Tustin-based Vertical Marketing Network has started a campaign for Universal City-based Codemasters Software Inc.? newest racing video game.
The ad shop will be marketing a sweepstakes for ?uel,?a racing game set in a post-apocalyptic world that will be available for Sony Corp.? PlayStation 3, Microsoft Corp.? Xbox 360 and computers that came out this month.
The shop has designed the ?uel Your Adrena-line?sweepstakes to target consumers with print and Internet ads and consumer packaging, according to Phil Saifer, president at Vertical.
Codemasters, part of Britain? Codemasters Software Co., is working with others to promote the sweepstakes.
They include Cypress-based Yamaha Motor Corp. USA, part of Japan? Yamaha Corp., Dell Inc.? Miami-based Alienware Corp., Illinois-based LumiSource Inc.? Boom Chair and Washington-based Oberto Sausage Co.
Yamaha plans to distribute posters and tear-cards to its dealerships.
Oberto plans to promote it on packages of beef jerky.
All of the companies will feature Internet ads and links to a sweepstakes Web site that was created by Vertical Marketing.
The ?uel Your Adrenaline?sweepstakes will give consumers a chance to win a Yamaha Raptor 250 all-terrain vehicle, Alienware PCs or Oberto brand beef jerky through August.
Vertical Marketing in April opened an office in Burbank to serve Los Angeles-area clients.
Several Orange County workers plus others staff the Burbank office, which handles Codemasters and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.? home video division.
?e will have our day-to-day account people working out of Burbank,?Saifer said. ?ut they will still have the backbone support here in Tustin.?
The shop? vice president, Diane Solem, manages the Burbank office.
Vertical also recently picked up some business with Cypress-based Bandai America Inc., a toymaker that? part of Japan? Namco Bandai Holdings Inc.
Vertical launched a campaign for Bandai? Tamagotchi MusicStar in all of Toys ??Us Inc.? stores.
?e had a spin wheel and gave away lanyards and posters along with coupons to buy Tamagotchis,?Saifer said. ?t was very successful campaign.?
The shop is working on several campaigns for other Bandai toy lines.
?e?e working on some boy toys as well as some girl toys,?Saifer said. ?ut we?e still massaging what those projects are.?
God of Thunder
Edgy clothing company Affliction Inc. of Seal Beach has brought on Gene Simmons of Kiss as its spokesman.
?e launched with a rock aesthetic and we have held fast to our rock ??roll roots,?said Eric Foss, owner of Affliction.
Simmons, who stars in the cable TV reality show ?ene Simmons Family Jewels,?will be making several appearances on the clothier? behalf and wearing the brand to different events.
The relationship between Affliction and Simmons came after working together for Children? Hospital of Los Angeles?Rally for the Cure.
? only get involved with entities that share my passion for vision,?Simmons said.
Affliction worked with Ozzy Osborne earlier this year as part of its latest Internet campaign.
Osborne is featured on the clothing maker? Web site and on the company? MySpace.com page as part of a contest. The rock legend also was in several print ads.
It? still too early to say if Simmons will be doing something similar.
?t hasn? been determined yet because this just happened,?said Pamela Rogers, spokeswoman for Affliction. ?he details of what actually will happen haven? been defined yet.?
In other Affliction news, the company is launching its collection for women this June.
Affliction, which has yearly sales of about $150 million, moved its headquarters from Los Angeles County to Seal Beach last year.
Founded in 2005, Affliction has a hard, edgy style. Its T-shirts and hoodies have skulls, bird wings and gothic lettering. Some of its jeans are torn. Others are embroidered with crosses and other gothic-style images.
The clothes are big with the tattoo, punk rock and heavy metal crowds as well as fans of mixed martial arts and boxing. The company sponsors fighting events.
Site Drives Traffic
Irvine-based Local.com Corp., which operates a Web site that allows users to search for things in their areas, has seen more advertising on a redesigned search engine.
The company saw a decline in advertising in the fourth quarter as most businesses cut back dramatically on advertising.
?e saw a dip along with the rest of the economy,?said Bruce Crair, president and chief operating officer.
Local.com since has seen an increase, according to Crair.
?e projected that it would be coming back after the fourth quarter and so far we?e holding to that,?he said. ?he thing about our businesses is that online advertising is still growing in general, but online search advertising is growing even more.?
The Web site has put more emphasis on content such as traffic information and more detailed local business information.
Local.com has revamped how ads appear along with its listings of local businesses. If a business pays to have its listing highlighted with an ad, Local.com places it along with relevant but not competing advertising.
?ut if you?e not an advertiser, well the gloves come off,?Crair said. ?e will put ad-vertising on the page and say, by the way, here are some other businesses who advertise with us.?
Bits & Pieces:
Costa Mesa-based Marshall Advertising & Design has done a Web video for Lake Forest-based Scorpion Sports Inc., a maker of motorcycle helmets. The video, dubbed ?weat,?features models and professional motorcycle racer Jett Schaffer in the California desert. The video will be featured on the helmet maker? Web site and distributed through YouTube.com ?The Orange County Regi-ster, part of Irvine-based Freedom Com-munications Inc., has expanded its self-service advertising to the Register? Local section of the paper. The self advertising service, designed for small businesses, expects the service to expand to include its Web site later this year ?Ladera Ranch-based Ladera Ranch Magazine, a regional lifestyle magazine, is starting a magazine for Coto de Caza, called Coto de Caza Quarterly.
