Davis Elen Advertising has an out-of-the-box way to make Los Angeles a pro football kind of town again: Make the San Diego Chargers the favorite team for local fans.
The downtown L.A.-based media-buying agency recently won the account for the Chargers, the nearest National Football League franchise to Los Angeles. Jim Kelly, a partner at Davis Elen, said the team sells a lot of season tickets in the Inland Empire. Ticket sales in Los Angeles have been modest, but have climbed in recent years.
“The fans are starved for football,” Kelly told the Business Journal. “Since Los Angeles and Orange County don’t have professional teams, the Chargers are really the only destination for NFL enthusiasts in all of Southern California.”
The team selected Davis Elen because the agency promised to negotiate lower media prices, Kelly said, by grouping the team with other big clients such as McDonald’s and Toyota.
The account will include a Latino effort handled by Castells & Asociados, a Davis Elen sister agency that’s also based in downtown Los Angeles.
What if Los Angeles gets a team next year? Kelly said he’ll still be able to sell the Chargers because it’s a top-tier franchise.
Also, Davis Elen will try to get the Chargers more editorial coverage on L.A.-based sports media such as ESPN and Clear Channel radio stations.
“We are going to use all our Los Angeles and San Diego connections to get more exposure for the players, which will help in turn to sell tickets,” Kelly said.
Hispanic Harrah’s
Walton Isaacson is the new Hispanic agency for Harrah’s Entertainment, the Las Vegas casino operator.
Based on the Miracle Mile, Walton Isaacson was formed as an African-American agency backed by Earvin “Magic” Johnson. The agency recently hired Rochelle Newman-Carrasco, former chief executive at Hispanic shop Enlace Communications, to get more business in the Hispanic market.
The move exemplifies a trend of agencies to fully integrate their ethnic businesses instead of keeping them in separate divisions.
Walton Isaacson won the business thanks to its experience connecting niche audiences with expensive products. For example, the agency recently won a Telly award for a campaign on behalf of Lexus targeting African-American car buyers.
“We immediately knew Walton Isaacson was the right agency to propel our Hispanic marketing efforts forward as they were able to demonstrate past successes with luxury brands, a sound approach to the challenges presented and attention to detail,” Marty Turman, director of multicultural marketing at Harrah’s, said in a statement.
Flowery Display
Greenroad Media, a company that puts floral arrangements along public freeways on behalf of corporate sponsors, has a new installation at the Pasadena Museum of California Art.
The so-called Floralscape, sponsored by Toyota and its agency Saatchi & Saatchi LA, is an indoor miniature replica of the freeway flower beds Greenroad has installed showing a Toyota Prius. The exhibit will run through Nov. 1 as part of the museum’s show on how California designers are responding to current economical, political and environmental challenges.
Manhattan Beach-based Greenroad has installed similar Prius images along the Pasadena (110), Century (105), Santa Monica (10), San Diego (405), Ventura (101) and Pomona (60) freeways in Los Angeles County.
Agencies & Accounts
Deutsch LA has hired former Oracle executive Paul Pedrazzi as director of digital strategy, a new position at the ad agency. Pedrazzi will be responsible for interpreting customer behavior on the Internet and then assisting to develop and execute digital campaigns. … Feed Co., a Hollywood-based firm that places marketing videos on blogs and social networks, is helping Ford Motor Co. with its Fiesta Project, a series of eight YouTube videos. Feed Co. has “seeded” more than 125 videos for agencies such as BBDO and Goodby Silverstein & Partners. … Direct-response agency Media Design Group in Santa Monica has hired Matt Peterson to manage the agency’s short-form TV commercial department. He comes to the job from Icon Media Direct, where he worked on the OxiClean, Space Bag and Proactiv accounts. … Carl Terzian, chairman of West L.A. PR agency Carl Terzian Associates, was named the honorary co-chairman for National Philanthropy Day, a Nov. 9 celebration sponsored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Greater Los Angeles Chapter. … Connor Swegle has joined Hollywood-based commercial production company Troika Design Group with the title of executive producer. Swegle will work on Troika’s key entertainment accounts: ESPN, Discovery Networks and EA Sports. He comes to Troika from animation studio Click 3X Entertainment in New York.
Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.
