Irvine-based Kawasaki Motors Corp. USA is taking its sponsorship of the Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series up a notch with plans to give away three off-road all-terrain vehicles and some extras.
The Win My Ride giveaway is the first PBR giveaway Kawasaki has done. Prizes include a Kawasaki Mule 4010 Trans4x4 and two Brute Force all-terrain vehicles.
Fans can enter the contest by texting WINMYRIDE to Kawasaki through Oct. 28. The winners will be selected at random and announced after the PBR Built Ford Tough Series World Finals in Las Vegas in November.
The grand prize package includes the Mule 4010 Trans4x4, lunch with former NASCAR driver Richard Childress at his vineyard in Lexington, N.C., and a tour of the Richard Childress Racing facility in Welcome, N.C.
The runner-up will receive a Brute Force 750 4x4i EPS ATV, and the third-place winner will take home a Brute Force 300 ATV.
“Off-road vehicles are typically used in a rural environment, and the demographics at PBR events are a good place to connect with potential ATV and off-road buyers,” said Sean Alexander, account manager at Irvine-based public relations firm Freeman-McCue—Kawasaki’s PR firm of record.
The sponsorship agreement features Kawasaki branding and ads during PBR’s weekly broadcasts on CBS and NBC, prominent placement for signs around arenas, PA announcements and jumbotron spots.
Kawasaki Motors is a unit of Japan-based Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. It markets motorcycles, watercraft and various other products, along with ATVs.
Register Hires
The Orange County Register plans to reverse the trend of newsroom layoffs under new owner 2100 Trust LLC.
Aaron Kushner, who heads Boston-based 2100 Trust and has taken the publisher’s title at the Register, recently told employees there will be 23 new jobs to a newsroom estimated to have between 150 and 200 staffers.
The positions will be spread across business and investigative sections, the copy editing desk, and graphics team, according to the Register. The newspaper also is looking to add a restaurant critic, film critic, a reporter to cover the Los Angeles Dodgers, and an auto writer. And it plans to launch a Sunday magazine.
The new hires will be the first net additions to newsroom staff that’s been pared by about half since its former parent, Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc., fell into bankruptcy in 2009.
Freedom emerged from bankruptcy the next year, and later sold off TV stations and various print publications around the U.S. A few months ago it struck a deal with 2100 Trust for its remaining assets, including the Register, four small papers in California, one in Yuma, Ariz., and The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The hires also reverse a trend that had the Register emphasizing digital delivery of news through its website and various apps in recent years.
A Register iPad app called The Peel, which debuted in April of last year with a feature-driven focus on entertainment, ceased operations on Aug. 10 because it “didn’t have the growth and unique users needed to make it sustainable,” said Eric Morgan, communications manager of Orange County Register Communications.
The Orange County Register News Edition iPad app remains.
“We’re not print first or digital first,” Morgan said. “We’re in the information business, serving it to readers on multiple platforms.”
Social Strategies
Recent examples of social-media promotions include:
n Irvine-based fast-food restaurant chain Taco Bell Corp. celebrated 9 million Facebook fans by giving away Facebook-inspired Taco Bell T-shirts to the first 900 people to enter the sweepstakes by filling out a form through its Facebook page.
n Foothill Ranch-based teen retailer Wet Seal Inc. does weekly Tuesday Truth posts with fashion facts and Wednesday Wardrobe posts to showcase new styles to Facebook followers.
Bits and Pieces
Costa Mesa-based Marshall Advertising has hired Sheila Munson as account executive of its client services team. … Orange-based visual media production company JSP Creative Media was honored at the 33rd annual Telly Awards, fetching two silver awards and two bronze awards for its Toyota Financial Services and Lexus Financial Services commercials. … Newport Beach-based Pacific Life won a silver Stevie Award in the Small Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year category at the 2012 American Business Awards for its campaign, Helping Clients Put the ‘I’ Back in Income.
