Development Exec Leaves Bates; Surfrider Ad Campaign Breaks
Surfing Girl magazine is getting ready to take the plunge. The 84-page insert is set to separate from Surfing magazine in January, targeting girls, teens and young women.
Peter “PT” Townend, publisher of the two magazines under McMullen Argus Publishing Inc., said the now-bimonthly Surfing Girl magazine will be published monthly with an initial launch of 100,000 copies.
This is the first big move for Townend since returning to Surfing in May. Townend previously was advertising executive and associate publisher of Surfing, Bodyboarding and Volleyball magazines in the 1980s and early 1990s, prior to his move in 1993 to Irvine-based Rusty Apparel, where he was the brand’s marketing director. The new Surfing Girl magazine, unlike its 30-year-old male-oriented sibling, will need to go beyond its surf roots if it wants to attract teenage girls, Townend said. The new publication will feature other topics of interest to young women. Plans include beefing up the staff and expanding the magazine group’s San Clemente offices. “We have been doing some secret tests and in some places on the East Coast it even outsold Surfing and Surfer magazines,” he said. “Everybody wants to be a surfing girl, but that doesn’t mean they want to surf. People wear Roxy clothing, but they don’t surf.”
Skiver Leaves Bates
Jeremy Skiver is no longer director of marketing for business development at Bates USA West in Irvine. The firm, OC’s fourth-largest ad shop, is mum about why Skiver left last month and where he is now. Skiver joined Bates in 1992 to work on the company’s Hyundai Motor America business. Prior to joining Bates, Skiver oversaw the growth of sporting and recreational brands at Lambesis in San Diego. After three years at Bates, Skiver left to join TBWAChiatDay and worked on its Nissan Motor Corp. account.
He later returned to Bates to focus on youth-oriented marketing and this year the agency landed the account of Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., becoming its first agency of record in January. The firm launched its first commercials in February as part of the retailer’s estimated $8 million account.
LM & P; Shows It’s Game
Lawrence, Mayo & Ponder, Newport Beach, recently added a couple of new accounts, including one for Huntington Beach-based Entertainment Systems Technology, manufacturer of the Fun Pad game board. The ad shop has been assigned to create a branding campaign for the company’s first product, a hand-held interactive entertainment device featured in restaurants including some Denny’s, T.G.I. Friday’s and McDonald’s. The wireless game board, which is supported by advertising and coupons that can be printed out on site, is handed out to customers waiting for tables or to entertain them while in the restaurant.
Surfrider Breaks Ads
The San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation recently completed production of two TV commercials and three radio spots,its first national branding campaign to promote the preservation of the world’s oceans.
The nonprofit’s campaign broke Aug. 1 on Fox Sports West during the Bluetorch TV program “Rush Hour.” Another 41 stations in California and six other states have agreed to air the and commercials for free including KABC, KCAL, KCBS in Los Angeles. Most should begin airing the spots later this month.
Shortly before the start of the actor’s strike in May, actors Jennifer Darling and Jeff Bridges were tapped to provide voice-over talent for the campaign, said Felipe Bascope, former co-creative director at DGWB Advertising in Irvine. Bescope is now a freelancer in Los Angeles and heads up the marketing efforts for Surfrider. The commercials, which cost about $2,000 to produce, were made with the help of companies such as Irvine-based OC Post and Stewart Sound Factory.
“The branding is a plea for help from ‘mother ocean’ for people to jump on the bandwagon and become part of the solution, not the problem,” Bescope said. Surfrider, founded in 1984, has grown to include 50 U.S. chapters. The organization, which operates on a $1.6 million annual budget, provides educational programs to the public, sues polluters and is developing a map of the coastline to identify storm drains and other sources of pollutants.
Bits and Pieces:
Strategies, Costa Mesa, has picked up a new PR account with Irvine-based Rainbow Technologies. The work includes media relations, pursuing speaking opportunities and event public relations. Rainbow Technologies, founded in 1984, is a developer, manufacturer and supplier of software protection devices and encryption technology Anderson Jones Partners, San Juan Capistrano, an ad agency that specializes in medical-device and healthcare marketing, recently received two international awards of excellence from the Medical Marketing Association in Scottsdale, Ariz. The silver and bronze awards, for mixed-media campaign and TV advertising, were given for the ad shop’s work for Mentor Corp. in Santa Barbara. Mentor manufactures medical devices used by plastic surgeons HomeBase, Irvine, recently hired Ketchum in Los Angeles to handle PR for the launch of its new House 2 Home retail concept.
For the record:
Due to a typo in last week’s bits and pieces section, Hilary Kaye Associates was misspelled.
