Girl Scouts of Orange County got off to a fast start on its annual cookie-selling campaign with the help of the local restaurants of three chains based here.
The campaign, which runs through March 10, saw El Pollo Loco, Mimi’s Café and Yogurtland all host sales booths in front of their OC restaurants as part of National Girl Scout Cookie Day on Feb. 8.
El Pollo Loco is based in Costa Mesa; Mimi’s and Yogurtland both have headquarters in Irvine.
Irvine-based Girl Scouts of OC encouraged cookie fans to use Twitter to spread the word during the Feb. 8 event, asking them to describe their favorite cookie or highlight five skills girls develop through the Girl Scout cookie program.
Other local marketing initiatives include a free cookie finder mobile app to help customers find Girls Scout cookie booths in front of various stores and restaurants throughout OC.
The local chapter has a small budget for broadcast, print and bus-panel advertising, said spokesperson Emilie Perkins.
The organization also is pushing the cookie program through Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
All proceeds from local cookie sales stay in Orange County to help with costs of community service projects and troop activities, among other things, for the 23,000 or so Girl Scouts here.
The local chapter had revenue of $8.5 million for the 12 months through December 2011 and $7.8 million in expenses during the same time period.
The organization has 68 paid employees and about 10,000 volunteers.
Wahoo for Wahoo’s
Costa Mesa-based restaurant chain Wahoo’s Fish Taco announced a yearlong loyalty card and food promotions to customers in celebration of its 25th anniversary.
The loyalty card rewards customers who visit a Wahoo’s location monthly with a chance to win a grand prize at the end of the year.
Monthly promotions include a new offer available on the 25th day of each month.
This month’s offer is a scratcher card with the opportunity to win a surprise menu item. Next month’s promotion will unveil a new menu item and the opportunity to participate in a contest to give it a name.
Wahoo’s has 65 locations throughout the U.S., and it recently expanded to New York, Nebraska and Nevada. It plans to open its first international location in Japan within the next year.
Wahoo’s has about $34 million in annual sales and 360 employees in Orange County.
Idea Hall’s Growth
Costa Mesa-based PR and marketing firm Idea Hall has been busy.
The firm recently added the Orange Catholic Foundation as a client, and is overseeing the branding and marketing of a capital campaign to raise money for the transformation of the Crystal Cathedral, which the Catholic Church bought last February, into a Roman Catholic cathedral called Christ Cathedral.
The campaign includes branding, advertising, public relations, video, Web, and social media marketing, said Rebecca Hall, chief executive of Idea Hall.
The firm has been busy hiring as well, recently adding Daniel Rhodes as general manager to help with strategic direction of the agency as it looks to expand into the technology sector. Rhodes previously served as vice president at Irvine-based tech PR firm Global Results Communications Inc., and is a past president of the Orange County Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.
Hall said the firm plans to move to a bigger office space at 611 Anton Blvd. in Costa Mesa in mid-March to accommodate its growth.
The firm has 16 employees, with the majority of its clients in the real estate, construction and finance industries.
Social Strategies
Among recent promotions involving social media:
n Costa Mesa-based Hyundai Motor America created a Facebook game app for users and six of their friends to win tickets to the 2014 Super Bowl. The game includes marketing tie-ins to the seven-passenger 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe.
n Aliso Viejo-based burger chain Johnny Rockets Restaurant Group Inc. is posting a photo of its chili on Facebook and Twitter and asking fans to provide a caption. Winners will be announced on National Chili Day, Feb. 28.
Bits and Pieces
Fullerton-based online mattress topper retailer SleepArt.com hired Irvine-based website developer Integrated Hubs to create a new company website, and tapped Yorba Linda-based GBL Public Relations to assist with marketing efforts. … San Clemente-based action-sports publishing group GrindMedia’s dirt sports group Publisher Jim Ryan received Score International Off-Road Racing’s Judy Smith Journalist of the Year award. … The Irvine Valley College Foundation and Irvine law office of Greenberg Traurig sponsored an invention competition and exhibition of handmade inventions created by Irvine and Tustin school district elementary and middle school students. The Astounding Inventions event took place late last month.
