Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc.’s Bob McKnight and others in surfwear like to call Orange County “Velcro Valley,” because it’s where Quiksilver and other industry players started gathering some 30 years ago.
“The culture we hatched here in Orange County influences every walk of life,” McKnight, Quiksilver’s chief executive, said at a recent Orange County Forum luncheon. “Our job is to promote the fantasy and the dream. Quiksilver, Billabong and Volcom continue to set an example for the rest of the world.”
It’s one thing to hear about the influence of OC’s surfwear industry. It’s another to see it.
I just got back from Hawaii, where Quiksilver and other OC brands dominate. They hold giant surfing events throughout the year, drawing thousands of people. The islands are a natural extension for OC’s beach brands.
I stayed on the lush tropical island of Kaua’i, where surfing, snorkeling and other water sports help drive the local economy. My husband and I did our part, renting a kayak and surfboard.
And I bought a pair of sandals from San Diego’s Reef at one of the small mom-and-pop surf shops speckled along the main highways.
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No, this isn’t Wahoo’s in Costa Mesa: OC, other brands plastered on Progressive Expressions surf shop in Kaua’i |
Most of these stores have flashy window signs from OC brands, including Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc., Quiksilver and Irvine’s Billabong. Inside, there are racks and rows of their garb, from sandals to shorts, surf trunks and bikinis.
Billabong has a nice foothold in Hawaii. It owns a surf store chain called Honolua Surf Co., which sells Billabong garb and Honolua brand apparel.
There are about 20 Honolua stores in the Hawaiian Islands, the bulk of which are on the Big Island.
There are two Honolua stores in Kaua’i, one of which was in Anchor Cove in Lihu’e across the street from where I stayed.
Talk about foot traffic.
The shop is in a small shopping center, just steps from a popular surf spot. All day long beachgoers cruise passed the shop and stop in for some essentials,surf wax, a beach hat, tank top or Billabong shorts.
Y & R; Spins Rover Sports Car
Young & Rubicam Brands in Irvine did some new work for Ford Motor Co.’s Land Rover North America.
The campaign, which has the tagline “The New rush,” pushes the Irvine-based automaker’s new Range Rover Sport car.
Y & R; worked with siblings Wunderman, a direct and digital marketing arm of the New York-based ad shop, and Mediaedge:cia, a media buyer. The campaign launched in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami.
It includes subway advertising, a direct-mail insert in The Wall Street Journal, elevator ads, billboards, spots before movies and a limited edition New Rush Energy drink.
Copy on the drink cans reads: “And while it may be tasty and may induce a mild perkiness, it will not send shivers up your spine. It will not cause your heart to pound, your pupils to dilate nor your breath to come quick and short. For that, there’s a new rush. The All-New Range Rover Sport.”
The drink will be sold at health clubs.
“We don’t want to blanket the marketplace with it,” said Anthony DiBiase, Y & R;’s executive creative director, in trade publication Adweek. “We want it to be a conversation starter.”
The Land Rover work also includes a Web site, www.thenewrush.com, which highlights the car in animation while drums play.
Television spots are set to launch later this summer.
Campaign spending is undisclosed. Land Rover, a subsidiary of Ford, spent $80 million on ads in 2004, according to VNU’s Nielsen Media Research in New York, which tracks ad spending.
Going Door to Door
Newport Beach-based PowerDirect recently signed on some big clients.
The direct marketer, which makes promotional doorhangers, landed work from Old Navy, Linens ‘n Things Inc., Home Depot Inc., PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and Irvine’s Boost Mobile LLC, part of Nextel Communications Inc.
The companies want to use the doorhangers to promote store openings, new services or their branding, Chief Executive Bill Borneman said.
PowerDirect also got added work from existing clients, such as Irvine-based L.A. Fitness Inc., Comcast Corp. and Best Buy Co., he said.
Three years ago, the shop made a push to get more work, according to Borneman.
The goal: convince marketers that a doorhanger can be “dramatic, attention grabbing and, in most instances, the most cost-effective direct marketing vehicle for reaching a targeted demographic,” Borneman said.
PowerDirect handles printing and production of the doorhangers, demographic profiling and mapping, distribution, auditing and post-campaign analysis.
“We’re faster, less expensive and our clients are seeing response rates comparable to direct mail campaigns,” Borneman said.
