PR Talent, which opened 10 years ago, has been branching out.
The public relations firm in Huntington Beach is looking to open an office in San Francisco by the end of the year.
Last year, PR Talent opened an office in New York. It also has one in Los Angeles.
The company isn’t your typical national public relations firm, with a full-time staff competing in reviews for assignments.
The company matches freelance public relations workers with corporate or agency PR assignments and also handles executive searches for the PR industry.
Jim Delulio, president of PR Talent and former executive vice president of PainePR in Irvine, said he just added the 1,000th freelancer to his list. The person: Joni Ramirez, former director of marketing and public relations for Miller Children’s Hospital at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
“There are a lot of companies that need PR support for special projects or can’t afford to hire an agency at $10,000 per month or more,” Delulio said. “These are the companies that have really fueled our growth.”
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Freedom from spam: PowerMark Group launches campaign for new client Sendio |
Delulio said PR Talent doesn’t compete with “typical PR agencies.”
Instead, the shop deals with small and midsize companies that “typically would go without PR support,” he said.
The pool of freelancers that PR Talent taps includes senior counselors, people in media relations and public affairs and other writers.
The company has done public relations consulting and project work for clients that include Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc., Irvine-based Kelley Blue Book and Panoram Technologies in Sun Valley.
PowerMark Adds Clients
San Juan Capistrano-based PowerMark Group Inc. just brought in two clients.
The shop, which focuses on public relations and marketing for technology, was tapped by Irvine-based Sendio Inc. and Orange County Venture Group, a networking group.
PowerMark is working with the venture group’s board of directors to help promote the group and its events, which include 10 monthly breakfasts and other conferences.
Colleen Edwards, PowerMark president, said the venture group promotes the “serious side of Orange County,” which has lots of entrepreneurs and venture capital players.
The shop also is handling public relations and marketing for Sendio to help drive sales for the company. Sendio sells software that blocks spam and other unwanted e-mail.
The first branding campaign PowerMark designed for Sendio included mailers and tradeshow booth signs. PowerMark retooled grass-roots messages for revolution or freedom originally from the 1940s with phrases like “spam filters are obsolete.”
Tim Lee-Thorp, Sendio’s vice president of marketing, said his company had “limited internal resources” and tapped PowerMark to help pursue new business.
The shop opened in 2005. Other clients include BasePoint Analytics in Carlsbad and Cardiogenesis Corp. in Irvine.
FrontGate Getting Creative
FrontGate Creative in Laguna Hills is covering the gamut of marketing tactics for several new clients.
The marketing shop was tapped by Newport Beach-based NeoCell Corp., a health and wellness company that sells natural supplements and skin care products.
FrontGate designed packaging for NeoCell’s line of products that are sold nationally at Costco. The new designs will roll out in the next few months.
FrontGate is also set to help drives sales for online retailer Rancho Santa Margarita-based Announcements & Invitations Inc., which has a site where buyers can design and print their own announcements and invitations.
FrontGate is designing and building a Web site for the company and improving its e-commerce system to make shopping easier.
In other news, FrontGate is working on branding for the African Child Foundation, which helps orphans, children and women in Kenya affected by HIV. The shop’s first assignment includes creating new fundraising strategies, materials and event management for the foundation’s gala, which is slated for the Santa Ana Zoo on Sept. 25.
Wet Seal Re-signs Former Chief
Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. recently made news when it hired back its former president to be chief executive.
Edmond Thomas served as Wet Seal’s president and chief operating officer from 1992 to 2000.
He’s set to join the retail chain in early October and leave his post as president and co-chief executive of Irvine-based Tilly’s Inc., which runs some 70 stores selling surf-inspired clothes. He’ll replace the current chief executive, Joel Waller.
In May, Waller, who spent the past two-and-a-half years reworking the company, said he didn’t plan to seek a renewal of his contract.
Waller is seen as a turnaround guy. Wet Seal now needs an executive to drive growth, including opening stores, according to analysts.
Eric Beder, analyst at Brean Murray Carret & Co., thinks it’ll be a good move.
Thomas was at Wet Seal during it’s “last major period of expansion,” Beder said.
Thomas is a “highly capable operator” who can take “Wet Seal to the next level in terms of store expansion,” Beder said.
