OCR Magazines is growing its magazine collection.
The unit of Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc.’s Freedom Orange County Information has launched a magazine, Orange County Kids, and taken Preferred Destinations Magazine under its wing.
Preferred Destinations is a color, quarterly magazine distributed to hotels and resorts in OC. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Preferred Destinations was started four years ago by Brian Williams in Fullerton.
The publication distributes 75,000 free copies to hotel rooms, front desks and concierges at some 80 locations in OC, including the Hilton Waterfront Beach Re-sort in Huntington Beach, Hyatt Regency Newport Beach and the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point.
The magazine features maps, celebrity interviews, dining, shopping information and activities in the county.
OCR Magazines will launch the spring issue of Preferred Destinations in April, and continue on a quarterly schedule.
Plans also call for launching a tourism-based Web site in the next few months.
Tourism in OC is a “major economic driver” with “roughly 30 million tourists visiting our area each year,” said Chris Schulz, publisher and chief operating officer at OCR Magazines.
Schulz called Preferred Destinations an “elegant” and “engaging magazine” that gives local businesses a way to tap the OC market.
OCR Magazines’ buy of Preferred Destinations will help fuel its growth in “delivering niche products to upscale audiences,” Schulz said.
A few years ago, OCR Magazines bought Coast, a monthly publication aimed at wealthy residents in Newport Beach and other coastal cities.
Coast magazine is expected to oversee the editorial operations of Preferred Destinations from its office in Newport Beach.
OCR Magazines launched Orange County Kids this month. The quarterly magazine is distributed to 50,000 families with children here, some doctors and businesses geared toward kids.
Other titles from OCR Magazines include Orange County Home, which is distributed to about 70,000 homes, and Private Showing, a monthly real estate pub focused on expensive homes in OC.
Links Launch
Young & Rubicam Brands in Irvine recently launched a new marketing campaign for Callaway Golf Co.
The work includes four 30-second commercials, which broke earlier this month, plus print and online advertising.
The TV spots push Carlsbad-based Callaway’s FT-3 driver, X460 driver and HX tour golf ball using pros such as Phil Mickelson and Arnold Palmer.
The commercials are playing on the Golf Channel and other national cable channels.
Y & R; also created 11 print ads for golf magazines. The work includes an eight-page insert with tear-out cards that encourage consumers to test the drivers before buying them, the shop said.
This is Y & R;’s second campaign for Callaway Golf.
Sporting Scene
Hill & Knowlton Inc.’s Irvine operation is expanding its sports marketing team.
The shop tapped Doug Schneider to head its West Coast sports marketing practice, which includes working with athletes and racetracks.
Schneider will work with the New York-based firm’s national sports marketing practice director, Scott Kirkpatrick, to bring in more clients and grow the division, the shop said.
Schneider joined Hill & Knowlton from Ruder Finn in Los Angeles. He will oversee the OC shop’s existing clients, such as adidas-Salomon AG, Mazda North American Operations in Irvine, BF Goodrich and the Ford Motor Co.
Schneider is expected to help all of the firm’s clients, including those in the sports industry and others looking to reach sport fans, said Bonnie Goodman, general manager and executive vice president of Hill & Knowlton in Irvine.
El Pollo Pitch
Irvine-based El Pollo Loco Inc. just launched a new Spanish-language commercial.
The TV spot, created by the restaurant chain’s Hispanic ad shop, Los Angeles-based cruz/kravetz:Ideas, is the first of four new commercials that will air throughout 2006. There are 30- and 15-second versions.
The first spot, which launched in March, is airing on Spanish-language stations in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose, among other places. A 60-second radio commercial will debut in mid-April in some West Coast markets.
Bits and Pieces:
Newport Beach-based InterCommunications Inc. made some staff changes. The shop promoted two workers to account executives and hired another as director of interactive to grow the shop’s account services and technology offering Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc. has gotten some serious press time for sponsoring Shaun White, snowboarding Olympic gold medalist. White appears on a March cover of Rolling Stone magazine sporting a pair of Volcom boxers, which are peaking out from his pants. The pub called him the “coolest kid in America.” White has also appeared on MTV and other shows surrounded by all kinds of Volcom garb Wingstop, a chicken wing restaurant chain, is touting its new location in Costa Mesa. The Texas-based company has been making a push in OC as part of its growth plans. This is Wingstop’s third restaurant here.
