The 94-year-old George P. Johnson Co., a Detroit-area marketing company, has acquired Juxt Interactive Inc. to broaden its appeal to younger consumers.
Terms of the deal, which closed last month, weren’t disclosed.
The Newport Beach-based interactive advertising agency now is a division of GPJ and will begin to handle much of the global company’s interactive campaigns. GPJ counts clients such as Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd. and the Bank of China. GPJ also bought Washington-based Eyealike Inc.’s mobile device software called MobilePromote to be able to advertise through cell phones.
GPJ said it bought Juxt to address changing consumer preferences and become more of a full-service agency for its clients, which is in demand as many companies cut back on their advertising budgets.
“(GPJ) has some internal interactive and some pretty strong creative people, but it didn’t have the piece of the puzzle outside of the event marketing arena,” said Jeff Henning, new chief executive at Juxt.
With the deal, Juxt will expand GPJ’s interactive marketing tools, which were already used at tradeshows and move the company away from a pure advertising shop.
GPJ also will add Juxt’s client list to its roster, adding big names including Adobe Systems Inc., Coca-Cola Co. and Qualcomm Inc.
“We didn’t sell because business was bad,” said Josh Mooney, chief marketing officer at Juxt.
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Coca Cola interactive ad: Juxt Interactive bringing clients to new owner |
Juxt recently was named agency of record on Coca-Cola’s Powerade brand and it is working on a campaign for early 2009.
“We’ll be launching a big program for Powerade targeting youth,” Mooney said. “Needless to say, we’re busy.”
As part of the deal, Juxt chief executive Steven Wages stepped down.
Direct Mailer Partners Up
Money Mailer Direct Marketing, a division of Garden Grove-based Money Mailer LLC, has partnered with Mountain View-based Coupons Inc. to distribute coupons online.
Money Mailer mails out envelopes full of coupons from local, regional and national advertisers.
“Our advertisers get the benefit of taking the ad that is going into our envelopes and putting it online across relevant Web sites,” said Steven Gray, chief operating officer.
With coupon redemptions at a new high, according to Gray, the partnership will serve Money Mailer’s clients who are looking to tap into money-conscious consumers.
“We know there is a larger audience online,” Gray said. “About 20% of the average consumer base is looking for coupons only online.”
The company also is looking into mobile couponing as well.
Money Mailer has formed a partnership with CellFire Inc. of San Jose to create a mobile coupon system where consumers can download a program onto their phones that would allow access to Money Mailer advertisers’ coupons.
Entourage Picks at Wienerschnitzel
DGWB Advertising firmly believes that there is no such thing as bad publicity.
The Santa Ana-based ad shop circulated a press release last month about an indirect slam on Home Box Office Inc.’s “Entourage.”
In a recent episode, Ari Gold, the super agent played by Jeremy Piven, threatened an A-list director with an industrywide blackballing that would make it impossible for him to even direct a Wienerschnitzel commercial.
DGWB Advertising, which counts Wiener-schnitzel as a client, was excited about the free publicity even as it defended its client’s kitschy commercials.
“As it pertains to the real world, we’ve actually used some pretty high-profile directors to do their spots over the years,” said Jon Gothold, partner and executive creative director at DGWB.
The shop originally used production company Loose Moose Productions Ltd., known for its work on the “Wallace & Gromit” series, to create Wienerschnitzel’s scared running hot dog spots.
The latest round of edgier commercials, created by the Los Angeles-based Doctor Twins LLC and Duck Studios, feature actors with the animated hot dog and received national attention.
The “Gotcha” commercial, starring a college student chasing the hot dog into another student’s bedroom, was circulated on the Internet and featured on the most recent edition of “World’s Funniest Commercials.”
“People like to work with that and (Wiener-schnitzel) is a fun brand,” Gothold said.
DGWB is currently in the approval process for the 2009 campaign, which is expected to roll out this February.
