Day, the huge Venice ad firm that used to sweep the Belding competition each year. Chiat/Day, which won two Belding Bowls on Thursday, has grown in 26 years from a tiny boutique into a $1-billion international agency.
Like many small ad shops, Stein Robaire is regarded as an agency on the edge. The big prize at Thursday night’s ceremony--the “Sweepstakes” bowl--was awarded to the firm for an offbeat magazine ad it created for a former client, the maker of Teva sandals. The ad, which shows a young man sail boarding, features only the lower half of his body--and focuses on his sandals. A small headline next to the flashy photo says: “When you die, they’ll put you in a nice suit and shiny shoes. As if death doesn’t suck enough already.”
While the ad campaign ran last year, sales increased 63%, said Jean McPherson, marketing manager for Deckers Outdoor Corp., which is the licensee for Teva.
But ads by small agencies can sometimes be too edgy for clients. For example, one of Stein Robaire’s newest clients, Wienerschnitzel, recently rejected this self-mocking ad slogan that the agency suggested: “The only restaurant where you have reservations after you eat.”
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But perhaps no small agency turned more heads Thursday night than M Group/Acme Advertising, a one-man shop from Santa Ana that won four Belding Bowls.
“At large agencies, good ideas often get diluted down before the client even sees them,” said Sakol Mongkolkasetarin, who was laid off from two shuttered Orange County agencies before setting up his own ad shop two years ago.
Mongkolkasetarin won awards for print ads he created for Pacific Snax Corp., which makes rice cake snacks shaped like popcorn. The headline to the ad reads: “Imagine if Uncle Ben married Orville Redenbacher.”
