Oh, Magoo, you’ve done it again

Newsday

November 22, 2004

By A.J. Carter

You’ve seen those ads in which the pitchman announces he’s not only the president of the company, he’s a customer?  Rotate that 180 degrees, and you get the heart of the soon-to-be-unveiled advertising campaign for the eye-care chain Sterling Optical: a person who should be a customer but isn’t.

Sterling Optical, meet Mr. Magoo.

The myopic cartoon character is the centerpiece of the campaign put together by the Hicksville advertising agency EGC Group, using the slogan “See What You’re Missing.”  It is an effort to differentiate Sterling from what Sam Herskowitz, co-chief operating officer of Sterling’s Garden City-based parent company, Emerging Vision, calls the “clutter” of the industry’s advertising.

“If you look at retail ads, they’re all basically identical,” he said.  “I could send you six or seven over the past few months, and if you take the logos out, you can’t tell the difference.  I’ve done that exercise with my own people here.”

Sterling had actually considered using Magoo a couple of years ago, but couldn’t figure out how to do it, so th company was receptive when, after winning the account, EGC suggested the campaign.  Why Magoo?  “He’s a lovable guy, and obviously the whole concept of Magoo is that he never got glasses, he just bumped into things,” said EGC president Ernie Canadeo.

Canadeo hopes the campaign will click with oldsters who remember the cartoons and with younger people who remember Leslie Nielsen in the somewhat less successful 1990s screen adaptation.  In the works are print ads, television commercials using cartoon clips, and Sterling Optical coupons in a soon-to-be-issued DVD set of the cartoons.  Actor Jim Backus, who was the voice of Magoo, died a few years ago, but if needed, Canadeo said there are actors who sound like Backus.