Greg Glass, Sacramento Advertising Industry Legend, dies at 49
Greg Glass, founder of Glass and Partners and then Glass McClure, whose style and swagger attracted an impressive roster of national and regional clients to the Sacramento ad agency died June 16th. He was 49.
The advertising agency he started in 1991 will formally change its name to The Glass Agency, honoring the man who started it all. The name-change also coincides with the departure of Paul McClure, formally a minority owner of the agency who left in April 2010.
"Greg possessed a level of passion and courage not only rare in our industry, but rare in life," says Amber Williams, president of The Glass Agency. "There wasn't an individual who came into contact with him who couldn't feel the intense power of his presence."
In 2009, Greg sold the agency to its nearly 30 employees, creating an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plans) corporation - one of only a few thousand in the country and among a rare handful in the advertising industry.
Among the companies and organizations under Greg’s strategic leadership included national-level work for Arco/AM-PM, Sizzler, Duraflame, Baja Fresh, Brand Source, Thrift Town, 99¢ Clearance Centers, Molina Healthcare, Cartridge World, Kenwood Electronics, Winston Tires, Farm Credit, Alpine Electronics; and statewide or regional work for Amtrak California and Amtrak Western Long Distance Trains, Jackson Rancheria, Caltrans, Department of Boating and Waterways, Hinode Rice, Sutter Health, Monterey Convention and Visitors Bureau, Save Mart Supermarkets, FoodMaxx, Go-Girl Energy Drink, Dodge Ridge Ski Resort, Heavenly Ski Resort, Mercedes Benz of El Dorado Hills/Sacramento and Arden Fair Mall, among others.
In 1997, he was named one of 17 Rising Stars of Sacramento. He was honored as Sacramento’s Ad Person of the Year and Small Business Person of the Year by the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce.
Greg served his community by sitting on several boards, including People Reaching Out, Visage Business Group, Community Services Advisory Council Board, Sacramento Chamber of Commerce Executive Board, Sacramento Ad Club – Board member & President. He also coached his children’s soccer teams.
Greg is survived by his three children, Lindsay, Evan and Matthew; his ex-wife and mother of his children, Celia; and his brother, Steven.
Greg’s two-year battle with colon cancer lead him to spend time at the Commonweal Cancer Help Program in Bolinas, CA. In lieu of flowers, one of his last wishes was that donations be made to this organization, Commonweal.org.
Services will be announced shortly.
The New York Times helps to light a fire under Duraflame's new Stax campaign
January 26, 2010 - The New York times recently featured Glass McClure's new Stax television campaign in an article showcasing women and their dominant role in firelog purchases. The spots, which ran on shows like “The Oprah Winfrey Show” through December, were part of a national launch of Stax that included television and online. In the U.S., sales of fire logs totaled roughly $119 million for the year that ended Dec. 27, and Duraflame accounted for just over half of those sales, with its original log bringing $47 million in revenue and Stax, posting $2.6 million. Read more.
Slow for the Cone Zone and Glass McClure are back saving lives.
December 29, 2009 - In an effort to continue their ongoing mission of improving mobility across California, and to continue Caltrans’ leadership in providing one of the nation’s safest transportation systems for both users and workers, Caltrans has awarded its “Slow for the Cone Zone” Highway Work Zone Safety Campaign to Glass McClure. Glass McClure will strategically develop a cost-effective campaign designed to save lives in highway work zones. With highway construction increasing across the State, the need to save lives has grown exponentially. However given the budget climate, finding a way to do it efficiently and intelligently will also play a necessary and important role in this campaign.
“Glass McClure has been working on this effort from its beginnings back in the late 90s. So, we’ve seen first hand the impact an effort like this can have on reducing fatalities and changing driver behavior,” said Kyle Toyama, President at Glass McClure. “One human life alone is worth this effort, let alone the hundreds of lives that have been saved over the years. And if the life-saving side of this isn’t compelling enough, it also reduces the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are needed to be spent, each time a human life is lost in a highway work zone.”
Glass McClure is selected by Amtrak as AOR for its Western Long Distance Trains.
September 15, 2009 - Glass McClure has added Amtrak's Western Long Distance Trains to their client roster, following a review.
Glass McClure CEO Greg Glass said that agency and client would now look to "help reinvigorate this truly iconic American mode of travel for future growth and look to help showcase its value in the marketplace." Amtrak’s five western long-distance trains represent more than 9,000 miles of track, covering some of the United States’ most scenic and geographically interesting countryside and a truly unique and adventurous way to experience travel across the U.S.
Hinode Premium Rice selects Glass McClure as their U.S. Agency of Record.
September 2, 2009 - Hinode Rice has name Glass McClure as its U.S. agency of record, in charge of helping this internationally distributed product grow and expand its brand, sales and distribution nationally. A subsidiary of Sun Rice International, based in Australia, they contribute to being the third largest rice supplier in the world. With strong equity already behind their Cal Rose Medium Grain white and brown rice products, Glass McClure looks to expand both consideration as well as consumer awareness of the Hinode brand and its wide spectrum of available rice SKUs, as well as new emerging products.
Glass McClure wins the Caltrans/Amtrak Rail and Rail Safety contract once again.
August 24, 2009 - Following a national review, Glass McClure has renewed its contract with Caltrans and Amtrak to promote the San Joaquin and Pacific Surfliner trains throughout California, as well as a Statewide Rail Safey Program. As the incumbent, GM has handled the business since 2000 and is excited to continue its partnership with the Division of Rail and Amtrak. "Our goal was to deliver an RFP that showed big heart, creativity, innovation and desire as if we were pitching for the very first time," said Kyle Toyama, President at Glass McClure. GM looks to continue a strong effort towards building ridership and revenue for the next three years, proving the train's legitmacy even amongst the car-focused landscape of California.
Snoopy (invisibly) sneaks his way into Communication Arts Advertising Annual.
August 21, 2009 - Glass McClure was honored with a place in Communication Arts 2009 Advertising Annual representing the most creative advertising efforts in advertising over the last twelve months. Their SPCA ad, featuring Snoopy (generously donated by United Media) was chosen amongst hundreds of entries in the very competitive Public Service category. Selected by leading creative directors, art directors and writers, the winning entries are distributed worldwide in the Communication Arts Advertising Annual and on commarts.com. The Snoopy ad, including the rest of the campaign, can be seen: here.
Glass McClure’s SPCA campaign is selected for Communication Arts’ Exhibit.
May 15, 2009 - Glass McClure’s SPCA campaign continues to turn heads as it has been selected by Communication Arts for its online exhibit in June. The campaign continues to grow as it has been featured in local newspapers and online blogs as well as fueling efforts to find a powerful campaign partner to "adopt" this campaign.
Glass McClure begins work with Access Dental and Premier Access.
April 29, 2009 - After several years of hiatus, Glass McClure has returned to helping one of California’s largest providers of dental service and insurance with several specialty areas of marketing expertise. Leveraging the team's strategic expertise, online planning and direct response experience, Glass McClure looks to grow the Access Dental and Premier Access business by unexpected measures.
Glass McClure wins Best of Show for the third time in four years.
April 9, 2009 - Glass McClure was honored with the best of show Delta Award once again as well as sweeping the show with the most ADDY Gold Awards (denoting the best work in 2008) at the Sacramento Addy Awards Show. The agency campaigns winning Addy Gold Awards were:
Sutter Health - “Patient Stories” Print Campaign (Delta Best of Show and Gold)
Amtrak/Caltrans - “Travel Made Simple” outdoor
Crocker Art Museum - “American Pop” Promotion
FoodMaxx - “Legs” Television Spot
Save Mart Supermarkets - “Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood” Television
SSPCA - “It’s not the same without a pet.” Print Campaign
Glass McClure took home the Best of Show as well as a total of nine Addy Gold and four Silver Awards out of 15 total entries.
The Merchants National Bank of Sacramento selects Glass McClure
April 2, 2009 - The Merchants National Bank of Sacramento has teamed up with Glass McClure's branding division to help with their strategic marketing plan development. Established in 1921, they have maintained their solidarity as an independent and dominant player in the banking world. This recent collaboration is the third recent win for Glass McClure's branding arm.
Scooby and Garfield join the SPCA and Glass McClure team
March 10, 2009 - Glass McClure's SPCA work continues to bring new faces to the table. After success getting Snoopy on board, success has generously been granted with Warner Bros. and Paws, Inc. to make Scooby-Doo and Garfield available for use in this impactful campaign.
Glass McClure featured on the One Club’s Community Creative Showcase
January 10, 2009 - Glass McClure's SPCA work continues to make noise. In this case with the prestigious One Club Community. Featured on the Creative Showcase section as a Public Choice feature, Snoopy continues to extend his paw for the sake of adoptions all over. This campaign featuring famous cartoon pets - or maybe more accurately, NOT featuring them - was the vision of two of our brilliant creative minds: Imdan Achda and Matt Sicko. Take a look a the work here.
Communication Arts selects Glass McClure again
November 17, 2008 - Communication Arts has selected Glass McClure's campaign for Amtrak California, "Travel made simple" to be featured in both its November online Exhibit, as well as its coinciding printed issue. Take a look a the work here. As always, the product of a trusting collaboration between Amtrak, Caltrans and our team at GM. Thanks to Erik Almas, our photographer and photo retoucher, for his amazing talents. This is the second time Glass Mcclure has been featured in Communication Arts in the last 4 months.
Save Mart gets a little boost from Sesame Street
October 25, 2008 - Glass McClure was presented with the challenge of introducing the unique Save Mart Supermarkets brand to several new regions. This long time leader in the California Central Valley has been well-known for over 50 years there, but needed to find a way to introduce itself as it expanded its presence into new regions. With a little help from Sesame Street and the iconic song "These Are the People in Your Neighborhood" Save Mart has just begun to shake hands and create new neighbors. The song is pretty much mesmerizing, so keep an ear out on both TV and radio for this campaign as some of our local Save Mart employees serenade you.
Snoopy lends Glass McClure a helping paw
September 15, 2008 - Working alongside of United Media, Glass McClure has been blessed with the opportunity to use the likeness (or should we say "unlikeness") of Snoopy to help bring a creative spin to the SPCA's new adoption campaign. Can you imagine a world without great pets like these around? Hmmm....
Lucas Public Affairs Group green lights Glass McClure
August 13, 2008 - Glass McClure has been selected among area favorites to assist Lucas Public Affairs with branding/marketing platform development and other related tasks. Donna Lucas, one of the nation's foremost public affairs strategists and founder of Lucas Public Affairs Group, is a widely recognized expert in media relations and political affairs. Over the course of her career, she has provided strategic counsel to large corporate clients, labor unions, nonprofits, and political candidates. She also has worked on several statewide initiative campaigns on a variety of policy issues, including gaming, housing, education, local government, campaign finance, and energy. Glass McClure is delighted to be working alongside, and helping to assist Donna with her and her talented team's newest venture.
The Crocker goes Pop
August 9, 2008 - Glass McClure is coordinating an non-traditional marketing effort designed to help the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, CA) promote the American Pop Show from August 16th through November 2, 2008. The show, organized around a special display of Andy Warhol’s Athletes Series, will be promoted in a unique fashion, akin to the Pop Movement itself. During three Second Saturday Art Walks metropolitan art lovers will find Andy Warhol Street Teams riding on Segways up and down the Sacramento Midtown Grid, discover floor and sidewalk graphics throughout the town and drink beer and drink specials from custom American Pop pint glasses. A version of Andy Warhol’s iconic Soup Can will be featured on all promotional materials.
Teen filmsters vie for Golden Snail
August 1, 2008 - Pay a visit to the "Gallery" at SlowMoFilms.com. This Slow for the Cone Zone teen campaign and promotion has delivered nearly 60 slow motion video submissions, tripling our original projections. The :15 videos, presenting creatively the virtues of "slow," are now off to the judges for voting. So who's making the final call? Maybe you. Visit the site and vote for your fav!
Glass McClure teams with SNL veteran Tom Schiller
June 23, 2008 - Tom Schiller, an American Emmy Award winning writer best known for his eleven-year stint writing and directing short films for Saturday Night Live, has teamed with Glass McClure to help introduce Save Mart Supermarkets to the neighborhood. These new :30 spots, find a clever way to "shake hands and say 'Hi!'" throughout the chain's emerging markets.
SPCA cat adoption hits record high – thanks to a little dog
July 10, 2008 - Although a full branding campaign is well on its way, the first project out of the gate for the SPCA was their Annual Cat Adoptathon. So for this event, Glass McClure crafted a quick concept to prime the pump. As a result, the SPCA has had record cat adoptions over the last two weeks and looks forward to more. Here's a peak at what ran.
Glass McClure teams with SNL veteran Tom Schiller.
June 23, 2008 - Tom Schiller, an American Emmy Award winning writer best known for his eleven-year stint writing and directing short films for Saturday Night Live, has teamed with Glass McClure to help introduce Save Mart Supermarkets to the neighborhood. These new :30 spots, find a clever way to "shake hands and say 'Hi!'" throughout the chain's emerging markets.
Caltrans prepares to go social rather than preachy
June 6, 2008 - Glass McClure and Caltrans prepare to launch a teen-targeted website focused on promoting safe driving behaviors. But, rather than preaching to them about driving safer, and slower, the concept is designed to empower them to show us, why "slower is better." Their user-generated :15 videos will carry the messages as well as put the most creative teens into contention for cash prizes, Nintendo Wiis and iPhones. But most importantly, the virtues of "slow" get to take the limelight without disregard.
Glass McClure's Kelty Campaign selected by Communication Arts
June 2, 2008 - Communication Arts has selected Glass McClure's campaign for Kelty Outdoor to be featured in both its July Online Exhibit, as well as its Sept/Oct. printed issues. The "Back to Nature" Basecamp print campaign will be featured as a whole beginning in July 2008 at commarts.com, and the "Genetically superior detachability" lizard ad will run in the Fall print issue.
Glass McClure's branding arm to begin reshaping Perry Smith
May 2008 - Perry Smith has hired Glass McClure to help spearhead their brand development and marketing plan development as they prepare to become one of Northern California's premiere accounting firms. Constantly edging against the "bigs" like Deloitte, Pricewaterhouse and more, their commitment to redefining their brand will become one of their biggest assets for business growth.
Glass McClure & Sol Design leave a big ’ol mark on District ADDYs Award Show
March 20, 2008 - Taking home 21 golds, 15 silvers and the Delta Best of Show; the combination of Glass McClure and Sol Design Group proved to be the big winner at this year's 2007 AAF Ad Club Award Show. 14 of our entries went on to win other AAF accolades and two of our entries found their way to the national AAF competition.
Caltrans win brings the promise of saving lives
March 2008 - Glass McClure and its partners, Katz & Associates and ProProse,
has secured Caltrans’ Slow for the Cone Zone contract. With work zones increasing at an exponential rate, our team is eagerly ready to put our best foot forward in order to change driving behavior for the safety of drivers and Caltrans workers alike. Keep your eye out for the work to come.
Creative studs come on board from ’round the country
Feb-Mar 2008 - Three new faces have migrated their way to our Sacramento office to bring us a trifecta of creative juice. Matt Sicko, formerly of BBDO, FCB and Doner has joined Glass McClure as a Senior Copywriter. Imdan Achda who has graced the halls of Y&R, Arnold and Lowe & Lintas overseas brings supercharged art direction to our shop. And Jay Miller has marched halfway across the U.S., coming from Barkley and Cole+McVoy to add art directional strength to Glass McClure. These creative guns are just the beginning of a new creative era within our four walls.
Glass McClure produces one of US Ad Review's Best Ads of 2007
March 2008 - Kelty's "Mobile Storage Unit" print ad link here)has been voted one of 2007's best print ads of the year by US Ad Review. The print ad was one of four ads produced in their "Get Back to Nature" campaign used to launch Kelty's innovative Basecamp Product lines.