Townsend O Leary

Century 21 Real Estate Corp. edged aside its ad agency of record in favor of Laguna Hills-based Townsend & O'Leary to produce half the spots for a new television campaign. Irvine-based Century 21 spends about $20 million a year on advertising, but would not say how much of it is spent on the television ads that began airing last month. Townsend & O'Leary, which bills an estimated $15 million annually, created television commercials in Canada for Century 21.

You've got your online real estate listing sites, with services that can tell you what similar homes have sold for. You've got your Internet sites for people who want to sell homes themselves. And you've got those Nolo Press books on buying a home on your own. Who needs an agent these days? With help from the Laguna Hills ad firm Townsend & O'Leary, the National Assn. of Realtors is launching a $32.4-million television awareness advertising campaign to convince buyers and sellers that they do.

Gerald O. Yahr has been selected 1995 president of the National Assn. of Industrial and Office Properties, Orange County chapter. He is senior vice president of the retail division of Koll Real Estate Group. * Lynne Spector has been appointed representative for Orange County for Transamerica HomeFirst Inc., a provider of reverse mortgages for senior homeowners. She previously represented the company in Northern California. * Ross T.

Vikki Perfield has joined RiechesBaird Advertising in Irvine as high-tech account executive. She had been account executive at Townsend O'Leary. * Dolf Berle has joined Diedrich Coffee in Irvine, a specialty coffee retailer and wholesaler, as vice president of franchise development. He was formerly senior director of operations for Tricon Restaurants International. Before that, he was director of operations for Taco Bell International. * James V. Iaco Jr.

* Elizabeth A. Galliher has been appointed vice president of information systems for Krause's Furniture Inc. in Brea. Galliher had been director of information technology at VitalCom Inc. She has also been manager of planning and integration for Gannett Outdoor and manager of restaurant systems for Carl Karcher Enterprises. * Gordon Lee Jones III has been named to the newly created position of senior vice president/group publisher of Entrepreneur Media Inc.

Century 21 Real Estate Corp. edged aside its ad agency of record in favor of Laguna Hills-based Townsend & O'Leary to produce half the spots for a new television campaign. Irvine-based Century 21 spends about $20 million a year on advertising, but would not say how much of it is spent on the television ads that began airing last month. Townsend & O'Leary, which bills an estimated $15 million annually, created television commercials in Canada for Century 21.

In life as in advertising, the winning entries in the 33rd Annual Orange County AdAwards announced Saturday tapped into a range of human emotions. There was the sublime: Sunlight peeks through an oak tree in a newspaper advertisement for the Rancho Santa Margarita development that won a "best of show award" for Salvati Montgomery Sakota of Costa Mesa in the print category.

Four men and three women sit in deep hypnotic trances, heads bent and eyes shut tight. A hypnotist speaks soothingly to the group, asking it to tap into its deepest feelings about . . . luggage. A man named Scott begins moving his hand from left to right, showing how he had recently tested the zipper on a black bag before buying it. "Get away!" he suddenly shouts. "Get away!" Prodded by the hypnotist, Scott explains that a luggage salesman had pestered him. "This guy . . .