Ambiguous Ads Take the Company’s Name Literally
National Tour Sends Trucks to the Grand Prix; Xerox Taps BDS
Marketing & Media by Jennifer Bellantonio
If you have a kid, chances are you’ve heard of Irvine-based Ambiguous Industries.
The clothing company is hot among the surf, skate and music crowd. The buzz is so big that at local club or art nights sponsored by Ambiguous, throngs of teens to 20-somethings wait in line to be part of the scene.
The hype didn’t happen by spending wads of marketing dollars to promote the brand, according to owner Frank Delgadillo, who started the company in 1995 from his college dorm room.
It was all by word-of-mouth, and having Ambiguous products worn by hip bands such as Black Eyed Peas.
But now Ambiguous is ready to move to the next level.
The company recently enlisted Seattle-based Foundation to create a marketing campaign. The advertising agency counts Tommy Bahama Sportswear and Union Bay clothing, among others, as clients.
Delgadillo was turned on to the agency through his partner, Don Kerkes, who worked with Foundation years ago when he was head of sales at Mossimo Inc.
“They could look at our company and give us an unusual approach,” Kerkes said. “Just by our name we can do things that are different. We want to do things that are unexpected.”
The first stage of the campaign involves print ads that now are running in regional enthusiast magazines, such as Happy.
Instead of a focus on action sports, which is used by virtually all of Orange County’s clothing companies, Ambiguous chose to go the funky route.
One ad features the “Ambiguous machine” or white electronic box propped on stairs. The words, “Enhance living. Ambiguous clothing” are tucked in the corner. Future ads build on the theme
Peter Stocker, brand director at Foundation, said the agency took this tack because “it’s vague and unexplained.”
“We’re going to let people read into it for a while,” he said.
He said Ambiguous is in the infancy of building its brand.
The company plans to keep things fresh, according to Delgadillo, by thinking “outside the Orange County box” and giving customers something to think about.
Take the company’s logo, Kerkes said, which is made up of its name and three bubbles at the end.
“Do you know what the bubbles stand for?” Kerkes said.
OK, we give: it’s a lowercase “a.”
Truck Marketing at Grand Prix
National Tour Inc., an event marketing company based in Rancho Santa Margarita, built several marketing trucks that cruised to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach last weekend.
Companies that took their marketing on the road include Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., BMW Motorcycle Apparel, which had a 53-foot retail store on wheels, and Pioneer Corp., which went for an 18-wheeler mobile showroom to showcase its audio and video products.
National Tour, which reported 2000 revenue of $8 million, operates more than 40 corporate programs.
Brad Zimmerman, National Tour’s client services manager, said the company can fabricate and manage nationwide tours with trailers that are as small as 13 feet to as large as 53 feet. The biggest rigs are usually equipped with collapsible stages, DVD players, satellite radio feeds and more.
The rigs that went to Long Beach cost anywhere from $300,000 to $600,000 a pop, which is on the higher end, according to Zimmerman. Smaller trailers run in the $50,000 to $150,000 range.
Despite the steep price tags, more companies are turning to this marketing tactic.
“Companies are always looking for more effective ways to market their products,” Zimmerman said. “Mobile marketing offers the ability to physically drive their product straight to their target market.”
He added that, “traditional marketing can end up costing several million dollars yet it does not have the ability to directly measure the success of the ad.”
Bits and Pieces:
Irvine-based BDS Marketing recently was tapped by Xerox Corp. to help boost the company’s sales of its paper products to the business-to-business and small office markets. The agency plans to focus on conducting sales calls with the Office Depot Business Services Group and possibly training the retailer’s business-to-business sales force Laguna Hills-based Willis Advertising recently created an ad campaign for Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian and its service lines, including cancer, heart, orthopedics and emergency. The print ads ran in local newspapers and consumer publications, as well as direct mail and outdoor signage Irvine-based Display Works Inc., which produces trade-show exhibits and other marketing services, recently launched a new client services division, which will be based out of its San Francisco office. The company plans to open a new 5,000- to 7,000-square-foot design, sales, marketing and account management office in the Bay area this month and consolidate exhibit fabrication and warehousing operations in Irvine NeoBrands Inc. in Costa Mesa was recently tapped by Wolfe Tech Development Corp. to handle its public relations work. The firm will help Wolfe Tech with press materials, trade-show support and corporate messaging.
