The history of the APALA started with the ebb and flow between print technology, advertising, graphics and the social dynamics of Los Angeles just after World War II. The organization that later became the APALA was formed on August 7, 1945. Founders included the first president Ward Ritchie, Ed Taylor, Ben Connery, John Waterman, Cecil Smith and Frank Clarke (who was also later president of the group). The new organization carried the title of “The Advertising Agency Production Men’s Club.”
At the time, Los Angeles had only a handful of large local agencies and a smattering of startups throughout the Los Angeles basin and the San Fernando Valley. The largest printer in town was Pacific Press; the rest of the landscape was dotted by dozens of little printers, pretty much all letterpress, hot-metal typographers, photoengravers and electrotypers, and associated businesses.
In 1945, Madison Avenue agencies in New York and Leo Burnett in Chicago towered over Los Angeles in both creative and print output. In these East Coast and Midwest cities, advertising agencies and graphics shops with a hundred employees were considered medium or small businesses. In Los Angeles, a hundred employees meant a company was at the top of their game.
Since only a few agencies in the area could qualify to be an AAAA (American Association of Advertising Agencies, or 4 A’s) member, the vacuum was filled in 1945 by The Advertising Agency Production Men’s Club. Considered by some just a drinking and socializing club, this organization allowed the “ad men” in Los Angeles the same benefits of any trade organization in the East – networking, education, fraternization and the opportunity to commiserate with one another – all virtues that exist in the organization today.
In 1947, the Southern California Advertising Agencies Association (SCAA) was created from agencies in this region not qualified for AAAA status. The regional chapter of the Printing Industries Association (PIA) intensified its recruiting and, with the SCAAA, offered ever-increasing management and technical assistance to bolster local printers and agencies, allowing them to compete with the larger outside firms. To help support the local market, the Business and Professional Advertising Association (BPAA) developed a “buy local” mantra. By 1960, L.A.‘s advertising/print/creative/graphic arts community was getting national recognition. The SCAAA became the WSAAA, the Western States Advertising Agencies Association. AAAA members were joining the WSAAA and vice versa. Lithography started to dominate in commercial printing and publications were shifting to litho and gravure. Typography increasingly meant film, not metal.
As print technology changed, so did the profile of the AAPM over the course of the next 15 years. The AAPM expanded its membership to include non-agency production professionals that had defected to the “client side.” Also, women were allowed membership status. The “M” in the abbreviated title was changed from “Men” to “Manager,” and the second “A” was left off as the club became the “APM.” The discarded “A” was reintroduced when the name became “APA,” which stood for Advertising Production Association. Graphic Arts suppliers’ production control professionals were granted “Associate” membership status.
Not only were the 60s a time of social and political unrest, but they were also a time of rapid industrial growth on the West Coast. Businesses migrated west, contributing to an expansion of the printing and graphics industry due to revolutionary changes that were taking place in the industry. Some of these changes included early computer systems, electronic typesetting, advancing press technology, and the change from an orientation to a “journeyman/craftsman” role to technician. The focus had changed from the fundamental words used to describe the industry, as Eastman Kodak produced a campaign at the time titled “Graphic Communications – We used to call it Printing.”
Klaus Schmidt, former Vice President of Print Production at Young & Rubicam in New York prophesied in the 1960s that creative work would be done largely on computer screens and viewed electronically and simultaneously by the advertising creator and client. Once approved, the work would be sent electronically to the graphic arts manufacturer for widespread distribution via ink on paper and electronic communication media. By 1970, his prophecy was being fulfilled, and today his vision is fully realized in many areas.
With the evolution from film to computer-to-plate technology, the APALA changed with the times. It has grown over the years from the original thirty-six members to a membership that has at times approached 1,000, to the current membership base of about 700. The APALA has been a solid source of education and opportunity to its members, reviewing changing technology as well as changes in the economic, environmental, and governmental regulatory areas affecting the graphic communications industry. The club in its many versions has been there to support its membership.
From the early years of the AAPM to the present APALA, a tradition of dinner club meetings devoted to topics like “AAPM Explores How to Use the Daily Newspapers’ Mechanical and Service Department” to the current Internet topic of “Social Networking Demystified” has been consistent. There has been no topic that the club did not seek to enlighten by bringing in a panel of peers or seeking experts from afar.
Back in 1960, the AAPM held its first award presentation with the Advertising Production Awareness Award. Later in 1978, Joel Harvey and Stan Pinover established the Len S. Pinover Memorial Award that was presented every year along with a Traffic Manager award added in 1991 to recognize excellence in the industry. Today, the APALA recognizes members with the following five awards: Production Achievement Award, Traffic Achievement Award, Industry Spirit Award, Lifetime Achievement Award and the President’s Award. All are presented in a gala event held each year in June before the association’s hiatus until September, when the first program following Labor Day kicks off the 9-event annual association calendar.
Today, the association is a bona fide nonprofit association, governed by bylaws and an elected Board of Directors. This board consists of committee chairpersons in charge of organizing monthly meetings, an annual Holiday Party, a yearly Vendor Showcase and the Achievement Awards Banquet. The Vendor Showcase, known previously as the Client Vendor Showcase, was changed this year to PrintSC to reflect a regional joint venture of the APALA, the PIASC (Printing Industries Association of Southern California) and the APAOC (Advertising Production Association of Orange County). The APALA also publishes a monthly newsletter both in print and on its website. Since the early days, a few of the Committee chairs may have changed, but the organization still retains its original purpose.