Ad Boost for Art Village

Eager to polish its image and promote its emerging Artists Village but short on cash, Santa Ana is billing itself to Southern California as “The Place for Art” on an artist’s budget.

Larry Yenglin, the city’s redevelopment project manager, has an advertising budget of only $30,000 a year, but that didn’t stop him from thinking prime time.

Yenglin, taking advantage of an offer by KCBS-TV Channel 2 for Orange County businesses, scored seven 15-second advertising spots to promote the Artists Village for $1,500.

City officials were thrilled because they want to bring more people downtown and show that Santa Ana is more than a magnet for immigrants. In the commercials, they get to explain, albeit quickly, that Santa Ana also is a place for artistic creation.

With no money to film an advertisement, Yenglin planned to put the city’s “A Place for Art” logo on a photograph of the Bowers Museum and Discovery Science Center. Creating a commercial can cost upward of $250,000.

He mentioned his plan to Joe Duffy, president of Santa Ana ad agency Truth and Advertising, who markets the Artists Village and its studios, restaurants and shops for a $20,000 annual fee, about $8,000 of which comes from Yenglin’s advertising budget. Duffy had his employees come up with the ideas for the commercials, and asked contractors to donate their time to make them. Santa Monica-based production company G & M Plumbing brought in a 15-member crew, including a director, cameramen and lighting. Harley’s House of Santa Monica donated editing work.

The results are the spots that will appear on CBS next week and the following week. The spots will air during the day, but exact times haven’t been set.

Duffy wanted an abstract representation of the city and its nascent art scene for the promotional spots. He decided to use real people and put out a casting call at the city’s public works yard. Twenty employees auditioned.

“When you cast real people, it’s going to be really great or really bad,” Duffy said. “We hit pay dirt--these guys are better than actors.”

In one of the spots, equipment operator Miguel Gonzalez splatters paint as if he were Jackson Pollock and says, “It’s like I completely lose control. Inspiration overpowers me, and the paint just speaks for itself.”

The logo, “Santa Ana, a Place for Art,” flashes on screen. Then his boss yells, “Get back to work!” and Gonzalez is shown painting a stop sign.

In the second advertisement, maintenance worker Mike Blackmore lets down his long mane to recite a passage from “Hamlet” before returning to his sweeping.