Irvine-based Morgan Marketing & Public Relations has a new client.
The shop said it was picked up by Tustin-based Mimi’s Cafe, part of Ohio’s Bob Evans Farms Inc., to do a public relations campaign locally and across the region.
Lowell Petrie, Mimi’s vice president of marketing, said Morgan Marketing was tapped because of its “extensive food service experience” and 15-year background working with the media.
Some of Morgan Marketing’s other clients include Burbank-based Poquito Mas Mexican food chain, Pasadena-based Wetzel’s Pretzels LLC and Carlsbad-based HDOS Enterprises, better known as Hot Dog on a Stick.
Morgan Marketing’s first job for Mimi’s: help promote the chain’s summer seasonal menu, which includes a peach pancake breakfast that’s offered through Oct. 25. The work includes media relations to help increase sales at Mimi’s restaurants, the shop said.
Morgan Marketing also is set to help Mimi’s promote its expansion. The chain said it plans to open 14 restaurants next year and eventually expand nationwide. Mimi’s has about 100 restaurants, mostly in California.
The move is part of Mimi’s growth under Bob Evans, which bought the company two years ago.
Mimi’s has helped drive profits and sales at Bob Evans, which makes pork sausage and operates other chains, including Bob Evans restaurants.
The company’s sales rose 2% to $403 million in the quarter ended July 28, driven in part by a 2.5% increase in menu prices at Mimi’s. Mimi’s same-store sales inched up 0.4% for the period.
Miller Time
The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim added another advertiser to its giant marquee along the Orange (57) Freeway.
Miller Brewing Co. is getting exposure on the billboard-style sign as part of a sponsorship deal with the Pond.
Miller provides beer for the Pond, including at Anaheim Ducks hockey games.
Miller also is set to have two Miller Lite tasting areas and marketing signs at the arena.
Other marquee sponsors include Toyota Motor Corp. and the Orange County Register.
The Pond has moved on a series of sponsorship deals in the past year.
Earlier this summer, the Pond inked a naming rights deal with Japan’s Honda Motor Co. and said it’s slated to change its name to Honda Center in October. The deal replaces one with Nestl & #233; SA’s Arrowhead Water, which had been the arena’s top sponsor for the past 13 years.
Earlier this year, the Pond signed a booking deal with Beverly Hills-based Live Nation Inc. to bring more concerts to the venue. It also hooked Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. as the soft drink sponsor for the arena, as well as for the Ducks and Anaheim Ice, the Duck’s training facility a few miles away.
The deal replaced one with Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, the arena’s previous soft drink supplier. Pepsi started selling drinks in March.
The moves come under Broadcom Corp. cofounder Henry Samueli, who bought the Ducks last year after previously acquiring Anaheim Arena Management LLC, which manages the arena.
On Demand TV
Irvine-based Interactive Televisions Networks Inc. just inked a four-year pact with Colorado’s Starz Entertainment Group LLC to widen its services.
The deal lets subscribers of Interactive Televisions,which offers pay-as-you-watch television programming,access Starz’s 15 movie channels and On Demand channels, which air more than 1,000 movies per month.
Starz programming includes Starz Cinema, Starz Comedy and Starz Kids & Family.
Interactive Televisions said the new services should launch next month and be available to subscribers who pay a flat monthly fee of $15.
Meanwhile, Interactive Televisions recently partnered with Setanta Sports to offer round the clock coverage of European and international soccer, rugby and other sports.
With exposure this summer from the World Cup, the company said it signed up 200 subscriptions in two days.
Train Ticket Marketing
Seal Beach-based Olson Co. has a twist to help sell some of its new Orange County homes near train stations: a free Metrolink pass.
The developer said it teamed with Metrolink to offer seven-day passes to prospective homebuyers and two-year passes to buyers at one of five developments alongside train stations, including in Fullerton, Buena Park and Orange.
Olson just broke the marketing campaign, dubbed “Life without Traffic,” which includes a Web site, newspaper ads, direct mail, billboards, radio spots and ads on Metrolink trains.
Bits and Pieces:
Julie Leffler, a public relations executive at Costa Mesa-based Hurley International Inc., has left to launch her own gig. Leffler, who spent more than four years at the surf and skate company that’s now part of Nike Inc., said her shop, PRestige Public Relations, will focus on fashion and lifestyle clients Tustin-based Truth, an advertising and marketing shop, was named agency of record by CosmiKids Inc. Truth is set to help the Brea-based company, which offers kids programs, with branding, advertising and marketing materials, tradeshow booth design and a Web site Newport Beach-based HeilBrice hired Nicole Shaner as art director, who will oversee visual design, creative strategy, copy development and more. Shaner most recently was art director at BBDO in New York.
