Al Punto Works With Wherehouse on Tu Musica Touches
Aquent Adds Tech to Local Offerings; El Pollo Loco Touts Free Side Orders.
Marketing & Media
by Jennifer Bellantonio
Wherehouse Entertainment Inc. is looking to spice up its Latino music division, Tu Musica.
Eduardo Navratil, Wherehouse’s Latin music buyer, said the Torrence-based company is trying to boost Tu Musica’s appeal among Hispanics by adding more Spanish-language signs and other marketing touches to its stores in Orange County and elsewhere.
The focus so far is on what Wherehouse calls its store-within-a-store concept, which is basically a Tu Musica “store” inside a Wherehouse retail outlet.
There are more than a handful of Tu Musica sites in OC. According to Navratil, the OC locations are some of the highest-performing stores in the Tu Musica chain. The company also operates nine freestanding Tu Musica stores,the bulk of which are in Los Angeles. Wherehouse has no plans to launch anymore in 2002, Navratil said.
Last year Wherehouse tapped Tustin-based al Punto Advertising to handle its Hispanic account. The company is building on ad campaigns launched last year by the agency, Navratil said.
Pegg Goff, president and director of strategic planning at al Punto, said it’s a tough time for retail and specialty merchandisers. Despite the challenges, she said “it was a smart move on (Wherehouse’s) part to reach out to a new target (Hispanics).”
“They’re seeing the benefits of that,” Goff said. “We’ve gotten off to a really good start.”
Enrique Turegano, group director at al Punto, said the agency is helping Wherehouse develop a marketing effort, “from in-store to the way the music is organized.”
The Latino sections will see new Spanish language signs that “will help customers get a glance on what is hot, or what is selling” as far as Hispanic musicians go, he said.
The agency also intends to continue radio spots, which have been running for the past six or seven months.
Aquent Adds Tech
The Newport Beach office of Aquent, a Boston-based staffing company for creative and technology professionals, is expanding its services.
The company, which helps some of OC’s biggest advertising agencies find designers, copy writers and others for print and Web work, recently acquired Waltham, Mass.-based Renaissance Worldwide Inc., which focuses on the technology industry.
Brian Guidry, area manager for Aquent’s OC office, which has a staff of four, said local clients now can use Aquent to fill technology slots. Besides working with advertising agencies, the company also helps Fortune 500 companies fill positions in corporate marketing departments.
While there haven’t been that many positions to fill these days, “we have had quite a few people coming to us looking for work,” Guidry said.
“We’re feeling some positive energy, if you will, in the marketplace,” he said.
Still, Guidry is quick to temper his comments: “It’s not that people are “all of a sudden spending tons of money.”
The Web side of Aquent’s business has yet to bounce back, according to Guidry.
On the Side, Gratis
Irvine-based El Pollo Loco recently broke a new TV and radio campaign to promote is newest special: one free large side.
The promotion runs through March 3 and is valid with each eight, 10-, 12-piece meal. El Pollo Loco is getting the news out in both English and Spanish. The commercials are set to run in select West Coast markets.
There’s also in-store marketing, including banners and signage.
Bits and Pieces:
Laguna Beach-based Fuse Interactive just launched a new Web site called the Fender Players Club for Fender Musical Instruments Corp. The site comes complete with educational tools to help budding guitarists master the skill. Fuse is also busy helping the interactive division of Matsushita Avionics Systems Corp. design its new in-flight entertainment system Santa Ana-based DGWB Advertising just racked up a win. The shop now is the new agency-of-record for Adlink digital cable interconnect. DGWB is set to promote Adlink’s Targeted TV, which helps advertisers buy space on the Los Angeles cable TV market Tustin-based Beard Boy Productions featured Bob Denver, a.k.a. Gilligan on “Gilligan’s Island,” as the voice on a new television commercial and two radio spots created for Seven Crown Resorts Houseboats Vacations in Irvine. The broadcast campaign, comparing the best ways to take a vacation out on the water, will air on cable TV and radio outlets in Los Angeles for the next three months Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. recently inked a deal with TVN Entertainment Corp., a digital licensing and programming company, to create an action sports television channel. Programming will be available to people via cable or satellite.
