WongDoody Makes 'No Compromises' for UCLA

LOS ANGELES The University of California Los Angeles' Anderson School of Management has assigned its creative advertising duties to WongDoody, the agency said.

According to the independent shop, which operates offices in Seattle and Los Angeles, the assignment involves a series of print components and possibly radio spots. Blue-and-gold "No compromises" panels are meant to draw attention to the global value of the UCLA brand, and promote the school's various graduate programs, particularly focusing on academic options for fully employed and executive-level students.

"The advertising is rather different, [because] UCLA really is very elevated," said Bruce Silverman, president of WongDoody, Los Angeles. "The kind of people the school's trying to attract know they want to go to the best possible MBA program, in a way that really fits their life needs."

Currently breaking both regionally and nationally, ads will appear online and in Business Week, Los Angeles Business Journal, the Orange County Register and The Wall Street Journal, among other periodicals. While each ad will be similar in message and design, work running in Southern California publications will "be more tactical," explained Silverman. Those ads will include specific recruitment-presentation dates and times, he said.

The advertising budget for UCLA's Anderson School of Management has decreased since it peaked at $426,000 in 2000, per Neilsen Nielsen Monitor-Plus. In 2003, the school spent only $82,000; the ad budget for the 2004-05 school year was not revealed. Media is purchased in-house by UCLA, Silverman said.

"This is certainly not our biggest account," he admitted. "But being involved with UCLA we regard as an honor, an extra-special feather in our cap."