New Ad Campaign Draws on Upbeat Aspects of L.A. : Marketing: Group’s goal is to make ambassadors of residents and business people. Critics say the promos are dull, mistargeted.

An ambitious, government-led advertising campaign to boost Los Angeles’ image gets under way today. The theme: “Together, we’re the best.”

The $4.5-million effort is being led by the New Los Angeles Marketing Partnership, a nonprofit organization whose members include the city and county of Los Angeles, the city of Long Beach and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

Mary Chambers, executive director of the partnership, said the campaign will feature TV, radio and print ads and will highlight “positive facts” about the region in an effort to give the people who live and work here something to crow about.

For example, one print ad depicts a cargo ship and proclaims that the Los Angeles area has the “busiest ports in the nation” and “some of the best surfing in the world.” The print ads include a toll-free number people can call to receive upbeat facts about Los Angeles.

Chambers said the goal is to turn residents and business people into “ambassadors for Los Angeles” before the partnership extends its campaign in an effort to attract new employers to the region.

The ads lack the exuberance of the MTV-style “I Love L.A.” Nike ad that aired during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and came to define the city’s attitude, at least for that period. The spot had singer Randy Newman “rollin’ down Imperial Highway” in a Buick convertible, with cameos by runner Mary Decker Slaney and tennis pro John McEnroe.

Brad A. Ball, president of Davis, Ball & Colombatto, the advertising agency that created the new ads, said he intentionally avoided ads featuring the Los Angeles lifestyle.

“There’s no shortage of images showing people living life to the fullest,” he said. “We didn’t want to make this a postcard of L.A., with every tourist image.”

But some people in the advertising industry said the ads may be too dull to be inspiring. In addition to the print ad for the ports, others boast of the city’s ethnic restaurants and another notes that Los Angeles is “one of the world’s leading design centers.”

“It sounds like what you get when you have advertising by committee,” Steve Beaumont, creative director for Ketchum Advertising in Los Angeles, said after being read a sampling of the print ads. “It sounds very dull and boring, frankly. The city has a personality that is being ignored.”

“Frankly, I think they are preaching to the converted,” said Bruce Silverman, president of Asher/Gould in Los Angeles. “People who already think L.A. is a great place want to hear good news.”