Irvine Agency Wins Two Top Ad Awards
Ad agency dGWB of Irvine took top honors in both the print and broadcast categories Saturday at the Orange County Advertising Federation’s annual awards ceremony.
The agency won Best of Show awards for its ongoing newspaper ads featuring the Wienerschnitzel dachshund and for the humorous “Balcony” television spots it created for cell phone maker Qualcomm Inc.
The television ad--which ran during the 1998 Super Bowl--features a man on a balcony with his cell phone who mistakenly thinks he’s the focus of a cheering crowd on the street below.
DGWB also received the Judges’ Special Recognition Award for art direction for “Chaos,” a trade campaign produced for Costa Mesa-based FileNet Corp.
The contest draws entries from Orange County-based advertising agencies, clients, vendors and freelancers.
The group presented its Cochrane Chase Lifetime Achievement Award to Phil Salvati, Scott Montgomery and Ken Sakoda. They founded Salvati, Montgomery, Sakoda Inc., which merged with Bozell Worldwide in 1993 to become the county’s largest ad agency.
The Costa Mesa offices of Bozell Worldwide picked up the highest number of awards for the night, including six golds for campaigns created for Freeman Cosmetics and Kawasaki Jet Skis. The firm also won 11 silver awards.
Another major winner was al Punto, a Huntington Beach agency that created print, television and radio spots in Spanish for Disneyland, Miller Brewing Co. and LCI International. The agency won seven awards.
Also collecting gold awards were McElroy Communications in Newport Beach, for its Vans shoes sales promotion; Side Show Advertising in Huntington Beach, a television ad for the Fullerton Museum Center; Newport Beach-based Lawrence & Mayo, for its Fatburger checkout counter display; G2 in Huntington Beach for its Mitsubishi television ad; and DAL Design, for posters it produced for Spanky’s, an adult video store.
The winners are eligible to compete in regional and national contests that begin next month.
The annual contest, held at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Tennis Club, was emceed by comedian Doug E. Doug, a regular on the “Cosby” television show.
