For World Cup Entrepreneur, a Banner Year : Advertising: Sign maker Gold Graphics rebuilds its quake-jolted business in time to publicize the international soccer extravaganza.

Al Gold’s sign business is getting only a small piece of the economic bounty that Southern California is expected to collect from the World Cup.

But that piece may have kept his business alive. Gold Graphics Manufacturing Co. in Pacoima produces “point-of-purchase” advertising for everything from gas stations to banks.

Late last year, his firm won a contract to supply promotional banners for the soccer extravaganza. By the time the first game kicks off June 17, about 50,000 will festoon light poles in the nine host cities, including Los Angeles. Gold’s revenue from the World Cup deal could pass $2 million.

Gold had hardly started work on the project when the Northridge earthquake decimated his leased factory, and his equipment damage was not covered by insurance. The future of the company he founded in 1951 was at stake.

Should he wait for federal emergency funds, and risk losing customers in the meantime, or do whatever it took to keep the assembly line going? He took the second step and leased new quarters a block away--and financed the move out of cash flow from the World Cup banners.

Gold’s potential $2-million project is only a fraction of the estimated $310 million that the World Cup is expected to generate for the greater Los Angeles economy. But, Gold said, “it was a lifeline for us.”

Not only was the company able to recover from the quake, but Gold’s regular business kept growing, and with the World Cup project he now expects record sales this year. And Gold, 66, is also hoping that the World Cup connection will go on to raise the profile of his family business, which employs two nephews, a son-in-law and a stepson.

Consumers tend to notice the message of a point-of-purchase display in their local store, but not the display itself. At a supermarket there might be a big cardboard advertisement standing next to a stack of Coke cans. “Nobody notices the display, but they do notice the 99 Coca-Cola six-pack,” Gold said.

The World Cup project is a lot easier for Gold to explain to outsiders. “Nobody really knew what I did for a living,” Gold said. “They thought I was a flag manufacturer for car lots. It’s a subliminal company.”

The industry itself is somewhat subliminal--indeed, point-of-purchase is sometimes referred to as “below-the-line” advertising. Some call it the last three feet of the sale, a reference to the distance from the display shelf to the customer’s hand.

Despite its low profile, point-of-purchase is big business in the United States--worth $15.7 billion in 1992, according to the Point-of-Purchase Advertising Institute in Englewood, N.J. Some firms offer specific services, such as design or printing, while others, like Gold Graphics, offer full service from planning to installation.

Gold, an avuncular New York native whose office is decorated with his collection of antique cameras, made his first signs at home and sold them out of his car. His first customer, an auto-polish firm, bought $800 worth. “That put me in the black, and I’ve been there ever since,” he said.

*

After renting a $90-a-month store on Venice Boulevard, he persuaded his identical twin brother, Don, then a lingerie salesman, to join the business. They still share ownership of the company, and Don serves as president.

Their business grew thanks to the big oil companies, including Chevron and Unocal, that used Gold Graphics to promote their products at gas stations. At one time, the company, which moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1961, had branch offices in New York and Houston.

Then came the energy crisis of the early 1970s, which prompted diversification. “I realized we were vulnerable by being so heavily concentrated in one industry,” Gold said. The firm found new customers in automobiles, supermarkets, retail, electronics and financial services.

Sports events weren’t part of the plan. But when the Olympics came to Los Angeles in 1984, the designers of the Games’ visual packaging--many of whom had worked with Gold Graphics on corporate promotions--called on Gold’s expertise. The firm eventually got half the contracts for banners and signs at Olympic venues.

“I was kind of burned out” from the sign business, Gold said. “But the ’84 Olympics rejuvenated me.” Gold followed up on the Games’ success, for example installing banners on city light poles for the last two Super Bowls, in Pasadena and Atlanta, and for cultural events at the Music Center and Hollywood Bowl. And rather than rely on cities to foot the bill, he persuaded corporations to pay from $150 to $250 a pole to sponsor banners celebrating the event.

Customers attribute much of Gold’s success to customer service. “He has a saying, ‘The urgent, you do today, the impossible, you did yesterday,’ ” said Cindy Hearn, Unocal’s advertising manager in Brea. “We can always depend on him.”

In 1993, Gold, who employs 135 people ranging from computer graphics designers to screen printers, had record sales. To cap the year, he got the World Cup contract. Gold approached World Cup USA 1994 Chairman Alan Rothenberg with the concept of having sponsors for light pole banners. “He thought it was a great idea.”

It was the company’s largest project to date. Gold put his nephew Andy, 29, in charge of coordinating the project.

And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

That’s because the Northridge quake left Gold’s 50,000-square-foot factory a shambles, the ceiling caved in, banners strewn over the floor and machinery broken. He estimates the damage at $1.5 million, including lost equipment and inventory.

The federal Small Business Administration agreed to provide an emergency loan of $1.3 million, but Gold could not wait around for the money to come in. Within days, he moved operations to a building that the Adray’s discount electronics chain had recently used as a warehouse. “We didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

The building needed extensive refurbishing, $300,000 alone for a new electrical system. But Gold’s staff filled orders, improvising when necessary--they used electric fans to dry banners when there was no gas to fuel drying ovens--and the World Cup cash started rolling in.

Each city light pole for the World Cup can carry four three-by-eight-foot reinforced plastic banners, featuring the sponsor’s name below a soccer player graphic. Gold would not disclose the exact value of the Cup deal, but sponsors, including such companies as Coca-Cola Co., M&M-Mars; Inc. and MasterCard, are paying around $200 a pole.

If, as he expects, banners for 12,500 poles are sold, that would yield up to $2.5 million in revenues for Gold Graphics.

Both World Cup organizers and sponsors said the earthquake hardly appeared to affect Gold’s production. “We were very impressed with the speed with which they were able to get back up and running,” said Frank Cardenas, director of governmental affairs for World Cup USA 1994.

“They were very quick to assure us that from their end of the operation, it would be seamless,” said David Casey, events marketing manager for Coca-Cola in Los Angeles. “That was very comforting for us.”

As Gold prepared to install the World Cup banners, he faced another hurdle: Would the city of Los Angeles charge its standard permit fee of $46 a pole?

For Los Angeles, the fees could have raised up to $184,000. But for Gold, they raised the prospect of sponsors cutting back on the banner program to save money.

None of the other host cities are charging permit fees. After intensive lobbying, the City Council voted May 18 to waive the fees.

Once the World Cup is over, he will be at work producing banners for other sporting events, including the 1995 Super Bowl in Miami and the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

And while he ultimately plans to hand over the company to the younger family members, he has no plans to retire soon.

Added his nephew Andy: “All the activity that’s been going on lately has kind of juiced him up.”