The actors’ strike has made life more complicated for some of OC’s largest advertisers and their ad shops.
Three weeks ago, the two striking actors unions targeted the Irvine-based Lincoln Mercury division of Ford Motor Company at a shoot in Palm Springs where the automaker’s agency, Young & Rubicam, also of Irvine, had hired an Anglo stunt driver and painted his face black to portray a black driver.
It’s a bone of contention for unions that want to put an end to the practice as part of a new employment contract. The shoot was disrupted by strikers and subsequently Lincoln Mercury announced it would halt production of commercials for its 2001 models until the strike is resolved. Ford also called off its plans for a corporate image campaign.
Tom Mattia, vice president of public affairs at Lincoln Mercury, said a few TV spots supporting 2001 models were completed and were scheduled to run at the end of the summer, but none will air until the strike is settled. The 2000 campaign will run through the end of the summer.
“We don’t want to be an emotional touch point in the middle of a labor dispute,” Mattia said. “It’s better to stop production and let both sides talk. We want everyone to get back to work If the strike is not settled, it will have an impact on us because we will not have fresh ads for our new product line.”
Gerry Tschopp, director of marketing at Y & R;’s Burson-Marsteller unit, downplayed the effect of the work stoppage on Young & Rubicam, OC’s largest advertising agency with $568 million in yearly billings.
“There’s still creativity and development, we are just not producing commercials,” Tschopp said.
Other big advertisers say they, too, have halted production, but if the strike drags on too long they will have to find alternatives to union talent.
“We haven’t produced any new spots since the strike, but we may need to look at other alternatives, including going out of the country or hiring independent producers that use non-union talent,” said Suzi Brown, director of public relations at CKE Restaurants Inc., Anaheim.
The company’s Hardee’s restaurant chain already had produced a batch of commercials in March, but its Carl’s Jr. brand has been rerunning its “Without us some guys would starve” and its “Don’t bother me I’m eating” TV spots.
“We launched the new Sourdough Ranch cheeseburger in the beginning of June, but it’s not how we wanted to introduce a new product,” she said.
Doner, Newport Beach, which handles Irvine-based Mazda North American Operation’s $200 million advertising account, completed production of its new “Zoom Zoom” branding campaign just two days before the strike began, said Sheldon Cohn, director of broadcast production.
“When we were shooting the new Mazda ‘Zoom Zoom’ campaign, we had to take precautions because we didn’t know when the strike would start,” Cohn said. “We cast both union and non-union talent and we were ready to go with non-union talent, but we were able to finish the shoot prior to the strike. A lot of agencies had to do dual casting because they didn’t know when the strike would start.”
Doner, which launched the campaign June 12, plans to resume its shooting schedule after the strike.
“This is the longest and loudest strike that I have experienced,” Cohn said. “It seems that both sides are so far apart. But our clients need to (advertise) products in some way, shape or form.”
FCB Southern California in Costa Mesa, OC’s second-largest advertising agency with $403 million in billings, has continued to produce work for its clients.
“Casting takes longer because we do have to cast non-union,” said Ann Davis, the shop’s broadcast business affairs manager. “We wish there wasn’t a strike and we are sensitive to both sides. It’s hurting the economy, the whole LA area, but we have to keep moving forward and producing commercials for our clients.”
Meanwhile, the smaller local car manufacturers are plugging away in preparation for car-buying season.
Dick Macedo, executive vice president of marketing and sales for Irvine-based Kia Motors America, said the strike forced his company to use non-union talent.
“The cars are being shipped after the Fourth of July so we have to advertise them,” Macedo said. “From a business standpoint I didn’t have a choice.”
Kia shot two-30-second spots at locations in Orange and Los Angeles counties for its launch of the 2001 Rio sub-compact sedan, but strikers were never an issue. In fact, Macedo says he was surprised that strikers didn’t take notice when one spot was shot in a public park, because it included a huge wedding scene.
“No one from SAG or AFTRA has shown up, but that’s probably because they are going after the big guys like Ford,” he said. “We are just a humble little company.” n
Ripple Effects
Orange County Post in Irvine was swamped with video production work in the months leading up to the contract dispute between actors and advertising agencies. The production facility provides editing bays and services for film and sound. Some companies shot multiple versions of TV and radio spots for clients to cover themselves, said OC Post President Ken Anderson said
“We are just starting to see a slowdown now,” Anderson said. “We were really busy in March, April, May and June but it’s going to get worse before it gets better because both sides are pretty far apart.”
Most of the pain of this TV spot war is felt by actors and union casting and talent agencies. The Morgan Agency in Costa Mesa typically submits about 100 clients for commercial auditions each month, but that has trickled down to a handful of proposals for advertisers working under interim contracts signed with the actor’s union.
Keith Lewis, owner of the 10-year-old SAG franchised agency, says he hasn’t had to lay off any of his 17 employees because his agency has focused on other work such as corporate videos and infomercials.
“The strike has been devestating for most agencies,” he said. “We have already heard of one closing.”
Actress Beverly Bremers of Mission Viejo is represented by Artists Management in Santa Ana.
“There aren’t any auditions or jobs,” she said. “I work in other areas besides commercials such as industrials, CD-ROMs and cartoons. But the main bread and butter has been radio and TV voiceover work and that’s dead right now. So I have stepped up my teaching schedule. It’s ironic because I teach voiceover classes for people who want to get in the business.”
Los Angeles-based actor Jack Riley, whose work includes voiceovers for characters on the “Rug Rats” cartoon, says the strike is having a ripple effect that goes beyond actors and advertisers.
“It’s a darn shame because so many other people , costume, makeup, stylists, craft services and talent agencies , are suffering,” he said.
