Melville ad agency to celebrate its success

A quarter-century ago, Ernie Canadeo was the small fry in Long Island's then-bustling advertising industry, working out of a tiny office in Farmingdale with bars on the windows.

He was dwarfed by the big names in the industry.

Now, most of them are gone, and Canadeo's ad agency, Melville-based EGC Group, is among the few left standing in an industry battered by recessions over the years that wiped out small retailers, who were replaced by big box stores that rarely use local ad firms. Under Canadeo, EGC kept reinventing itself, doing sales promotions instead of traditional advertising, for example, and is now among the Island's largest ad agencies, with billings in excess of $30 million and 40 employees.

On Dec. 15, EGC is hosting a celebration at the Jericho Terrace in Mineola. Some 200 people are expected.

Canadeo, who had worked in advertising for RCA Records in Manhattan before starting his own agency, opened up his shop in Farmingdale just at the dawn of the technological revolution. Fax machines were just becoming widely available, but there were no laptops, cell phones or iPads.

But, Canadeo said, some things don't change. "You can't push a button and create an idea," he said. "You still have to brainstorm. You still have to sit around a table."