Golden Orange--a Coveted Crop : County Ad, PR Firms Believe Awards Lead to Business

When the Salvati Montgomery Sakoda Inc. advertising agency picked up several “Golden Orange” awards Tuesday night, one of the company’s partners knew the prizes meant more than peer recognition. With extra effort, the agency could parlay the Orange County advertising awards to win new business.

This year, the Santa Ana-based agency won three of the “Oranges,” the Orange County Advertising Federation’s top prize. Scott Montgomery, vice president and copy writer for the agency, remembered that last year’s “numerous awards” attracted potential customers. “You get hot that way,” said Montgomery.

The 125 Golden Oranges and certificates of excellence awarded by the advertising group can help strengthen relations with existing clients, drum up interest in new clients and attract top talent for the agency. For individual artists, designers and writers, they may add clout to a resume and portfolio. This year, the contest drew a record 601 entries from Orange County advertising companies in categories ranging from print ads to television and radio commercials.

But the awards do not necessarily mean more business and instant success.

“Some of the clients like to boast how many awards their agency has won,” said Ron Taft, creative director for Ervin/Taft Advertising and Public Relations of Newport Beach. But winning a Golden Orange means more to other advertising agencies than to clients, he added. The Golden Orange itself carries little weight with businesses outside of Orange County, many of the participants said. Nationally, the Clio competition is the premiere award in the advertising industry, and attracts entries from billion-dollar agencies.

R. Lynn Livingston, president of Cochrane Chase Livingston & Co. Inc.--Orange County’s largest ad agency, with billings of $55 million--said although many clients like awards, “results are where it’s at.”

Cochrane Chase itself has not entered the Orange County contest in three years because, Livingston said, the firm ended up dominating its smaller competitors for several years.

But with large international advertising agencies from New York, London and Los Angeles setting up shop in Orange County, the local agencies “want to muster all the ammunition they can get,” said one advertising agency executive. A Golden Orange award is just another weapon an agency can use in the battle for clients.

Promote the Winnings

Like Hollywood movies studios touting the number of Academy Awards and nominations garnered by their films, most advertising agencies are quick to promote their winnings to new and existing clients.

The main purpose of the awards, however, is to recognize the creative talent displayed by the agencies during the past year. In the running at Tuesday’s ceremony were entries featuring everything from disk drives to chocolate bon-bons, from national promotions for a car company to local advertisements for a dry cleaners.

Before the ceremony began, more than 500 guests snaked their way through a maze of eight-foot-high white cardboard walls on which the entries were displayed. As they balanced wine glasses in one hand and passed out business cards with the other, the guests scrutinized headlines, peered at illustrations and jotted down the names of worthy talent.

“You get inspired,” said Taft, of the numerous entries. “They help improve the caliber of advertising overall.”

For Mark Schrimmer, a copy director at Jansen Associates Inc. of Newport Beach, the awards “are kind of silly” in that they don’t consider how effective the ads were. “But it’s nice to get recognition.”

But Chuck Silverman, senior vice president and executive creative director for the Fountain Valley office of Cunningham & Walsh, says the awards do help agencies gain new business. His firm was one of the big winners Tuesday night; its staff picked up eight Golden Oranges.

“Absolutely . . . . It’s not an automatic guarantee that you are going to get new business, but everybody wants to be associated with good work and a winner,” Silverman said.

Cunningham & Walsh spent $350 in entry fees for the contest. “A lot of people spend more than that on lunch in this business,” Silverman added.

Before any dust builds up on the wooden plaque bearing the Golden Orange, the agencies will promote the award to old and new clients through direct mail campaigns, word of mouth and trade magazine publicity. “We merchandise that to the hilt,” Silverman said.

Ron Beach of Creative Press in Anaheim said, “A plaque on the wall is often prestigious when a customer comes in. If you win an award for a client, that would help the bond there. Especially with all the competition.”

Lari Bergstrom, a sales representative for Crown Printing of Fullerton, said, “When I call on clients, I take a sample of what we have won. They are usually impressed that you have won an award.”

If the agencies cannot attract new clients with a slew of awards, they might have a better chance in attracting talent from other agencies. Awards “tend to attract good people,” said Dean Gerrie of Guzman/Gerrie Advertising in Tustin.

For the individual artists and writers, a Golden Orange on a resume can attract attention from other agencies. As the awards ceremony droned on, the list of people cited--creative directors, art directors, copy writers, designers and production managers--became almost overwhelming. But Montgomery of Salvati Montgomery Sakoda Inc. listens. “You want the names that keep coming up,” he said.