#LASpotted: A Chat with Sagon-Phior


Sagon-Phior was started by two entertainment industry veterans, Glenn Sagon and Rio Phior. With a vast range of expertise, the creative agency provides corporate level agency services with the personal touch of a boutique shop. Residing in Los Angeles since the 1980s, if you live in LA and don’t know Sagon-Phior you’re probably not true to LA.

To set themselves apart from the competition, Sagon-Phior became masters in Emotional Marketing. Knowing that feelings play a huge part in the brand and customer relationship, the creative agency used emotional connections to help differentiate their clients from competitors and also generate responses.

If Emotional Marketing is what you are looking for, then keep scrolling below!

Inside Sagon-Phior

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Check out Sagon-Phior’s portfolio on Agency Spotter

In LA Since: 1986

Core Services: Emotional Marketing, Advertising, Branding, Digital Strategy

Company Mantra: “Appeal to the heart not the head.”

# of Employees: 25

# of Four-Legged Employees: Currently 2.

Office Tally: How many _______ do you have?

  • Sports Heads: 6 or 7
  • Foodies: Everyone
  • Movie Buffs: Everyone
  • Netflix Addicts: Everyone
  • Live Event Nomads: Everyone
  • Agency-Lifers (aka workaholics): 1 (Me, Glen)

Sagon Phior Sizzle Reel from Sagon Phior on Vimeo.

Does your agency have a cool origin story?

My business partner, Rio Phior and I came from the entertainment industry. Rio was the Executive Creative Director with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg at Lucasfilm and about the same time I was the Creative Director at Columbia Pictures. Once we finally met, we discovered we both wanted to start our own branding firm which became a reality in 1986.

Exce Team

See any trends, LA Natives VS Transplants?

Both Rio and I are from LA. The rest of the group include NYC, New Jersey, Mississippi, Michigan, Florida, Hawaii, France, Chicago and the list goes on. No trends other then perhaps a bit more transplants from the UK and Europe.

“We don’t sell the movie. We sell the movie the audience wants to see.”

– Peter Stougaard, Creative Strategist


 

Partners in Crime

In 10 Words or Less, What We Do for Our Clients:

Create ideas that affect the way people feel.

3 Characteristics We Look for in Potential Clients:

  • Open-mindedness
  • Honesty
  • Integrity

Our Clients Love Us Because:

We care about our clients, their brands and the results from the work we do.

Clients We’ve Helped:

We have worked with over 2,500 clients since our inception. They range from Cablevision to Princess Cruises, from Nike to every major film studio, from distilleries like McCormick Distilling to tiny start ups to huge tech firms like Microsoft.

Sagon Phior

 
 

LA Confidential

LA is known for entertainment (Hollywood, TV Shows, Games, etc.), how does your agency engage with the LA scene?

Given the fact we spent many years in the motion picture industry, and that we are both from LA, we really do not engage in any particular scene. We just try to make the best of the insanity of LA and the interesting cultural and artistic opportunities that revolve around it.

How do you view the creative landscape in LA? How is it different from other major cities?

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in Dallas, Kansas City, NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, D.C. and Iowa. No matter where you are, the creative landscape is what you make of it.

The #1 Thing We Love About LA:

Probably the weather and close proximity to both surfing and skiing.

Best Food Spot in LA?

No way to only name one place. Right outside of our doors is one of the most up and coming areas for foodies – the Sawtelle District or Little Osaka.

What does #agencylife mean to you?

Someone telling me that “there is not enough money in the budget to do that”.

rio phior

Rio Phior, Chief Creative Officer, with Elon Musk

 

Lights, Camera, Action!

In awe of the bright lights of Hollywood?! Don’t be! Agency Spotter is here to guide you the through the back channels of the Los Angeles creative and marketing scene. With agency deep dives, expert interviews and original content, we will serve as your Hollywood travel guide to the agency stars.

 

Visit our LA hub to get access to all of our LA content and see the other creative agencies and design firms we covered. Los Angeles is an amazing town for marketing services, and we are the guys bringing you the inside scoop.

 

Daniel Kim