In his television ads, Bob Hertzberg loomed large over the people, roads and schools of Los Angeles. But the former state Assembly speaker’s splashy commercials were not enough to overcome a big deficit in name recognition.
Political consultants found no fault with Hertzberg’s unorthodox strategies, which included going on television earlier than his rivals, spending more money on his Web site and airing creative ads (even if blowing himself up to giant size drew some snickers and references to “Bobzilla”).
“It got mixed reviews,” said Joe Cerrell, chairman of the Los Angeles-based consulting firm Cerrell Associates Inc. “As a political science professor, I would give it a B. On creativity, maybe an A. As the nurse said to the doctor, ‘It’s the best operation I’ve ever seen. It’s a shame the patient died.'”
Hertzberg’s campaign was the brainchild of Steve Murphy of Murphy Putnam Media Inc. near Washington, D.C. Top vote-getter Antonio Villaraigosa went with D.C. firm Doak, Carrier, O’Donnell and Associates LLC for his ads, while incumbent James Hahn relied on his longtime ad-maker, Bill Carrick of Morris & Carrick in Los Angeles.
Carrick, who has known Murphy from their days together on Rep. Dick Gephardt’s run for president in the 1980s, credited Hertzberg for running a clever campaign with less money than his major rivals.
“The Hertzberg people used their resources well,” Carrick said. “Although there were some people who didn’t like the ‘Bobzilla’ ads, he had to do something memorable to break out of the box.”
The five major candidates spent more than $10 million, with about two-thirds of the total going toward television advertising, according to filings with the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission.
Hahn spent $3.5 million and Villaraigosa $2.6 million on largely conventional TV campaigns.
John Crosson, president of the Los Angeles office of Grey Worldwide LLC, an advertising firm that counts BMW and City National Bank among its clients (but no politicians), said the candidates fell into the familiar pattern of attacking each other and reeling off statistics without attempting to forge an emotional connection with voters.
“I’ll give Hertzberg credit at least for putting out a memorable ad,” Crosson said. “But, obviously, he didn’t create a connection with voters based on the fact that he didn’t win. People are so busy in political advertising shouting at each other that they don’t take the time to sit down with the voters and say, ‘I’m going to communicate with you.'”
Allan Hoffenblum, owner of Allan Hoffenblum & Associates, a Los Angeles-based political consulting firm, said Hertzberg’s ads helped raise his citywide profile from virtually nothing to a strong third-place finish.
“(Hertzberg) started off early to create some name recognition and some credibility and started a little momentum,” he said. “The other thing was how focused they were. You knew where Hertzberg stood on breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District, coordinating traffic and hiring police without raising taxes.”
His decision to hit the television airwaves Feb. 1 two weeks earlier than Hahn and Villaraigosa got some early notice, but at the cost of other candidates appropriating his themes, said George McQuade, executive vice president of Los Angeles-based Mayo Communications.
“The problem is, (Hertzberg) came out with his thunder quick and early and everybody else started copying him and saying the same stuff,” McQuade said. “Everybody copied everybody else when they had something new.”
