Allen & Caron Is Set to Take its Clients Across the Pond
CommunityMedia Buys More Small Weeklies; the Food Network Takes a Bite of Wahoo’s
Marketing & Media
by Jennifer Bellantonio
Allen & Caron Inc., a 20-plus-year-old investor relations firm in Irvine, has opened an office in London.
Joseph Allen, the firm’s chairman and chief executive, said Allen & Caron opened the office initially to take its U.S. clients to the United Kingdom and Europe to meet with institutional investors there.
“The mission has broadened somewhat, and we are now talking to U.K. and European companies about broadening their institutional shareholder base there, and about bringing some of them to meet U.S. investors,” Allen said.
The London office has one full-time managing director and two part-time workers. Allen said that once the company hits its targets, it plans to add four positions, including an account manager and account executive.
“We hope that expansion starts in early 2003,” Allen said.
The firm, which has 12 full-time workers in OC and an office in New York, has about 30 clients in the U.S. that will use the London office. They include Irvine-based Interpore International Inc. and Riverside-based Fleetwood Enterprises Inc.
Allen said he expects the London office to add up to six more European clients by next year, with plans for more growth.
“We believe that the markets are internationalizing, and that financial services are internationalizing as well. That is the reason for our expansion outside the U.S., and we intend to continue that expansion once the London operation is on its feet and growing,” Allen said.
Big News
Cypress-based CommunityMedia Corp. has an appetite for news.
The company recently acquired Chula Vista-based Star-News, just weeks after it bought two other weekly papers, The East County Californian and The Alpine Sun.
Terms of the deals were not disclosed.
The Star-News, which has 14 workers and a circulation of 32,000, now falls under the umbrella of San Diego Neighborhood Newspapers Inc., a newly formed CommunityMedia unit. The Star-News also operates two monthly magazines, San Diego Seniors, and The Lake, a neighborhood supplement.
Star-News publisher Linda Rosas said it’s been business as usual at the Star-News. The paper’s staff, including the editor, Michael Burgess, will stay the same.
“We’re not making any staff or format changes,” Rosas said.
CommunityMedia purchased the Star-News from Merced-based Pacific-Sierra Publishing Inc.
The latest acquisition means that CommunityMedia, which is owned by brothers Edward and Daniel Verdugo, now owns at least 10 publications in OC and San Diego.
Its OC holdings include The Event Newspaper in Cypress, The Independent in Buena Park and Orange County News in Garden Grove.
Earlier this year, the Star-News’ former owner, Pacifica-Sierra, sold the Seal Beach Sun and The Catalina Islander to CommunityMedia.
Hot Tacos
What’s a must-do when visiting Southern California?
Wahoo’s Fish Taco. At least that what the folks at The Food Network think.
Wing Lam, co-owner of the Santa Ana-based Mexican fast food operator, said the network recently contacted him to do a segment for a show running this winter about things to do when visiting Southern California.
Lam’s focus: surfing and tacos.
He said he recently took two cameramen lugging 40 pounds of equipment and the show’s producer to Ensenada for a weekend of surfing and fish grilling,his old stomping grounds when Lam attended San Diego State University.
“They loved it,” he said.
He said he showed the Food Network guys around the town and then hit the bars at night, where customers were intrigued to know who the celebrity was.
“I was just eating it up,” he said laughing.
The show runs in early December. Lam said more details are to come.
Cool Ad
Aliso Viejo-based Mendoza Dillon just wrapped up work on a Hispanic commercial for United Kingdom-based Diageo PLC’s North American unit.
The 30-second spot promotes the company’s Smirnoff Ice vodka and features music from Mexican alt-rock band “Kinky.” C.J. Productions and Riot Films, both of Los Angeles, helped on the project. America Films was the production company.
Ingrid Otero-Smart, the agency’s president and chief operating officer, said Mendoza Dillon has been working with Diageo since February. No formal review was held for the account.
“We had done radio project work for them for about a year, and they awarded us the business on the strength of the radio work,” Otero-Smart said.
She added that Diageo has been “targeting Hispanics for over a year, almost since the launch of Smirnoff Ice.”
“They recognize the importance and the growth of the market,” Otero-Smart said.
Bits and Pieces:
Orange-based Morningstar Entertainment Inc. just wrapped up work for the United Way. Skip Konte, the agency’s president and producer, oversaw the project, which included making a CD-ROM for multimedia presentations. United Way also updated its donor process, which links viewers through the CD-ROM to the nonprofit’s Web site and donor page. It also offers a printable donation form that can be downloaded Anaheim wants some movie time. The city, Disneyland Resorts and Anaheim Resorts, recently sponsored a tour led by the Orange County Film Commission, which took Hollywood film industry types around Anaheim to scout out potential filming sites. The highlights: Downtown Disney, California Adventure, The Grand Californian Hotel, the Anaheim Convention Center, among other places.
