FCB Lures McCann Ad Man From New York to Irvine
Zator Leaves T & O; For Who’s Calling; Holland On Own After Nine Dots Closure
Marketing & Media by Jennifer Bellantonio
Foote, Cone & Belding Southern California, Irvine, last week lured a seasoned East Coast ad guy, Holland Henton, as its senior vice president and executive creative di-rector.
Henton, who hails from New York’s McCann-Erickson WorldGroup, part of The Interpublic Group of Cos., is overseeing creative direction for all FCB’s clients, including TaylorMade-adidas, Hilton Hotels Corp., Kawasaki Motors Corp. and Taco Bell Corp.
Henton won’t get a hand on some automotive work since FCB withdrew from the ongoing Hyundai Motor America creative shoot-out.
The agency had its eye on Holland “for a long time,” President Jim Harrington said. Officials “have been real impressed with his work and reputation in the industry,” he said.
“Did we entice him? Absolutely,” Harrington said. “Especially considering the many benefits of living and working in Orange County combined with the exciting opportunities here at FCB to work on great client brands and new business initiatives.”
Henton, former senior vice president, group creative director at McCann, has led creative work on several big accounts, including for Southwest Airlines Co., FedEx Corp., Spalding Golf, General Mills Inc. and Coca-Cola Co.
In 1992, Henton won an Emmy for work he did for WLNB-TV in Rhode Island.
“I believe in a very open and collaborative environment, involving everyone who works on the business all the way through the process,” he said.
New Calling
About a year after he arrived at Irvine-based The T & O; Group, Monte Zator is moving on.
His last day as executive vice president and director of client services was Thursday. He was set to start today as the executive director of national accounts at the Irvine office of Who’s Calling Inc., a Kirkland, Wash.-based call-measurement and ad-tracking services company.
Zator said the opportunity was “unexpected” and too good to pass up.
“I can always return to the agency biz, if I really do end up missing it more than I thought. It is time to do something different,” he said.
At Who’s Calling, Zator is expected to develop ties with automotive and motorcycle makers.
He said he hopes ad agencies will see the value of measuring marketing effectiveness, which is something “advertisers have been asking about forever.”
Steve O’ Leary, T & O; president, said the agency had a lot of success with Zator and is looking to fill his position with a “top person again.”
“We’re starting a pretty extensive nationwide look,” O’ Leary said.
T & O; is about to announce an addition to its executive team, according to O’Leary. But it was too early to spill the details, he said.
Connecting the Dots
The latest bit of ad executive breakaway news: Craig Holland, former vice president and managing director of Nine Dots Corp. in Irvine, has resigned and started his own agency called Thumb works.
The agency, based in Irvine with three employees, launches with Qualcomm Internet Services, a unit of San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc. as its client.
“We’ve decided to not only be an agency for traditional things like print and the Internet, but we’re pursuing the wireless advertising area,” Holland said. “We see it as a great opportunity for the future.”
Qualcomm offers a technology that lets people do things on their mobile phones that they normally do on computers, such as check road conditions and play games. These programs have ads tied to them, Holland said.
Holland worked with Qualcomm at Nine Dots, which has closed its local offices, according to an agency spokeswoman. She declined to give any more details (see Advertising special report, starting on page 21).
Nine Dots, which saw layoffs in the rough economy, was bought last year by a Portland, Ore.-based interactive marketing agency that adopted the Nine Dots Corp. name. It’s still in business.
Sex and the Cycle
Costa Mesa-based Marshall Advertising & Design recently ended production on several new national TV spots for client Cypress-based Yamaha Motor Corp. U.S.A. and its products, including the R1 super sport motorcycle and V Star cruisers.
The “Rated R” action movie trailer (promoting the R1) is part of a branding effort that includes TV, print, outdoor and Internet advertising.
The racy ads, which feature exotic women, fiery explosions and motorcycle action scenes, are set to air primarily on national cable, with some network exposure.
