Ads for Irvine-based Western Digital Corp.’s Purple Surveillance Drive appeal to IT professionals’ inner geek—the product “saves the day” while starring in a comic strip.
The one-minute video, created by Edelman in the U.K., has it all: the narrator with a British accent, a villain “lurking with a dastardly plan,” and plenty of speech bubbles describing the drive’s features.
The company took a similar approach to advertise its WD Red NAS Hard Drive. Viewers are tuned into Earth’s first manned mission to Mars when everything goes wrong and the Red network hard drive is deployed to save the day.
R/GA in Los Angeles is WD’s agency of record for digital and social media.
Vintage Mazda
Mazda North American Operations was the title sponsor of Touge California, a 200-mile road rally that took place April 2 and featured 28 vintage cars made in Japan. Touge is a Japanese term that translates to “mountain pass.”
The journey started in San Diego and wrapped up at Mazda’s North American headquarters in Irvine. Participating cars were built in the 1960s, ’70s and early ’80s and included Mazda’s 1975 Rotary-Engine pickup, the 1978 GLC compact hatchback and the 1985 RX-7 GSL-SE.
“Our heritage cars aren’t just museum pieces; they’re meant to be driven,” said Robert Davis, the automaker’s senior vice president of U.S. operations.
Ads Take a Spin
The Transportation Corridor Agencies—a two-member entity that operates the 51-mile Orange County toll road system—hired Civic Resource Group in Los Angeles to redesign its website.
The thetollroads.com supports more than 800,000 ExpressAccount and FasTrak accountholders and 260,000 daily drivers, serving as a go-to source for account sign-ups and payments.
The improvements include a responsive design that makes it easier to navigate the website on a mobile device or a tablet, plus a streamlined process for one-time-toll payments.
The Transportation Corridor Agencies consists of the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency, which oversees the 73 toll road, and Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency, which is in charge of the 241, 133 and 261.
Both reduced their annual marketing spending by 21%—San Joaquin Hills to $548,000 and Foothill/Eastern to $1.1 million.
EverythingLA in Irvine manages the combined entity’s paid advertising and creative services. It won the account in 2013.
Bits & Pieces
Vans Inc. in Cypress extended its sponsorship of the world surf event—Vans U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach—through 2018. … Echo Media Group in Tustin hired Stacey Doss as senior vice president. … Newport Beach-based ChopShop Entertainment was the presenting sponsor of the Youth Film Showcase at the Newport Beach Film Festival. It also hosted Blizzard Entertainment Director of Video and Post Production Stuart Shook, Vans Inc.’s Video Producer Graham Nash and ChopShop Principal Ken Anderson during a panel discussion on careers in the entertainment industry. … Beyond Fifteen Communications Inc. in Irvine hired Kelsey Lukas and Jaquelin Torres to “to assist in executing PR campaigns.”
