Casanova//McCann had a lot to celebrate the past month.
The Costa Mesa-based ad agency came home with five Cannes Lions at June’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France, one of the largest events in the advertising and communications industry.
The five wins made it the most awarded Hispanic ad agency at the annual festival.
The wins were for its campaign “Second Chances” for client Donate Life California, a Sacramento-based nonprofit responsible for managing the state’s organ, eye, and tissue donor registry.
The campaign included a two-minute spot showing drivers, who were pulled over for minor traffic violations, receiving a second chance after the officer saw a pink organ donor sticker on their California driver’s license.
Hive Home
The awards will be prominently displayed in the agency’s new office.
Casanova//McCann recently relocated from its former headquarters near the corner of McCormick Avenue and Red Hill Avenue—where ad agency Rauxa is located—into the Hive, a three-building creative office complex near the city’s Ikea store that’s home to the Los Angeles Chargers, as well as Kobe Bryant’s production company Granity Studios.
The Lakers legend was spotted during an unveiling event for the firm’s new location earlier in the month.
President and Chief Executive Ingrid Otero-Smart said while the ad agency occupies about the same space as its old home, the new digs offer amenities it never had such as outdoor meeting spaces, a gym, and a café.
“I didn’t want to move,” Otero-Smart said, during the company’s welcome party for employees two weeks ago. “We had a really nice place.”
That said, “as soon as we walked here, I said ‘we’re moving.’”
She said the company had been at its previous home for a little over 15 years.
“I was remembering a quote by John F. Kennedy that said the time to fix your roof is when the sun is shining,” Otero-Smart said. “The sun has been shining for us for the last few years and we stayed in a place that we loved that was comfortable, [but] comfort is the enemy of creativity.”
70 Strong
The company’s office space on the second floor houses its team of 70 employees and includes several conference rooms and an open office space. During a tour of the new office and grand opening, workers received a special surprise—a company-branded gym bag holding goodies such as an Ikea gift card and Casanova//McCann swag.
The ad firm ranks No. 13 among OC advertising agencies with an estimated $25 million in revenue, according to this year’s Business Journal annual list.
