After 11 years with Newport Beach-based Lawrence, Mayo & Ponder, founding partner Bruce Mayo has decided to sell his stake in the firm and form his own agency.
“I’m definitely not getting out of the business,” Mayo said. “I’m just kind of reinventing myself and getting back to doing what I really like to do, which is working intimately with clients and doing great creative, strategic work.”
Within the next three weeks, Mayo said he plans to set up an office in either Costa Mesa or Santa Ana and work as a “one-man show.”
Mayo said he is not bringing any Lawrence, Mayo & Ponder employees with him but does plan to take a few clients, including Renkus-Heinz in Foothill Ranch, a maker of speakers, amplifiers, sound systems and related products.
According to Mayo, the agency had been moving more toward social marketing, with state contracts and pro bono work for events such as the AIDS Walk in Orange County.
While he enjoys that part of the business, he says he wants to focus more on consumer advertising and surfwear companies.
And while Mayo’s gotten a few offers from other undisclosed agencies, he says he’s still mulling things over.
“I’ve got some offers from people,” Mayo said. “I may consult and help them out, but unless there is a really great offer I can’t refuse I don’t foresee myself doing that.”
