Big Y & R; Gets Bigger with Mattel Boys’ Account Win
Priscomm Founder Starts New Costa Mesa Ad Shop; Del Taco Rides Motocross
Marketing & Media
by Jennifer Bellantonio
Young & Rubicam Inc., OC’s biggest ad shop, keeps gaining weight.
On the heels of taking home Land Rover North America’s reported $50 million account, the Irvine shop recently beat out two others in a round of finals to win Mattel Inc.’s boys/entertainment unit.
The prize: a $40 million chunk of ad business, according to reports.
The review was watched closely by industry observers.
Foote, Cone & Belding’s Chicago and El Segundo offices were the account’s incumbents, but not part of the review. Contenders were McCann-Erickson WorldGroup in San Francisco and Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide in Culver City.
Mattel’s boys/entertainment division includes a variety of brands, such as Hot Wheels, Matchbox, UNO and Masters of the Universe. And it has licensed entertainment properties.
Y & R; has already been doing some work with Mattel, on its Fisher-Price and Older Girls brands.
“We are thrilled to deepen our relationship with Mattel and work with these leading brands,” said David Murphy, Y & R;’s president and chief executive. “The best new business is that which you earn from existing clients.”
Murphy said that Y & R; already has made some key hires for the Land Rover account.
John Hage, formerly of Publicis & Hal Riney, was recently hired as senior vice president, and group creative director on Land Rover.
Tom Steadman, who was recruited from Austin, Texas-based GSD & M;, Land Rover’s past agency, is now senior vice president, brand team leader on the account.
Y & R; will also be recruiting for the new Mattel work, but isn’t sure how many people it will add.
Clear Shift
An Orange County ad veteran once again has started his own gig.
Allan Karl, former owner and founder of Costa Mesa-based Priscomm, which became part of Emeryville-based interactive agency Wirestone two years ago, recently launched his own shop, clearcloud ctc, and nabbed some work from Irvine-based Quest Software Inc.
Karl remains a majority shareholder in Wirestone, which has grown to about 200 workers and seven offices. Karl’s Priscomm and four other ad shops were rolled up to create Wirestone.
Last year, a group of investors injected about $20 million into Wirestone to fund more acquisitions, Karl said.
“As part of that plan I found myself less and less active in the day-to-day working of the clients,” he said.
“I saw myself spending too much time in management meetings, conference calls and airplanes. My love and passion in this business is the strategic, creative, branding and market positioning” work.
So Karl decided to branch out and start a small shop in Costa Mesa that consists of three full-time workers and a team of routine freelancers, who he’s worked with for the past 10 years on different projects.
He said it’s been challenging to launch in a rocky economy. But there’s good news, too. He said his past with Priscomm and Wirestone has opened a lot of doors.
“I’ve met a lot of people and my contact list is very fat,” Karl said.
Karl said he’s not trying to grow too fast. His company is targeting mid-market businesses in technology and other industries.
His current clients include Apex Environmental Recovery Inc. in Huntington Beach and Amici Cellars, a winery in Napa Valley.
He pitched Quest on the brand-building pro-cess and landed the company’s new marketing work.
Terri Avnaim, director of Quest’s corporate marketing, said clear-cloud’s done a good job helping Quest get its name out and educate its audience.
For instance, the software management company has software products that are routinely used by Oracle developers. But Avnaim says Oracle is more familiar with the products than Quest itself.
“This is a great way to jumpstart getting our name out there,” she said.
The new campaign consists of print ads, which will break Sept.1 in industry magazines. It runs through December. There will also be an online marketing program.
Wheel of Fortune
Lake Forest-based Del Taco Inc.’s wheels are turning.
The Mexican fast food chain displayed the company’s logo on the back wheel of a sponsored motocross rider’s bike at the 2002 Philadelphia X Games held recently.
The move marks a first for the company and motocross, according to Del Taco.
The company sponsored rider Tommy Clowers and stuck a logo board on his back wheel during the event.
According to Bill Williamson, vice president of operations at Wheel Ad Corp. in Huntington Beach, Del Taco is the first advertiser to go with wheel advertising in motocross.
In other news, the company just released television and radio spots promoting its new line of fajita burritos.
The spots were created by G & M; Plumbing in El Segundo.
