Sun Post News, the Orange County Register’s newspaper in San Clemente, has a new rival.
Norb Garrett recently launched the San Clemente Times.
The paper, which is free, is at some 200 stores, hotels and restaurants in the city, Garrett said.
It will compete for eyes with the Sun Post News, which residents living in San Clemente get if they subscribe to the Register.
There’s room for both, according to Garrett, owner and publisher of the tabloid-size San Clemente Times.
“I felt there was a need,” he said.
San Clemente News’ focus: up-and-coming topics and longer feature stories with more angles and in-depth interviews, Garrett said.
“We don’t intend to compete with reporting on yesterday’s news,” Garrett said. “Our focus is more on what’s next.”
The paper wants to give readers information they can use to make better decisions and plans for events and activities, according to Garrett.
The San Clemente Times has six full-time workers and uses freelance writers and photographers.
The paper plans on adding two more people if volume increases, he said.
The San Clemente Times also plans to add home delivery within six months using “good old-fashioned paper boy and paper girl routes,” Garrett said.
Circulation during the first year is expected to be 20,000, he said.
The plan is to keep the San Clemente Times free by “leaning on advertising revenue,” he said.
“Clearly, the responsibility lies on me and my team to produce a product so fun and necessary to read each week that advertisers find it critical to advertise with us,” Garrett said. “For us to succeed, we will need the community to support us.”
Garrett is no stranger to publishing. He is the editorial director at Miller Publishing Group LLC in Los Angeles, where he oversees editorial, online and new media for Tennis, Smash, Spin and Vibe magazines.
Prior, he was vice president, group publisher and editorial director for Primedia Inc.’s Action Sports Group in San Clemente, which includes Surfer and Bike magazines.
The newspaper is launching a Web site, www.sanclementetimes.com, to “reach young readers” and people who use technology to get their information, Garrett said.
Healthcare Hunt
Costa Mesa-based Pacific Commun-
ications, which focuses on healthcare marketing, is on the hunt for more work.
The shop is looking to bring more business from areas that include oncology, neurology and gastroenterology, President Ryan Abbate said.
“We really understand specialty therapeutic marketing and communications,” he said in a company newsletter. “We have been and will continue to focus on this niche.”
The shop, which got its start as a marketing arm of Irvine’s Allergan Inc. and still is partly owned by the drug maker, also is looking to bring on an undisclosed number of workers this year as it grows its business, Abbate said.
Pacific Communications wants to build on momentum it saw in 2005. The shop’s billings jumped 30% to $169 million.
“We never want to grow more quickly than our ability to service the business,” Abbate said. “On the West Coast the limiter to growth is not bringing in business but bringing in people to manage the business. This year we are going to put special emphasis on hiring and recruiting.”
Last year, Pacific Communications expanded work for Allergan’s Botox to include global assignments. The shop brought in an associate creative director to help on the account.
Plus, Pacific Communications grew assignments with Allergan’s dermatology unit. It also won the global account for Medtronic Inc.’s MiniMed diabetes division.
The wins offset the loss of New Jersey-based Berlex Inc.’s oncology account, Abbate said. The shop will continue to work with Berlex for a few months.
“We constantly battle the perception that you have to go East for good work,” Abbate said. “We want the Amgens, Allergans and Genentechs of the world to look in their back yards first.”
Bits and Pieces:
Irvine-based Alcone Marketing Group nabbed work from Britain’s Unilever. The shop, with help from its Connecticut office, will handle promotional work for Unilever’s Q-tips brand. Alcone is part of Omnicom Group Inc. Irvine-based Open Minds targets macho men in work for Ray’s Station, a new wine from Jackson Artisan & Estates. The campaign includes wine bottle labels that feature photos of a guy hunting with his dog or fishing. The campaign is expected to help Ray’s Station stand out from fierce competition among other makers of Pinot wine, the shop said.
