'Register' Edits Short List To Four Orange County Shops

SANTA ANA, CALIF. – The review for The Orange County Register’s estimated $2 -million account narrowed last week to a pair of Los Angeles shops and two contenders from the newspaper’s backyard.
Industry sources said the short list includes Orange County agencies Backer Spielvogel Bates/West, and dGWB, both in Irvine, Calif., and Los Angeles shops Stein Robaire Helm and Stranger & Associates. Executives at the finalist agencies and the newspaper declined comment.
Suissa Miller/Santa Monica, Calif., was also under consideration, according to co-principal Bruce Miller, but decided against participating because the client ‘could not guarantee a minimum budget or income for the winning agency.’
The newspaper is currently in a fierce circulation battle with the Los Angeles Times Orange County Edition and committed to retaining an agency of record for the first time since the 1980s.