Lake Forest will host a “shop local” initiative during the city’s Shop & Dine Lake Forest Week, Aug. 12 through 19.
The event includes “hundreds of Lake Forest retailers, restaurants and services offering unique promotions and discounts to residents citywide,” said spokesperson Jessica Spaulding Thompson of Aliso Viejo-based Spaulding Thompson & Associates.
The Lake Forest City Council initiated the annual event last year to build greater awareness of local shops and restaurants and to encourage local spending. Participating restaurant Outback Steakhouse reported a 20% increase in sales during the 2011 event.
“For us, the discount offer was about giving a great value to our customers, driving traffic and helping to build future business,” said Paul Steinberg, managing partner of Outback Steakhouse in Lake Forest.
The city will have a number of banners posted citywide and at major retail centers in the coming weeks. It also will publicize the promotion via live broadcasts on Playlist 92.7 FM.
The merchants also have a Passport to Savings promotion looming, for which residents soon will receive a coupon booklet in their mailboxes listing participating shops and restaurants.
Shoppers can have their Passports stamped at participating locations during Shop & Dine Lake Forest Week for a chance to win prizes during the closing celebration slated for Aug. 19.
Seventeen Lake Forest companies have signed on to sponsor the shop-local program. Corporate sponsors include Oakley, Panasonic Avionics, Innovage, Wal-Mart, Fresh & Easy, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Marinello School of Beauty and Playlist 92.7 FM.
Toyo Tire
Costa Mesa-based Marshall Advertising has launched a new campaign for client Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. of Cypress, introducing the company’s new Toyo Proxes 4 Plus high-performance tire. The new tire replaces one of the company’s best-sellers, the Proxes 4.
The new campaign includes digital, print, trade and social media. Ads urge consumers, “Don’t Just Change Your Tires, Plus Them.”
“To help reinforce the new product name, we used the word ‘Plus’ in every execution,” said Roger Feldman, creative director at Marshall.
The new print ads will run during the third quarter in mainstream automotive publications including Motor Trend, Car & Drive and Automotive, as well as in performance niche publications Super Street, D-Sport and Rides.
Digital media includes automotive enthusiast sites such as MotorTrend.com, CarAndDriver.com and RoadAndTrack.com.
Marshall has also created a Plus Your Performance Photo Contest using the company’s Facebook page, where fans are encouraged to upload a photo of their car or truck and explain why they deserve to win a new set of Toyo tires and custom wheels.
Marshall has been Toyo Tire U.S.A.’s primary ad agency since 2004.
Bits and Pieces
Newport Beach-based sports marketing agency O’Brien Marketing has signed mixed martial arts promotional company Bellator Fighting Championships as a client … Rancho Santa Margarita-based digital PR firm Robertson Communications will handle startup-company accelerator K5Launch, based in Orange. Robertson Communications will provide strategy, counsel, and PR and marketing services for startups under the K5Launch umbrella. … Costa Mesa-based commercial printer C2 hired Steve Muck as director of business development. Muck will lead the sales team for C2’s full-color digital-print division, C2 Color Studio. … Irvine-based Brand Affinity Technologies has released Android app Fantapper, which enables users to discover, organize and share favorite online content via mobile devices. … San Clemente-based men’s clothing manufacturer ambsn released a video documenting one man’s journey from the high desert to the coast of California on video-sharing site Vimeo, with the actor wearing ambsn clothes during his trek. … Newport Beach-based marketing agency SmartBug Media has released the e-book 78 Blog Interview Questions that Kill the Competition, which offers blog strategies to help individuals increase their content marketing effectiveness. The e-book is free to download at SmartBugMedia.com. … Illinois-based Earth Friendly Products—a manufacturer of eco-friendly cleaning products whose top executives are based in Orange County—announced a sponsorship of Greek beach volleyball players Vicky Arvaniti and Maria Tsiartsiani at the 2012 Olympics in London.
