The Orange County Register debuted a section last month that replaces the business pages with a focus on broader themes.
The section is called Marketplace.
Glenn Hall, the Register’s Marketplace senior team leader, said the coverage in the section is set to go beyond traditional business reports and take a “big-picture approach.”
The Register, the Santa Ana-based flagship of Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc., is aiming to run stories that help readers build careers, he said.
The section has different themes each day that are designed to have a broader appeal.
They include technology and real estate.
The Register said it revamped the section after surveying readers and holding focus groups.
The paper also made some changes to the business section of its Web site, including more breaking news, a housing blog and an investing question and answer section.
Meanwhile, the Register’s local section was redesigned and saw two pages added to it.
The paper is published by Freedom Orange County Information, a Freedom unit that also publishes magazines.
Speaking of Freedom’s magazines, SqueezeOC, and its Web site SqueezeOC.com, has been working with Costa Mesa-based IPW Experience to hold food and fashion events.
Called SqueezeOC Food Scene and SqueezeOC Fashion Scene, the monthly events highlight trendy restaurants, recipes and fashions.
They’re held at different places in OC.
The next SqueezeOC Fashion Scene is planned for Friday night at LF Store in Laguna Beach.
SqueezeOC and IPW Experience are pushing the show with full-page ads in SqueezeOC, banners on the Web site and e-mail blasts.
Web Ads at Y & R;
Rick Eiserman, who heads Young & Rubicam Brands in Irvine, said he continues to see interactive marketing play a bigger role at his shop.
The trend goes beyond “just the shift of ad revenue to the Web,” Eiserman said.
“The more significant transformation is the growing role of interactive in the communication strategy and messaging,” he said.
The Web is being used more to generate direct sales, collect information and begin a dialogue with people, Eiserman said.
It “has increasingly reduced the role of traditional media to drive the Web,” Eiserman said. “This is the shift that is having the greatest impact on marketing communications today.”
Young & Rubicam continues to build its Wunderman interactive division and “recruit some of the top talent in the industry,” Eiserman said.
In other news, Young & Rubicam just broke its first TV spot for new client Los Angeles Dodgers. The work was timed around the Dodgers season opener today.
New Del Taco Ad Buyer
Lake Forest-based Del Taco Inc. continues to bring in new advertising blood.
The Mexican fast-food chain recently handed media buying and planning chores for its restaurants to Palisades Media Group of Los Angeles.
Sharon Fogg, Del Taco’s vice president of marketing, said in a statement that the company held “extensive research” to find the right shop.
The move comes after Del Taco tapped Tustin-based Brainsaw to be its creative advertising agency last year. The incumbent was G & M; Plumbing in Manhattan Beach.
Palisades Media Group, which has been looking to expand its general business division, plans to help Del Taco get its name out across the country. The chain, based mostly in California with 465 locations, has been expanding.
Last year, Del Taco opened 34 restaurants, some in new markets including Michigan, Idaho and Oregon. The chain said it has 60 franchise deals in place to open some 338 restaurants in the next five years.
Del Taco spent $15 million on advertising in 2005, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
Nashville, Tenn.-based Sagittarius Brands, which owns Captain D’s restaurants, closed on its buy of Del Taco last week.
Rieches Pushes Consulting
Irvine-based RiechesBaird has been spreading the word about its new business strategy division.
The shop revamped its logo and got new building signs that play up the services, including brand development and integrated marketing.
The division helped RiechesBaird bring in work last year and is expected to do the same in 2006, according to Principal Ray Baird.
New clients include Fluidmaster Inc. of San Juan Capistrano, Veeco Instruments Inc. of New York and Irvine’s Dana Capital Group Inc.
The shop saw capitalized billings grow 6% in 2005 to $57.3 million. It also hired two workers and now has 42 in all.
Baird said the biggest challenge for OC shops now is talent.
The industry’s work force isn’t as big as in other cities and the cost of living is high, which makes it difficult to recruit, Baird said.
