Advertising Agency Trashes Its Own Reputation in Gag Awards Campaign.

The letter sent out last week by the Advertising Club of Los Angeles makes the kind of allegations that can destroy an ad agency's reputation.

The club sponsors the annual Belding Awards honoring the best work by Southern California agencies. The letter, on Ad Club stationery and signed by the organization's co-presidents Jerry McGee and Brian Morris, claimed there was evidence that Playa del Rey-based Ground Zero Advertising plagiarized its campaign for ESPN2 -- which was the winner of last year's Belding Sweepstakes Award, given to the best overall campaign.

"Since 1912, the Los Angeles Ad Club has promoted truth in advertising and represented professionalism in the grand industry," reads the letter. "It was never intended to be haven for confidence men and sharp."

There is just one problem with the letter: it's a hoax. And the culprit is none other than Ground Zero itself.

The missive claims that a research firm in Oxnard called the Milner Group is conducting an investigation of wrongdoing by Ground Zero and other agencies submitting work for the Beldings. There is no such company; Milner is the name of an employee at Ground Zero, according to agency co-creative head Court Crandall.

Every year, the winner of the Belding Sweepstakes gets to create the call-for-entries campaign for the next year's awards. Every year, these campaigns seem to get more outrageous. The bogus letter was the first component of this year's call-for-entries from Ground Zero, which promises to be the most outrageous ever.

Officials with both Ground Zero and the Ad Club say they've been deluged with calls from ad executives who don't realize the letter is bogus. For the most part, Ad Club officials have been playing along, saying they can't comment.

Ad Club, members can expect more mailings revealing that the Beldings have long been den of corruption and cheating. Taking them seriously would be a serious mistake.