Is it the right time to start a magazine?
The people behind Newport Beach-based Bask magazine seem to think so.
Cofounder and publisher Jolie Adams is starting a quarterly luxury lifestyle magazine that will be mailed to Southern California homes and retailers—targeting 150,000 readers—starting in November.
Local competition includes Los Angeles-based Modern Luxury Media LLC’s Riviera, Newport Beach-based luxury home brokerage McMonigle Group’s M magazine, Indianapolis-based Emmis Communi-cations Corp.’s Orange Coast and Irvine-based Freedom Communication Inc.’s Coast.
Luxury lifestyle magazines got hit hard by the downturn and a pullback in the buying of luxury goods.
Adams is optimistic the magazine will do well in the cluttered local market.
“We’re in a great position with writers, artists and advertisers telling us they are onboard and eager to get started,” Adams said.
Bask is teaming up with Newport Beach-based luxury home brokerage firm Surterre Properties Inc., which is funding the magazine.
Paula Ansara-Wilhelm, Surterre’s chief marketing officer, will serve as the magazine’s president.
Adams has a knack for launching lifestyle magazines in Orange County.
She helped start monthly Riviera magazines for OC and San Diego.
Adams also was enlisted early on to help develop M magazine, the quarterly marketing offshoot of brokerage firm McMonigle Group.
The magazine already has lined up its top 10 advertisers for the debut issue. Many were advertisers Adams and Ansara-Wilhelm have worked with for years.
They are targeting boutiques and bigger retailers, as well as hotels and spas, to carry the free magazine. Down the road, the plan is to start selling it in newsstands, through subscriptions and in bookstores. A price per issue and timeline still is being nailed down.
“We’re hoping to have it in Borders and Barnes & Noble by spring of next year,” Ansara-Wilhelm said.
Value Menu
Lake Forest-based Del Taco LLC has thrown down its gauntlet in the fast food price wars.
The quirky Mexican burger chain lowered the price of its 59 cent tacos to 39 cents for the rest of summer and into September.
“It’s designed to differentiate us from others in this cluttered, value-oriented, quick-service restaurant category,” said John Cappasola, vice president of marketing for Del Taco.
Del Taco is pushing the promotion with TV, radio and online ads along with signs in the restaurants.
The chain also launched another episode of its quirky web series, The Del Taco Super Special Show, on Facebook and YouTube to promote the new low price.
The Newport Beach office of Southfield, Mich.-based Doner Co. is handling the campaign.
The promotion is the result of an increase in cheap meals at other fast food chains, including Del Taco’s largest rival Irvine’s Taco Bell Corp., part of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc., and its $2 meal deal.
“I think they said in their press release that they were redefining value with the $2 meal deals and we’re saying that we’re blowing it up,” Cappasola said. “Everyone in the category is going after value priced items to drive traffic—we felt we had to up our game a bit.”
Mazda2 Social Media
Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations is emulating the popular “Farmville” game on Facebook, with its “Driverville.”
The “Driverville” Facebook-based social media game is a virtual multiplayer game where users will be able to play racing games, go on quests for equipment for their vehicles and unlock mini-games.
Players also will be able to drive virtual Mazda vehicles, including the subcompact Mazda2, to win Driver Bucks for virtual products and weekly sweepstakes prizes.
The game is the first in the marketing push for the Mazda2, which is targeted at younger buyers that have an interest in gaming and music, according to Chris Hill, North American vehicle line manager at Mazda.
“We going to engage users about the Mazda2 and encourage them to share their experience with Mazda with their friends and family through Facebook,” Hill said.
Mazda plans to fund the game with advertisements featuring Mazda vehicles and other companies.
The social media video game is the beginning of the “non-traditional” advertising push planned for the subcompact car.
“We’re doing things different from our past launches to reach this unique audience,” Hill said.
The automaker, part of Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp., is planning TV, print and cinema ads, as well as direct mail and a music tour.
The Newport Beach office of Doner is handling what is the last Mazda advertising campaign for the shop.
The ad shop lost the $150 million Mazda ad account in June to a group of agencies that are part of Britain’s WPP PLC.
WPP is looking to open Irvine-based Team Mazda in October, a shop built from the ground up for Mazda. While Team Mazda is likely to bring on about 100 workers this year, Doner is looking to shed about 40 at its Newport Beach and Michigan offices, according to sources familiar with the shop.
“With the loss of the Mazda account we are currently working under our 90-day termination agreement,” the ad shop said. “As expected, there are some employees who will be affected through layoffs.”
