MARKETING : Vans Chooses dGWB to Handle Its Ads; Account Worth More Than $1.5 Million

Vans Inc., which stepped out this summer with new colors and sole designs for its casual athletic shoes, has chosen a new ad agency to match.

Irvine-based dGWB is handling the account, which Vans moved quietly away from incumbent Eisamen, John & Law in Los Angeles in July.

Stan Glickman, a vice president at Vans, said the account is worth between $1.5 million and $2 million a year. He said dGWB was able to combine the services that Vans needs now: advertising, contest promotions and in-store signs and sales materials.

Vans formerly used Frankel & Co. in Orange for contest promotions and contracted with free-lancers for in-store work, Glickman said.

Vans had been with Eisamen for more than three years, during which the sneaker maker grew from $50 million in annual sales to about $90 million. “We didn’t leave them because they had done anything wrong,” Glickman said, “but Dan Ginsberg (dGWB president) had been calling on me for the last couple of years, and he’s a very bright guy.”

Profit has been slipping at Vans: to $2.7 million for the fiscal year ended May 31 from $6.5 million for the previous 12 months.

The account is good news for dGWB, which lost longtime client Yamaha keyboards and guitars in April and subsequently laid off five people.