Crossover Eyeing Second, Third Generation Hispanics
T & O; Lands Fast-Growing Irvine Bank; Y & R; in the Race for More Mattel Work
Marketing & Media by Jennifer Bellantonio
Crossover Interactive and Advertising dates back two years but just recently made its official launch by opening an office in Costa Mesa.
Agency principals say they primarily focus on the Hispanic “crossover” market, which is described as “second- or third-generation Hispanics who speak English, yet retain traditions and culture of the Latin heritage.”
“These mostly bilingual Hispanics have the education, buying power, and cultural sophistication of other highly-desirable demographic groups, yet they still identify with traditional Latin cultural cues,” said Barbara Ruano, founder and president of the minority-owned ad agency.
Ruano, a second-generation Cuban-American raised in Los Angeles, is a former vice president, senior creative director at Los Angeles-based Wing Latino Group and associate creative director at Aliso Viejo-based Mendoza Dillon.
Many advertisers create either “Spanish versions of their general market ads or ads portraying stereotypical Hispanics,” Ruano said. “Neither is correct for the crossover market.”
The shop has about five workers, but soon plans to add people for client services and business development.
Crossover’s officials have experience both in general market work and Spanish-language campaigns in all media, including broadcast, print and Internet.
“We recognize that a brand strategy must remain consistent regardless of the language or ethnicity of the target audience,” Ruano said.
The shop’s current clients include Orange-based Onepoint Inc. and Oxide Global, a Washington, D.C.-based TV network strategy company.
T & O; Lands OC Bank
Irvine-based The T & O; Group landed a new client.
In May, T & O; became the agency-of-record for Irvine-based Commercial Capital Ban-corp Inc. and its Commercial Capital Bank. The account is worth less than $5 million, according to Dave Robinson, president of T & O.;
The ad shop is set to help the bank promote its depository accounts.
Robinson said T & O; mostly will be doing advertising (print and TV commercials), collateral work and public relations work promoting branch openings.
Print ads will break in the next few weeks, while TV spots are set to break in the next three months, Robinson said.
In another development, T & O; said it started creating online training programs for clients.
T & O;’s online division worked with the Irvine arm of Taiwan’s D-Link Systems Inc., a maker of networking products, to develop a training program for salespeople at Fry’s Electronics and other retailers about the company’s products.
Y & R; Going After Mattel Work
Young & Rubicam Advertising, Irvine, is hoping to wrap itself around another chunk of business from El Segundo-based Mattel Inc.
The ad shop is one of four agencies pitching creative for three pieces of Mattel’s advertising business.
Up for grabs: ad duties for Mattel’s boys and entertainment division (Hot Wheels, Matchbox, games and puzzles, male action figures and licensed entertainment properties); infant and preschool licensed and entertainment properties; and global assignments.
The work is reported to have combined billings of about $50 million.
Other shops in the running: McCann-Erickson, San Francisco and Ogilvy & Mather, Culver City.
FCB is the incumbent on the boys and entertainment, and infant and preschool products. Ogilvy, which also handles Barbie, is the incumbent on international work in review.
Y & R;’s office here already handles Mattel’s older girls’ brands such as Diva Starz and Generation Girl.
Its New York office handles Mattel’s Fisher-Price unit. Those pieces of business aren’t up for review.
Here Comes the Bride Book
A new bridal guide book is walking down the aisle here.
Steven J. Doumar, chief executive of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based Doumar Marketing Corp., founder of Premier Bride magazines, is launching an Orange County edition called the Premier Bride of Orange County.
Lynn Adams of San Clemente is the publisher. The first edition is set for December.
The OC publication is one of 50 regional Premier Bride magazines in major markets nationally.
They work closely with Doumar’s subsidiary, Bliss Bridal Inc., which operates online wedding sites, including Bliss-Bridal.com.
“Our goal is to provide the bride with a complete source of information for planning her wedding locally, and to provide local businesses with opportunities to give the bride this information in a magazine,” Adams said.
The wedding planning book gives brides “unbiased” information about vendors in her local area, Adams added.
The magazine has about 10 staff members or so, as well as freelancers.
Bits and Pieces:
Newport Beach-based Willis Advertising just wrapped up work for DeCrane Aircraft Holdings Inc., El Segundo. The agency designed more than 50 backlit displays for their tradeshow booth, as well as a compact disc and brochures Eureka Resource Group, Trabuco Canyon, recently was tapped by LGC Wireless Inc. to conduct market research and marketing strategies Fullerton-based The 4th Floor LLC has wrapped up work for the Children’s Dental Health Clinic of Long Beach. The shop created a dental video promoting good hygiene Cypress-based Creative Media Recording recently recorded narration segments for producers at Jackson-Dawson Productions and their client Irvine-based Lincoln Mercury. The audio segments will be used at a preview introduction of the next generation Lincoln Navigator.
