Young & Rubicam Brands in Irvine is busy with advertising campaigns as its new chief executive takes the helm.
Y & R;, Orange County’s largest ad agency, is pitching big changes at client Hilton Hotel Corp.
The effort includes print, TV and online advertising with the tagline, “Travel Should Take You Places.”
The campaign touts upgrades that the Beverly Hills-based chain made to some of its hotels, including refurbished lobbies, guest rooms and meeting areas.
Hilton also came up with a healthier menu and added Starbucks coffee to its hotels.
The company is expected to spend about $1 billion on the upgrades and the advertising campaign with Y & R.;
The TV ads include songs such as Jason Mraz’s “Life is Wonderful,” and James Blunt’s “High.”
Y & R; also recently launched a marketing push for Irvine-based Land Rover North America, which is part of Ford Motor Co.’s Premier Automotive Group.
The campaign, dubbed “Designed for the Extraordinary,” highlights all the cars in Land Rover’s lineup: the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and LR3.
The first TV ads feature the Range Rover Sport, according to Y & R.;
The commercials were shot in Tokyo at an underground water system.
For real? Yep.
Land Rover plans to have behind-the-scenes footage of the commercials on its Web site, said Sally Eastwood, Land Rover’s vice president of marketing.
The site includes interviews with the crew, information about the vehicle and photographs taken of the Range Rover Sport by Tokyo photographer Kenshi Daito.
In the meantime, Rick Eiserman, who’s been with Y & R; for 10 years, is learning the ropes at the Irvine office after recently taking the helm.
He replaces David Murphy, who resigned from Y & R; in November to take a job as president of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Inc.’s Torrance office.
Eiserman has held various positions in account management and new business at Y & R;, a unit of Britain’s WPP Group PLC.
He’s moved to OC from the East Coast, where he was chief executive at BrandBuzz, a marketing arm of Y & R; in New York.
Eiserman also was president of Big, an interactive game company owned by WPP.
He cofounded BrandBuzz in 2000 and has been chief executive since 2004. The unit has about 60 workers and yearly billings of about $100 million, according to its Web site.
Prior to BrandBuzz, Eiserman spent four years at Y & R; New York.
Y & R; also now has a chief operating officer, a new position.
Dan Olson, managing director at Wunderman, a division of Y & R; that handles digital, event and direct marketing, expanded his role and will oversee both units.
Online Marketer Opens
Interactivate Inc., a San Diego-based online marketing company, has opened an office in Irvine.
Tina Wilmott, the shop’s vice president of client development, said the main reason Interactivate came to OC was because the bulk of its clients are homebuilders here.
The shop has done Web sites and direct mail campaigns for John Laing Homes, part of Newport Beach’s WL Homes LLC, the Ladera Ranch development of Rancho Mission Viejo LLC and William Lyon Homes Inc. in Newport Beach.
Interactivate has 10 OC workers and is “growing very quickly,” Wilmott said.
