City National Bank is making an advertising push in Orange County.
The Beverly Hills-based bank, owned by City National Corp., recently came out with outdoor, print, radio and online ads directed at small and midsize businesses, investors and professionals.
The bank has billboards in Anaheim and Irvine.
Spokesman Daniel Minkoff said the bank tested billboards last year in Newport Beach and Anaheim and “found it a successful way to communicate our message to clients and potential clients.”
“Outdoor advertising in Orange County is challenging because of limited inventory and availability,” Minkoff said. “But we’ll definitely be looking for and evaluating other sites.”
As part of its ad campaign, City National is running print ads and has radio spots on National Public Radio affiliate KCRW 89.9 as well as KNX 1070. It also has ads on KOCE-TV.
The campaign is set to run until the start of summer and resume in September. The work, which also includes direct mail, community events and advertising inside branches, was created by M & C; Saatchi Los Angeles.
Carat USA manages the media planning and buying.
City National has seven OC branches and has done business here for 30 years, Minkoff said.
The bank is hoping the ads help it stand out in a “very cluttered market” for banks, said Huw Griffith, chief executive of M & C; Saatchi.
Last year, City National opened branches in Newport Beach, Anaheim and Irvine.
“We’re committed to growing the bank in Orange County,” Minkoff said. “The county’s economy is strong, unemployment is low and businesses are healthy. Manufacturing is even on the rise.”
The Great Divide
Last week, I wrote about new toys Irvine-based Merit/Andrew added to its film and production studio, as well as its plans to open a Los Angeles office.
Since, I’ve gotten details from Curt Fleming, the shop’s cofounder, about why he’s making a bigger play in L.A.
He didn’t mince words.
There’s a “natural glass ceiling that exists here in OC,” Fleming said. “The good folks in L.A. don’t quite take OC production companies as seriously.”
OC production and advertising shops have been working hard for years to shatter the “Orange Curtain.” There’s been progress, Fleming said. But there’s still a way to go, he said.
“The OC production stigma is based on both perception and reality,” Fleming said. “While we arguably have the talent and technology to compete with the top L.A.-based boutiques, it just won’t happen without a presence up there.”
Merit/Andrew plans to open its office in about three months.
Fleming said he’ll start “small” and plans to share space with another production shop.
Merit/Andrew plans to provide an edit bay for rough cuts and client reviews and send most of its post work to OC for finishing.
“The L.A. office would primarily serve as a more convenient meeting place for our L.A.-based clients,” Fleming said. “Much of our production and post production staff are L.A.-based so it will be easy to shift resources, as necessary. I’m sure they won’t mind skipping the commute to OC.”
To start, Merit/Andrew plans to float two people between its OC and L.A. offices. But in the long term it hopes to grow the L.A. shop into a full-service office with full-time staff, similar to its OC offices, which have eight full-time workers.
Merit/Andrew hired two workers at the end of 2005: one editor and office manager.
Churm on Family
Recently, I gave some details about upgrades Churm Publishing Inc. made to its OC Family magazine.
Since, Publisher Steve Churm shared more about the move, which includes tweaking coverage and shifting to glossy paper.
The paper switch will cost the publisher about 11.5% more per issue to print and bind, Churm said. OC Family won’t use staples at the magazine’s spine anymore, he said.
Newport Beach-based Churm Publishing made the changes to lure more advertisers, such as regional and national retail chains, and to keep the ones it has happy, he said.
“Going gloss simply reflects the quality expected in this market,” Churm said. “It also will eliminate many of those nagging issues of color reproduction and smudging we were experiencing on newsprint.”
Churm Publishing isn’t increasing rates for existing advertisers under contract but edged up rates 5% for new advertisers as of March 1.
To also help offset costs, Churm Publishing reduced its monthly print run from 80,000 to 70,000 copies, according to Churm. The publisher nixed some racks in northwest OC, he said. But it continues to deliver about 10,000 copies to coastal and south OC neighborhoods, Churm said.
