Where Were Local Dot-Coms on Super Bowl Sunday?; Wienerschnitzel Lands Arco Arena
Hi. I’m filling in this issue while Susan Deemer Schaben enjoys her honeymoon.
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Steven Lee, new president of the Times Orange County, indicated last week that he wasn’t quite ready to discuss his game plan for overseeing the OC edition of the Los Angeles Times.
Lee, an Irvine resident who has been head of the Times’ Inland Valley/San Gabriel operation, was still getting over what he said was a surprise assignment.
“I wasn’t expecting to transfer to Orange County,” said Lee.
Lee said he has no preconceived notions about how to run the OC operation and is concentrating on the transition.
“We feel the OC office is very important,” he said. The opening has occurred because of the pending departure of Roger Oglesby, who was named editor and publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Jan. 28. Ogelsby will assume his new duties in early March.
Olgesby, a 14-year veteran of the LA Times who had been in Orange County for two years, said he took the position in Seattle because “it’s a chance to run my own operation.” Though the Times’ Orange County operation is large, “it’s still very much a part of the LA Times,” he said.
The Post-Intelligencer is the smaller of the two papers in a joint operating agreement, a federally sanctioned arrangement intended to preserve two-paper towns. The JOA handles the business side of the paper, which presumably will leave Ogelsby to focus more on editing than publishing duties.
And Ogelsby will be moving into a situation where editorial competition is expected to pick up. That’s because the bigger Seattle Times will be switching from an afternoon paper to a morning paper, putting it in direct competition with the Post-Intelligencer’s own morning cycle.
Lee likewise moves into a challenging situation. During Ogelsby’s tenure, the Times OC continued to suffer marginal circulation losses relative to its bigger rival, the Orange County Register.
Lee brings a marketing background to the job. He is a former vice president of marketing for Frito-Lay’s Asia-Pacific division. While he worked out of a Singapore office, he maintained his OC residence. Under his watch, the Times’ Inland Valley circulation increased by about 6% on weekdays and 8% on Sundays.
OC’s dot-com companies sat out the Super Bowl, which maybe was the smart thing to do, considering all of the post-game criticism of too many Internet companies spending too many millions on too many confusing ads.
eTrade’s “Well, we’ve just wasted $2 million. What are you doing with your money?” was a catchy line, but it may have had more truth than intended.
The most notable no-show from Orange County was Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com, which is no stranger to controversial ads: Its commercials featuring the company’s name without any accompanying voice-over is a risky approach to branding.
But PR manager Robin Zohn said the Super Bowl just didn’t fit in with the company’s advertising and marketing campaign.
“Ours is designed to break through the dot-com clutter,” she said.
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Newport Beach’s hot dog chain Wienerschnitzel has a new three-year gig with Arco Arena. It will be the “official hot dog” of the Sacramento Kings’ home court. So what happens when you become the official dog? Well, you get to sell your hot dogs at arena events. The franks will be served up at six main concession stands for more than 200 events in 2000.
And how do you get to be an official dog? You buy a sponsorship package that includes media packaging and product placement, said Tom Amberger, director of marketing. Wienerschnitzel hot dogs are sold at 10 other sports venues including the Long Beach arena. Wienerschnitzel has more than 300 stores in 10 states and is in an “aggressive growth mode,” adding 20 to 30 stores per year, Amberger said.
Bits and pieces:
Irvine-based Billabong USA is touting its “surf queen from down under,” Australian Layne Beachley, who secured her second consecutive world title as 1999 ASP women’s world surfing champ … The Crazy Horse Steakhouse has a new location at the Irvine Spectrum Center and a new head chef, Eugene Guazzo … Ron Jon Surf Shop, based in Cocoa Beach, Fla. with shops in Orange County, is now selling its brand merchandise in Japan through its distributor there, Takashima USA Inc.
