DSW making SLC comeback

Ad agency returning to city under new name

By Paul Beebe The Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6229143

Article Last Updated: 06/25/2007 11:41:07 PM MDT

What still remains of arguably the most successful ad agency ever to come out of Salt Lake City is gearing up for a return next month.

Dahlin Smith White, which created the famous "Intel inside" campaign that made consumers familiar with Intel Pentium processor chips, will open a small office in Salt Lake, employing 10 to 15 people.

Its return, however, will be under a different name - Euro RSCG DRTV. And it will be a satellite office of a Portland, Ore., unit of Euro RSCG Worldwide, the flagship ad agency network of Paris-based Havas.

"There is a lot of [history] and people here that they have connections with, and the talent in Salt Lake is pretty decent. It's a way to tap into some known strong people," said Aaron Raymond, director of digital strategy for the Salt Lake office.

Dahlin Smith White, which came to be known as DSW, was established in 1986 by John Dahlin, Darrell Smith and Jon White. The agency landed the Intel advertising account in 1990 and kept it for most of the decade, producing expensive commercials that aired on national television.

"They made people know who Intel was, and what a microprocessor was, and why it was important. It was brilliant," said Eric White, vice president of creative services at the Rare Method agency in Salt Lake City.

At its height, DSW had more than $300 million in annual billings and300 employees. Other high-tech clients included network software company Novell; Alcatel, which develops telecommunications equipment; and Ask Jeeves, the search engine firm.

"They were a very good agency, especially in the high-technology arena, which was where they focused, primarily. I think they had a very good reputation nationally, and internationally, for that matter," said Dave Neubold, president of Salt Lake ad agency Richter7.

In 1996, Euro RSCG bought DSW. A few years later, DSW's Intel business was moved to another Euro RSCG agency in New York, leaving the Salt Lake office without its biggest account.
In 2003, Euro RSCG closed down the Salt Lake office. DSW operations were moved to Portland the next year, said Craig Aramaki, president of Euro RSCG Portland. Aramaki said several employees in Salt Lake have worked remotely for the Portland office for a few years.

The new Salt Lake office will support the Portland office, which provides general advertising services and creates infomercials for clients such as Netflix, the U.S. Postal Service and Internet telephone company Vonage, he said.