CLIENT NEWS “A Little Me Time” Ad David Ligon, Creative Principal, Sacramento April 26, 2016 When I first launched my agency, my very first client was Ettore’s Restaurant and European Bakery. I signed them on June 1, 2001 for public relations. But as time went by, I became a more integral part of their marketing efforts, and was soon involved in more than just PR, including advertising. In the fall of that year, Ettore Ravazzolo (owner) phoned to ask me to create an ad that showed Ettore’s was a comfortable place to go for a meal and take a break from it all. The terrorists’ attacks of 9/11 were still fresh in everyone’s mind and the country had not gone back to normalcy yet. Before my arrival, Ettore’s ads were quite different. Consisting mostly of clip art and encouraging people to come for the $9.95 chicken dinner. Now of course, I’m not a big fan of that type of advertising (unless you are specifically a chicken place). Even though there was no budget (other than my monthly retainer), I wanted to create something that conveyed what Ettore wanted, while being a step up from the previous “clip art” ads; which meant a fun headline and using a photo. But also doing something that wasn’t clichéd and with that added hint of humor I love so much. And finally, to start branding Ettore’s as both a restaurant and bakery with incredible food. All this with virtually no extra money. “The terrorists’ attacks of 9/11 were still fresh in everyone’s mind and the country had not gone back to normalcy yet.” Ettore’s “A...
CLIENT NEWS California Plan Your Giving - The PSAs David Ligon, Creative Principal, Sacramento December 02, 2014 Back in 2011, we were asked by the co-chair of “California Plan Your Giving” to create some PSAs. CPYG is an initiative to get people to pledge money to their favorite charities upon their passing. It was important that we didn’t play favorites or push people toward one charity. The whole point was to get people to give. Period. The idea was to create PSAs that resembled testimonials about giving, since we didn’t want to show one type of charity (e.g. homelessness). We tried it with real donors first, and found it didn’t work out quite as we wanted. In one case, the college aged child of parents who had made the pledge to give a portion of her inheritance to charity wanted to rewrite the script. And what she wrote was fine if we wanted to promote her parents, but not if we wanted to ask other people to give money. Plus, she was a little stiff and not very compelling since she wasn’t used to being in front of the camera. The second one we did worked much better. But we knew going forward that if we wanted to create some memorable PSAs we would have to script them, and get people who are comfortable being in front of the camera — like, you know, actors. Luckily, I know a bunch of actors. And in almost all cases, these actors are very committed to their communities in various charity endeavors. So it was a win-win situation. Below are the PSAs we created. On the...
CLIENT NEWS Crisp Catering Thanksgiving TV Treat David Ligon, Creative Principal, Sacramento November 21, 2014 One of my favorite things to do as a publicist is book my chef clients on TV, because not only do they tend to do a wonderful job showcasing their food and how to prepare it, but I also get to eat. On November 19, 2014, Crisp Catering owner Joe Thompson appeared on KTXL’s Fox40 in Sacramento to prepare a tasty Thanksgiving dessert: Marinated Mandarins in a Sugared Wonton Bowl with Cranberry Whipped Cream. To view the segment, visit the link above. To see the recipe check out Crisp Catering’s website. Contact Us If you like, share. If you don’t like, don’t share. And if you’re indifferent, then share or don’t share,...
DIARY OF AN ADMAN ELECTION 2004: Fun With Cake. David Ligon, Creative Principal, Sacramento June 17, 2016 Since today is election day and in honor of my new series “Take A Look Back Tuesday,” here was a fun little election announcement project from the past. In November 2003, I had one of those “Ready. Set. Go” moments. Popular radio talk show host Tom Sullivan was going to announce live on his radio show whether he would run for the 2004 Republican nomination for Congress or continue with his radio program (this is before he took his show national). I came up with a fun idea for my bakery client to bake him a cake that covered either decision (just turn the cake around and it would support his choice). Unfortunately, I thought up the idea two nights before Sullivan’s big announcement. The next morning (one day before Sullivan’s announcement), I was with Ettore Ravazzolo, owner of Ettore’s Restaurant and European Bakery (my client at the time), for a noon TV gig. I told him about this fun idea and too bad I hadn’t come up with it sooner, because we could have done it. Or so I thought. Later that afternoon, Ettore’s general manager called to tell me Ettore wanted to do the cake, but they would need the artwork by 6:00 p.m. (the call came a few hours before that). At the time, this was only an idea, there was no artwork to give them. I hadn’t even fully formulated what I would write or create. So with only a couple of hours to write out the concept, create the artwork, get it approved and get...
My summer vacation is over. I didn’t go to the beach, or the mountains. Didn’t see the family. No movies, plays or concerts. Nope. I sat at my desk, in my well-worn chair in beautiful Sacramento, and built a new website for Ligon Media. That’s what happens when you own the company. You work. Our site has been completely redesigned, using some of the latest enhancements. This may mean that older computers can’t view it, and that’s a shame, but as technology moves forward you have to make a decision of where you want to be. Building something that is dated so everyone can view, or use some of the latest technology and design techniques, but in doing so running the risk of limiting your audience. It’s always a dilemma we deal with with our clients. What to advise? Here’s the catch, every situation is different. A few years back I had a client who couldn’t view the DVDs we burned. Can’t we burn them differently? Well, no. Their DVD player was old, so the answer was to buy a newer DVD player. Old stuff doesn’t always work with new technology. But on the other hand, you need to understand where your target audience is in the marketplace. If the vast majority of your customers are seniors, then Twitter, Facebook and text messaging campaigns are probably not the ideal way to reach your customers. Traditional communications are. So when I decided (I’m the owner, I get to make decisions) to design the new website for Ligon Media, I looked around at what I liked, what I wanted, and ultimately,...
Doing creative stuff for a living is usually pretty fulfilling. Especially when taking pictures of food (and of course, the sampling afterwards). At a recent event catered by Crisp Catering, we helped ourselves to few food samples for the sake of photos. Since we weren’t allowed on the floor of the event (since the group throwing the party didn’t invite us to take pictures) we took the plates up to Crisp Catering’s kitchen and snapped away. All in all, we were pretty pleased with the results. Check out the yummy dishes we shot and be sure to visit our gallery for more photo samples. And of course, if you have a restaurant in need of public relations or advertising, be sure to contact...
