Lawrence & Ponder Ideaworks, formerly Lawrence, Mayo & Ponder, has opened a satellite office and nabbed two accounts worth about $4 million.
A few weeks back, the Newport Beach-based agency beat out three undisclosed local shops to win some work from Costa Mesa-based software maker FileNET Corp.
Under the deal, Lawrence & Ponder will handle marketing for the launch of FileNET’s Brightspire software, which links businesses’ internal operations with suppliers and vendors.
The recently debuted marketing campaign involves two- and four-page print inserts. It’s pegged at $1 million and could hit $2 million to $3 million next year, according to Lynda Lawrence, agency partner.
Meanwhile, the ad shop rebid and won a $3 million chunk of business from the state of California for the READ California contract, which it has held for the past three years.
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide won the $1 million public relations portion of the statewide education account, which formerly was held by Irvine-based NCG Porter Novelli.
Lawrence & Ponder already does work for the state,it won $20 million in work from the California Department of Health Services earlier this year. So Lawrence said this past summer the agency opened a small office in Sacramento to service the accounts. Marie Ortega, a recent hire, runs the office.
“It’s really nice in a down market to be hiring,” Lawrence said.
The agency also hired three people to beef up its interactive and streaming media services, she said.
The 36-person ad shop counted 2000 Orange County capitalized billings of $34 million. In April, former agency partner Bruce Mayo left to start his own gig.
Lawrence & Ponder also has created three new business divisions: strategic planning and integrated marketing, branding workshops, and commercial production and interactive.
“It’s really a refocusing of the agency,” Lawrence said. “We used to be the standard ‘call us up and we’ll do your ads’ shop.”
Now Lawrence said the agency is getting more involved with the early stages of client planning.
Recent Wins
After months of scant activity, a few OC ad shops have earned some bragging rights.
Nine Dots Corp. in Irvine recently nabbed a chunk of business estimated at $1 million to $3 million from Qualcomm Internet Services, a unit of San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc.
The OC shop beat out four other undisclosed local and out-of-state agencies in a competitive review to be named the division’s interactive agency of record. Nine Dots will be promoting Qualcomm’s software for cell phones.
Costa Mesa-based Parker Stephens Inc. was tapped by Irving, Texas-based Masergy Communications Inc., a networking company, to handle the marketing and advertising of its initial launch in the U.S. and worldwide. Billings weren’t disclosed.
Newport Beach-based Johnson Gray Advertising just got about $3 million fatter after pulling in two new accounts: a $750,000 chunk from the Orange County Tourism Council and about $2 million from UCSD Healthcare medical center and physicians’ offices.
The ad shop is going to help the tourism council, which oversees a regional marketing effort funded by the County of Orange, toot OC’s horn.
“We’re doing what a lot of people have done really focusing on the drive market,” said Reagan Gray, agency principal.
On Sunday, the agency is set to release a two-page print ad in the San Francisco Chronicle and other Northern California dailies. Amtrak is a partner in the promotion. The agency also plans to air radio and television spots in those same markets.
For USCD Healthcare, Johnson Gray has been developing an ad and marketing campaign worth more than $2 million.
Johnson Gray beat out two other contenders and the incumbent, San Diego-based DiZinno & Thompson, in a competitive review.
“It was a good win for us,” Gray said. “Given this climate we’ve been real fortunate, knock on wood.”
The agency already has launched one print ad in San Diego Magazine and the San Diego Union-Tribune, which runs through Nov. 25. In January, the shop plans to roll out a bigger campaign that includes print, television and radio ads.
Gray said the work promotes various health and research services offered through UCSD Healthcare, which is a combination of a medical center and physician groups located near the University of California, San Diego.
