Colby Effler Breaks Avocado Ads

California Growers Urge Consumers to ‘Let the Avocado In’

LOS ANGELES–Colby Effler & Partners encourages consumers to embrace their love of the avocado in its estimated $3 million campaign for the California Avocado Commission.
The Santa Monica, Calif.-based shop created a series of four outdoor ads and three radio spots for the client, based in Santa Ana, Calif. The ads are running in 16 California markets.
Each of the outdoor ads depicts a green avocado half against a bright blue background. Red text runs across the fruit.
One ad reads, “Do not hide your feelings. Let the avocado in.” Another states, “If you say you don’t want one, you’re lying. Lying is wrong.” A third reads, “It’s not good to keep these cravings inside.”
The words “California Avocado” also appear on the outdoor boards, along with the California Avocado Commission’s Web site address.
“We did a lot of research to see what [people] wanted,” said Rick Colby, the agency’s executive creative director, chief operating officer and partner. “And people said they love avocados. We were targeting the people who were light avocado eaters, people who bought them as treats. [So the campaign is saying,] ‘We know you love them. Just go buy them.'”
The campaign will run through the end of August.
Colby served as creative director on the campaign, with Yoko Tanaka as art director.
Copywriters were David Locascio for the outdoor ads and Suzanne Steele for the radio spots.
The agency won a Belding Award from the Los Angeles Ad Club last year for its California Avocado Commission work. The shop was then known as Rogge Effler & Partners, before Colby arrived in April 1997.
Separately, the shop recently added Michael Kadin as vice president and associate creative director. Kadin, who will report to Colby, has been freelancing in Southern California for the last year after working as a senior art director at Team One Advertising in El Segundo, Calif.