Johnson/Ukropina Readies Hardee’s Campaign
It’s been roughly five years since The Orange County Register’s last branding campaign “You’ll Laugh, You’ll Cry, You’ll Know,” but now eight local advertising agencies from San Diego to Los Angeles are vying for the account, whose size has not been disclosed.
Although the Register declined to name who is competing this time, the list recently was narrowed from 16 ad shops, and a short list is expected in mid-March followed by a final decision in early April. The launch is planned for May.
According to Douglas Hanes, the Register’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, the new campaign “gives us a chance to have more fun and place a personality on our brand.”
“We’ve had seven consecutive reporting periods of market share growth over the Times OC in circulation,” Hanes said, adding that the new branding campaign will promote the Register’s commitment to the community and utilitarian value of its product.
Bozell/Salvati, Montgomery, Sakoda, which handled the Register’s account from 1996 to 1998, had created the “You’ll Laugh ” campaign, but the work was moved in-house in 1998.
In 1994, Los Angeles-based advertising agency Stein Robaire Helm (later Kresser Stein Robaire) duplicated word-for-word the Washington Post’s “If you don’t get it, you don’t get it” tag line for the Register. That campaign was dropped after the Post protested.
Another OC shop, DGWB Advertising in Irvine, also has worked with the Register on its estimated $2 million advertising account.
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Johnson/Ukropina, Irvine, is getting set to launch a new campaign for its largest client, Hardee’s, that features a yet-to-be-announced celebrity spokesperson. The ad shop, which has handled point-of-purchase and collateral work for Hardee’s sibling Carl’s Jr. brand, replaced Leap Partnership in Chicago in December as the 2,787-unit hamburger chain’s new agency, without a review. The agency will launch a campaign that includes print, radio and TV with annual billings for the Anaheim-based company estimated to be about $100 million.
Meanwhile, Hardee’s parent CKE Restaurants Inc., Anaheim, has chosen not to use a celebrity in new commercials set to launch next month for its Carl’s Jr. brand, said Suzi Brown, CKE’s director of PR. The Carl’s Jr. chain previously has used celebrities such as Dennis Rodman for its drippy burger ads under the direction of its ad shop, Mendelsohn/Zien Advertising in Los Angeles.
Newport Beach-based Estey-Hoover Advertising and Public Relations has added two new accounts whose combined billings are estimated to be about $2.1 million annually: Woodside Biomedical Inc., a manufacturer of medical devices, and Alacer Corp., which manufactures and markets vitamin C products. Estey-Hoover will coordinate and manage Woodside’s Internet sites, national ad campaigns, special events and creative collateral.
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Costa Mesa-based medical advertising specialists Pacific Communications has been named agency of record for Torrance-based Trylon Corp.’s PapSure, a new visual test that allows physicians to see abnormalities not found on a typical pap smear test.
Bits and pieces:
Who needs the Oscars when there’s the glamorous Orange County Ad Awards? The annual who’s who in OC advertising event will be held Saturday, March 25, at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Tennis Club with cocktails and viewing beginning at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 8 p.m. Reservations can be made by calling Denise Denison-Erkeneff at (949) 493-5019 Promoting its recent IPO, Buy.com chose OC Post in Irvine to edit and composite three commercials it plans to air on the NASDAQ building’s eight-story monitor in New York’s Times Square. The spots are 15, 30 and 60 seconds, run without sound and display the company’s basic logo against abstract moving backgrounds The Orange County chapter of Women in International Trade in Irvine will hold a luncheon this Thursday featuring cartoonist Martha Montoya discussing how media can be a friend, not a foe. Call (949) 851-1888 for details Pittman & Associates, Newport Beach, will handle PR for Haagen, Streiff, Newton & Oshiro, a national forensic accounting and litigation firm that specializes in services to insurance companies and attorneys Rodheim Marketing Group, Irvine, has added Caliber Collision Centers in Irvine as a client Morgan Marketing & Public Relations, Newport Beach, is handling a $2 million year-long “Choose Your Island of Paradise” promotion for its frozen food and bread client King’s Hawaiian in Torrance. The contest will award 12 winners and three of their friends with a trip to their favorite Hawaiian Island The New York Festivals recently awarded Santa Ana-based Script to Screen a finalist certificate for its production of “Heroes in Motion” in the film and video non-broadcast.
