Jeremy Skiver, chief executive of Skiver Advertising in Newport Beach, didn’t see the Saturday Night Live episode in which Seth Meyers jokingly described Hooters of America LLC as a “sex dungeon.”
Skiver became the Atlanta-based restaurant operator’s agency of record last month.
“I was at SXSW [the South By Southwest music, media technology festival in Austin, Texas] with our digital director,” Skiver said. “We didn’t see SNL the night before, but obviously it hit our newsfeed. Coincidentally … the day before, we had a fantastic panel about storytelling in the digital age. We thought, ‘We’ve got to respond to this— immediately.’ ”
Meyers lampooned Hooters’ new push to attract more female customers by adding salads to its menu and remodeling stores. He likened its efforts to “trying to attract women to your sex dungeon by playing Adele in the background.”
Skiver Advertising organized a script and shot a response video at Hooters’ Anaheim restaurant, featuring a Hooters Girl.
The agency had its response on YouTube five days after the SNL episode.
“We had it ready to go as fast as we could,” Skiver said. “In the digital age, you have to be nimble and creative. People love SNL, and it was a great opportunity to capitalize on that. If you’re not able to execute quickly, an opportunity like that goes away.”
The Hooters clip parodies the “Really?” segment of Meyers’ show and ends by suggesting the comedian try a salad at a Hooters in Manhattan.
The ad agency added an outdoor component on the comedian’s home turf.
“The marquee outside the Manhattan store says … ‘Seth, our salads are really good,’ ” Skiver said.
Drift Lift
Yokohama Tire Corp. will cruise into some publicity when three professional drifting teams use its tires during Formula Drift’s 2013 championship series, which starts with an April 12 competition at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Street Course.
Fullerton-based Yokohama is the North American manufacturing and marketing unit of Yokohama Rubber Co. in Japan.
The April event marks the kickoff for Formula Drift’s ninth championship season and Yokohama’s second year in a row as a supplier. The company will showcase its Advan Neova, AD08 and S.drive tires during the competition.
The event in Long Beach comes a week before the annual Grand Prix there. The series has six more rounds in various locations through October, with a final “Title Fight” on the Irwindale Speedway.
Yokohama Marketing Director Fred Koplin said Formula Drift gives the company exposure to a young audience base “that may not see a lot of [our] other marketing initiatives,” such as sports sponsorships and TV ads.
DGWB for Hilton
DGWB Advertising and Communications in Santa Ana has launched a campaign for Hilton Garden Inn focused on business travelers.
Hilton Garden operates under the Hilton brand, with more than 560 locations around the world, including 40 in California, two of them in Orange County.
The latest advertising push started with a recent study that indicated most business travelers actually enjoy their time on the road, according to Mike Besack at DGWB.
Research firm TNS, part of London-based Kantar, conducted a survey of 1,001 travelers and found that 92% of respondents were satisfied with their travel schedules, and many indicated that experiencing new places and meeting new people are some of the most enjoyable parts of business travel.
“DGWB took it from there and gained additional insights that supported that claim,” Besack said.
Its campaign includes television spots and print ads. TV spots will run through November on various cable networks, such as CNN and the Weather Channel, as well as online on Hulu.com.
Addys Wrap
The Orange County Advertising Federation recently held its 25th annual Addy Awards ceremony, recognizing some of OC’s top agencies, as well as students in the areas of advertising and marketing.
The group is the local chapter of the American Advertising Federation. Local Addy winners will get an opportunity to compete at a district level, and winning entries there will vie for national awards.
The local Addys drew more than 400 professionals earlier this month at The Observatory in Santa Ana, where 48 gold awards and a passel of silver and bronze were handed out for work by local ad agencies and in-house efforts by clients.
An overall “Best of Show,” went to DGWB, which took home 32 awards total. DGWB’s top honor came for its 2012 campaign for the 18th Wiener Nationals, an annual dachshund race sponsored by the Wienerschnitzel fast-food chain, part of Irvine-based Galardi Group Inc.
