Marketing & Media
MarCom Today Folds; Morgan Riding With the Pandas in Pasadena
New York-based Creamer Dickson Basford recently purchased CSP Communications in Corona and has installed CSP co-owners Christopher Perez and Scott Smith to oversee management of the agency’s Southern California offices.
The former CSP’s client roster includes Coors Brewing Co.’s Southwest region, Toyota Motorsports, Sprint PCS’s LA unit and Caltrans. The two-person Irvine CDB office works on several of the parent company’s accounts, including Heinz, Seiko Instruments and Time Warner Cable. The two offices together last week landed the PR account of Irvine-based Allergan Inc.
Smith said they are considering consolidating the offices into a single location in OC, but a decision has not yet been made.
The new CDB operations, with $1.6 million in sales and 17 employees, would rank 15th on the Business Journal’s list of the largest county PR agencies.
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MarCom Today, an Irvine-based bimonthly magazine covering the region’s marketing and communications industry, has ceased publication, and president and executive editor Gary Klayman has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
“We had a great run and I wish I could have continued,” said Klayman of the publication, which he launched more than two years ago. But, he said, “We were spread too thin.”
Klayman is a former managing editor of the Orange County Business Journal.
Morgan Marketing & Public Relations, Irvine, has been hired by Panda Express to put together a PR campaign for its participation in the Rose Parade in Pasadena. The work includes a direct mail program, media relations and contest promotion. The 55-foot “Fast Track to Good Fortune” parade float will feature Panda bears sitting on a futuristic steam engine.
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Bill Borneman has done television, advertising agency sales and marketing, but these days he’s putting his energy into direct mail and Internet marketing. His new agency in Laguna Beach is called Power Direct Inc. Previously he worked for Specialized Direct Response in Irvine.
Orange County’s United Way and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles have teamed up to launch a series of four radio spots that point out the disparities between the haves and the have nots. The “Tale of Two Counties,” created by Santa Monica-based Fraser Communications, is expected to air through December, including during LA Lakers broadcasts on KLAC.
“When things are going well, it’s even harder to see the issues facing those who aren’t sharing in the good times,” said Maria Chavez Wilcox, president of OC United Way.
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The National Assistance League needed publicity, but its Public Relations Director, Gail Fabricant, had a measly $1,000 budget to create a campaign to raise money for its Operation School Bell program to provide clothes for underprivileged schoolchildren.
Hunter Barth Advertising Inc. in Costa Mesa stepped in and donated its services to create a corporate video, a 30-second public-service spot for TV, three radio spots and a new logo, and its helped the NAL arrange a corporate sponsorship with its client John Robert Powers Modeling and Acting Schools.
The ad shop became the first recipient of the NAL’s annual Ruth Ann Montgomery award for outstanding service.
Bits and pieces:
Rodheim Marketing Group, Costa Mesa, will handle PR for the Irvine-based financial planning firm Goldhirsh & Goldhirsh Hilary Kaye Associates, Tustin, is doing some pro bono work for Ability Magazine and its nonprofit foundation, Ability Awareness Pointe B Inc., Newport Beach, will be the agency of record for MedAssure, a division of Datacard Group Co., and Shimadzu Medical Systems in Torrance … JRA Interactive Inc., Newport Beach, will create a new web site for Cypress-based Yamaha Motor Corp. USA … Costa Mesa-based Hayes Martin Associates Inc. is putting together a marketing and merchandising campaign for Crystal Cove, a luxury residential project being built by the Irvine Co. … Santa Clara-based PocketScience has hired Paine & Associates to take on its public relations efforts for a new mobile e-mail device called PocketMail. The Costa Mesa-based agency will handle the work in its Beverly Hills offices … WeWillPayIt.org found its way onto the “hot sites” list on USA Today online … BDS Marketing, Irvine, has added Xerox Corp and Excite@Home Inc. as new clients … Inktracks Printing Group Inc., changed its name last month to Inktracks Marketing Inc. The Laguna Hills-based company, founded five years ago, expanded its services about a year ago to include graphic design, web-site design, CD Web cards and promotional products. The design shop’s staff has grown from 8 to 10 employees over the past year … Intercommunications Inc., Newport Beach, has won 15 of the national sales and marketing awards sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders … Script to Screen, Santa Ana, recently completed an infomercial for the Hog Putter, an oversize golf club manufactured and designed by Dogleg Right Corp.
