Koo Koo Roo Looking for Agency; Register Launches Magazine Group
Irvine-based Johnson/Ukropina continues its fast-food binge by landing an account with Santa Barbara-based La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill.
The 47-unit restaurant chain, operated by William Foley’s Santa Barbara Restaurant Group Inc., becomes the third fast-food chain client for the 9-year-old agency.
The agency will handle print, broadcast and in-store merchandising, said Annette Shehan, vice president of marketing.
About six weeks ago, the agency, headed by Carolyn Johnson and Joyce Ukropina, was handling the point-of-purchase promotional marketing for Carl’s Jr. when it bumped out Leap Partnership to handle a $100 million account for Rocky Mount, N.C.-based Hardee’s 2,787-unit hamburger chain without a review. Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s are owned by Anaheim-based CKE Restaurants Inc.
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The Koo Koo Roo division of Irvine-based Prandium Inc., also parent of El Torito, Chi Chi’s and Hamburger Hamlet, is seeking to consolidate its advertising accounts under one agency.
Jennifer Maloney, vice president of marketing, Koo Koo Roo, is conducting the search and plans are to find an agency immediately. Until now, the 44-unit chain’s advertising has been done by several agencies working on a contract basis.
The work will be mostly print, but the restaurant chain has no specific media plans and is seeking an agency that will further build its brand in its three states (California, Nevada and Florida), said Rob Carl,
The agency chosen may also do work for the division’s 14-unit Hamburger Hamlet chain.
There are no hamlets in Orange County, but Koo Koo Roo has five units here.
In 1999, Koo Koo Roo opened new units in San Francisco, downtown Los Angeles and Monrovia, and it is scheduled to open its first new store of this year on Jan. 25 in Toluca Lake.
Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc.’s flagship newspaper The Orange County Register has launched a magazine division called OCR Magazines.
The new division is headed by Christopher O. Schulz, former president and publisher of the Freedom World Trade Media Group. The division was sold by Freedom last summer.
Schulz, who is both publisher and COO of the new magazine division, reports to Ron Redfern, the Register’s president and COO.
Also, Mark Tomaszewski moves from the Register, where he was product development manager, to become director of marketing and operations for OCR Magazines.
The new Register magazine division will focus on local lifestyle and sports niches. Freedom’s focus is on publishing national magazines. Schultz believes the circulation could reach about 100,000 copies per magazine with the first two launching this year.
“This is clearly designed to support the local market in terms of readers and advertisers and leverage the assets here at the Register,” Schulz said, adding that the first publication will be announced in a month.
The Register plans to use the division to create custom magazines for advertisers and has discussed the possibility of its own flagship magazine for the newspaper. Currently, the Register inserts the national Parade magazine.
Although the new magazine division is recruiting an editor-in-chief, account executives and other key support positions, the plan is to use Register reporters and photographers to provide content for the new publications. The overall staff is expected to reach about 20 employees; they will work in a separate area of the Register’s Santa Ana offices.
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Heil-Brice Retail Advertising in Newport Beach recently created about a half-dozen radio spots for Irvine-based Diedrich Coffee Inc., including the most recent launch for a new espresso product, Black Tiger, that will air for another two weeks.
The 60-second spots compare traditional espresso with Black Tiger espresso by juxtaposing the meow of a cat with the roar of a tiger. The tagline is: “The wake-up call of the wild.”
Bits and Pieces:
Young & Rubicam, Irvine, won a gold medal this month at the International Broadcasting Awards in New Orleans for its series of LS television spots “Surprising Journey,” “Water Droplet” and “Surprising Journal” Topspin Communications, Newport Beach, has moved in to larger offices, but it assures us that clients will still have an ocean view and free boat rides at the new space at 3421 Via Oporto Hoffman York Pacific, Laguna Hills, recently designed a poster for the Motorcycle Industry Council’s recent members-only communications symposium in Costa Mesa. The agency, whose parent is based in Milwaukee, created a poster depicting a freeway grid in the shape of a motorcycle Script to Screen, Santa Ana, recently produced a second infomercial for its client Torso Track, featuring actress Suzanne Somers and Olympic Gold Medalist Mitch Gaylord, called “Torso Track, the Sequel.”
