"We can do it here in Indiana." (advertising services)

• Author: Johnson, J. Douglas

Get your advertising--and production--done close to home.

Ad agencies in Indiana may call out of state for production work. Out-of-state agencies may dial up Hoosier firms for their jobs. What's the deal? Certainly Indiana offers top-quality advertising creative and production services. Why do companies jump the border? How big is the problem? Are there ways to keep the business from leaving?

Nobody really totals the dollar drain, but Mike Ruggiero, part owner of Perennial Pictures Film Corp., an animation studio in Indianapolis, thinks it has been up to 20 percent. Others believe it is bigger. Thom Villing, owner of Villing & Co. in Mishawaka, calls the problem "serious" and says, "Among the larger agencies and larger clients it is fairly significant." Jim Crahan, executive vice president of Pearson, Crahan & Fletcher in Indianapolis, says the exodus is "huge."

One major question is motivation: Why do companies jump the border to have their work done? Some reasons seem teetery while others look justifiable. Barry LaBov of LaBov & Beyond, a Fort Wayne jingle house grown to a full-service agency with an Indianapolis office as well, thinks, "People leave because they feel they can get something fresher or something that is higher quality."

LaBov also cites more pragmatic explanations. "Let's say there is a certain talent they want to use, an actor or actress who is unavailable to travel. They have to go to the star. Another reason might be that there is a certain piece of equipment for sound or video needed that is not physically present in Indiana. This is very rare. Another possibility is a need for a location such as the ocean or mountains. We can't pull them into Indiana." And you can't find a sunny, green golf course in Indiana during February. If that is the setting you demand in the bleak of winter, you have to shoot in Florida, the Bahamas or Arizona.

Richard Bonsib, head of the long-established advertising firm in Fort Wayne that carries his name, can also justify out-of-state hiring by Indiana companies. "Agencies in Indiana might not have what's necessary for a company's objectives and goals. Indiana is not the center of advertising, we all know that. We have some fine agencies and good people, but I understand why some large corporations who require specialties might go to an out-of-state agency. It would be a perfectly logical move for them and we can't argue with it," he says.

"They may need an agency that has active research...