Tustin-based Echo Media Group and Irvine-based RiechesBaird have been tapped to represent New Jersey-based Villeroy & Boch USA Inc., part of Germany’s Villeroy & Boch AG.
The agencies will handle marketing for Villeroy’s bath and wellness division, which makes sinks, faucets, vanities and other products.
Echo Media will be in charge of the division’s public relations and media outreach, targeting the U.S. for the mainly European brand. RiechesBaird, a business-to-business ad shop, will be handling the bath and wellness division’s advertising.
“Our goal is to really generate some exposure here,” said Kim Long, president at Echo Media.
In addition to pitching magazines, Echo will be targeting Internet sites and bloggers for coverage.
The PR shop also has worked with Italy’s Bertazzoni SPA, a 120-year-old luxury stove maker, for the past couple years.
“We have seen a dramatic shift in our portfolio of clients in the last couple years by working with more clients who have an international focus,” Long said.
Fisker Goes to the Oscars
Irvine-based Fisker Automotive Inc.’s Karma made a red carpet appearance between Mickey Rourke and Angelina Jolie before the Academy Awards.
Fisker ran two 60-second ads for its new electric cars on Los Angeles television station KTLA during the station’s Oscars preshow.
“The commercials ran just as Rourke and Jolie made their stroll down the red carpet,” said Russell Datz, Fisker’s spokesman. “You couldn’t ask for better placement.”
Fisker is developing an upscale sedan,the Karma,and a sports car,the Sunset,that run off a combination electric and rechargeable battery engine. The technology was developed with Irvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. The cars are due out next year and are set to sell for $87,500 to $120,000.
Fisker got the commercial spots after KTLA heavily discounted airtime during its red carpet broadcast.
“It’s exciting for a small company because we didn’t think we’d ever be able to afford any broadcast commercials,” Datz said.
The commercials also ran on KTLA during its morning show and the evening news for the week following the Oscars.
Theaters Get Soul
Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc. is launching an advertising campaign for its Soul crossover vehicle targeting movie theaters this month.
The automaker, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co., will be starting its “A new way to roll” campaign in advertising that plays before movie trailers. The ads will run throughout March in Colorado-based National CineMedia Inc. and New York-based Screenvision Cinema Network LLC’s advertising network.
National CineMedia operates the largest digital in-theater network in North America through a venture of Missouri-based AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., Texas-based Cinemark Holding Inc. and Tennessee-based Regal Entertainment Group, the three largest movie theater operators in the U.S.
Screenvision works with independent theater operators that are on or near 50 college campuses in the U.S.
The 60-second commercial will feature the Kia Soul driven by hip, computer-generated hamsters. It will preview the print and television campaign that will launch in April, according to Tim Chaney, director of marketing communications at Kia.
The commercial and campaign were created by Kia’s longtime ad shop, El Segundo-based David & Goliath, which recently opened an office in London to support Kia’s European campaigns in conjunction with South Korea-based Innocean Worldwide, Hyundai’s in-house ad shop.
The automaker also is stepping up its interactive marketing with social networking advertising on Web sites including Facebook Inc. and MySpace.com.
Bits and Pieces:
Irvine-based Boost Mobile LLC, part of Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint Nextel Corp., has launched a Spanish-language campaign for its $50 unlimited plan offering calling, texting and Internet. Boost’s Hispanic marketing agency Dallas-based Inspire created the campaign that includes a 30-second over-the-top commercial Camelot Entertainment Group Inc. has moved its offices from Aliso Viejo to smaller offices in Irvine. The motion picture company is looking to open additional regional offices in Los Angeles and San Diego Huntington Beach-based Mars Media Family LLC has been hired by the Indiana-based KinderVision Foundation, a nonprofit educating families about abduction and sexual exploitation. Mars Media will be handling the foundation’s local promotions Newport Beach-based Professional Image Inc. is offering media relations and on-camera training courses at its headquarters to business owners and entrepreneurs looking to create their own public relation campaigns.
