Irvine-based WebVisible Inc., which helps businesses buy and target online ads, has named a NetZero Inc. cofounder as its chief operating officer.
In 1998, Ronald Burr helped start Woodland Hills-based Internet service provider NetZero, now part of Woodland Hills-based United Online Inc.
He’s also a managing partner along with other NetZero alums at Westlake Venture Partners, a venture capital firm.
Burr was introduced to WebVisible by Greg Martin, an investor at Menlo Park-based Redpoint Ventures, which invested in NetZero.
Martin, a director at WebVisible, thought the company would be a good fit for Burr.
“Greg has known me for years and known I’ve always been interested in the local advertising space,” Burr said.
The original focus of NetZero was local advertising, according to Burr.
“We were too early in 1998 and didn’t have the scale,” he said.
Burr said his dad is a small-business owner in the San Fernando Valley.
“I understood his struggles and his challenges to bring customers in,” Burr said. “I always wanted to do my part to help out businessmen like him.”
As chief operating officer, Burr is responsible for overseeing product development, engineering, technology, media and operations.
“I’ll be the nuts and bolts guy in the house, so (Chief Executive Kristen Mangers) doesn’t have to worry about it,” he said.
Before joining WebVisible, Burr was chief product officer for Los Angeles’ LRN Corp., which makes software for governance, ethics and compliance management.
Ketel One Goes White Collar
Aliso Viejo-based Nolet Spirits USA Inc., importer and seller of Ketel One vodka, is sponsoring USA Network’s new series “White Collar.”
The move appears to be a tie-in with Ketel One’s latest campaign, “When men were men.” The TV spots show well-dressed men in darkly lit commercials drinking the Dutch vodka.
New York’s Gray Group is handling the campaign.
“White Collar” is about an FBI agent and ex-conman working together to catch white collar criminals.
Ketel One is doing product placement and other marketing with the rehabilitated con artist, played by Matt Bomer.
In the second half of the season, Ketel One on the rocks is set to be the conman’s signature drink.
At the end of the show’s first episode last month, Ketel One sponsored a 70-second preview of the upcoming episodes.
Ford Motor Co. is doing marketing through the no-nonsense FBI agent, played by Tim DeKay.
Bride Marketing
Mission Viejo-based OC Media Ltd., publisher of Orange County Bride mag-azine, is seeing more hotels and golf courses advertising.
The shift comes after hotel and golf courses have seen other areas of their businesses decline including conventions and meetings.
“They are realizing they have to get out there in front of the brides,” said Lynn Adams, publisher at Orange County Bride.
While most companies have cut back dramatically on sales meetings and holiday parties, more than half of brides haven’t changed their wedding budgets.
“Based on our findings from clients, about 65% of brides are shopping around a bit more, but many have saved up for their dream-come-true weddings,” Ad-ams said.
Nearly $600 million is spent on OC weddings every year, according to the magazine.
“People are always getting married and there is a large market in OC for it,” Adams said.
The bridal magazine hasn’t been spared in the overall cutback in advertising. It has seen ad sales down in the double digits this year.
The magazine has seen smaller advertisers—namely makeup artists and florists—spend more on online advertising.
Last month, New York-based Condé Nast Publications, part of Staten Island, N.Y.-based Advance Publications Inc., announced it was shutting down rivals Modern Bride and Elegant Bride, both magazines that had taken advantage of the wedding spending boom of the 1990s.
Orange County Bride, which publishes twice a year, still competes with other regional bridal magazines including The Knot and Bride magazine.
Correction
The Oct. 19 column item on Santa Ana-based Truth should have said the agency isn’t handling online advertising for the Orange County Park System, the government agency responsible for maintaining the county’s public parks. Truth is handling print brochures and the OC Park System’s Web site.
Bits & Pieces:
Lake Forest-based motorcycle gear maker Scorpion Sports Inc. has done an online video promoting its line of motorcycle helmets that keep riders dry no matter the temperature. Costa Mesa-based Marshall Advertising is handling the campaign featuring a man on a motorcycle who removes his helmet and is sweat free, despite the heat … Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc. has started an advertising campaign for its midsize Kia Forte. The “First of its Kind” campaign features TV, print and online ads featuring hybrid animals such as a camel-cheetah to symbolize the car’s mix of features such as fuel efficiency and speed. The campaign is being handled by El Segundo-based David & Goliath LLC.
