Fishbone Marketing Inc. hired two account executives on the heels of picking up some more work.
“We’re on a tear with new business and plan to hire three more employees in the next few months to accommodate the increase in volume,” said Kristin Wolberg, who handles new business at the Newport Beach-based shop.
Jordon Hall, who previously worked at promotional ad shop Draft Inc., was hired to work with Fishbone clients in the staffing industry: San Clemente-based NMR-healthpros Inc. and Irvine-based Q Staffing Services.
Wolberg was hired to line up clients and handle the shop’s work for the Orange County chapter of the American Electronics Association trade group. She came from the sales department of Balboa Capital Corp. in Newport Beach.
Wolberg said 4-year-old Fishbone didn’t have to fight other shops in a review for the new work. It attracted the clients by word of mouth.
The shop now has 10 workers at its 1,500-square-foot office,enough space for the extra staff, Wolberg said.
Fishbone expects to double its revenue in 2006, she said.
“We base this on these account wins, prospects in the hopper and our people and resources that are now devoted to new business development and marketing,” Wolberg said.
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Gift for Paul Frank workers: Christmas bike parade was record attempt |
World Record Bid
Costa Mesa-based Paul Frank Industries Inc. made headlines in November when cofounder and designer Paul Frank left the company.
The apparel maker continues to turn heads,but for another reason.
Cofounders John Oswald and Ryan Heuser, who remain at the company, recently gave each of the company’s 145 workers a Paul Frank chopper bicycle.
The group,some 120 of them,rode the bikes to their annual Christmas breakfast in a bid to make a world record for the longest bike parade, the company said.
Workers traveled about two miles to Lion’s Park in Costa Mesa in a single line without any big gaps, the company said.
The group was escorted by the Costa Mesa police and people cheered them on from homes and businesses.
Paul Frank took video and still photos of the event and plans to submit them to the Guinness Book of World Records in January.
Flying Start
Tustin-based Hilary Kaye Associates Inc., or HKA, is starting off the year in “high gear,” according to President Hilary Kaye.
The shop is helping existing clients with ongoing media relations and marketing work and starting programs for clients it recently picked up, Kaye said.
“In addition, we are finalizing assignments for several prospective clients who decided to wait until after the holidays to begin their new programs,” she said.
Some of the new work that HKA brought in during December includes Q10 Capital/Dwyer-Curlett & Co., a Los Angeles-based mortgage banking company, Huntington Beach-based Perfume Bay Inc. and Irvine-based Matters at Hand. The shop also expanded work with Maryland-based MaggieMoo’s International LLC, an ice cream chain.
Kaye said 2005 was “our best year in recent memory.”
The shop recently hired two new public relations workers to help with its new business, she said.
“After more than two decades in business here in Orange County, we have an increasing number of business colleagues referring significant clients to us from a wide variety of industries,” Kaye said. “I have no doubt the new year will be even stronger than 2005.”
Healthcare-Fueled Growth
Aliso Viejo-based Epic Brand Communications is gearing up to hire four to six workers this year.
The OC shop doubled its business last year by expanding work with current clients, such as the San Diego office of Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen Idec Inc. and Vesta Medical LLC’s Vestara in Tustin.
It also brought in several clients, including Philips Medical Systems, part of Royal Philips Electronics NV, Los Angeles-based Clearant Inc. and Boulder, Colo.-based Pharmion Corp.
Principal Steve Johnson said the shop hired four workers in 2005 to handle the increase in workload. Now it’s set to grow bigger on expected gains in work from existing clients, such as Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. and NeoMatrix LLC in Irvine, he said.
The OC shop has 16 workers.
Johnson said he’s looking to grow business by about 50% in 2006.
“Our clients’ market positions are strong and budgets are growing,” he said.
The shop already is busy on several assignments, including helping client Pharmion market a cancer drug and pushing the launch of diagnostic equipment for NeoMatrix and Philips.
Ad Club Awards
Orange County advertising executives already are gearing up for the 2006 American Advertising Federation Orange County Ad Club’s ADDY Awards.
The shindig typically draws hundreds of movers and shakers in the local ad industry for cocktails, appetizers, an award ceremony and examples of work from the winners. The ceremony is slated for March 25.
Ad types must submit work to the ad club by Jan. 20. All work is eligible if it first appeared in the media or was used from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, according to the club. There are more than 100 different categories.
