DGWB Lands Avery Dennison; Register Picks Colby Effler
RiechesBaird Advertising clobbered two bigger agencies in a bid for a $12 million account with WorkSeek.com.
The final shootout pitted RiechesBaird against OC’s No. 3 agency, Newport Beach-based Doner, and Suissa Miller in Los Angeles.
The new account will be the agency’s largest, said Ryan Rieches.
“The dot-com world is moving so quick,” notes Reiches, adding that the agency has already created the company’s new tagline: “Changing the face of employment.”
Lake Forest-based WorkSeek.com, which has operated in OC for the past 10 years as a traditional employment agency, plans to take on Internet competitors monster.com and hotjobs.com, Rieches said. The ad shop will be repositioning the company’s branding, communications and marketing for broadcast, electronic and print advertising.
Hill & Knowlton in Irvine won the company’s PR contract and Western Initiative Media handles media buys.
Also, RiechesBaird, which ranks No. 15 on the Business Journal’s list of OC agencies, is one of several agencies including Los Angeles-based Grey Advertising competing for an estimated $15 million account with b2bstores.com in Long Beach.
DGWB Wins Avery Dennison
DGWB Advertising has won a new account with the Brea division of Avery Dennison Office Products North America to handle its Avery Personal Creations line of printing supplies for the home.
The agency, which replaces Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide in San Francisco, plans to launch a new campaign for Avery in the fall.
DGWB competed with an undisclosed number of ad shops for the account and would not release what the billings are estimated to be. Avery manufactures supplies for the home and office including self-adhesive labels for laser and ink-jet printers.
Additionally, DGWB’s principals recently hired Larry Feldman, president of The Lawrence Co. in Irvine, to handle its PR.
Feldman’s PR background is in the sports and entertainment industry, but he opened up shop in OC about six years ago working for a list of clients that includes Los Alamitos Race Track and clothier David Rickey & Co. in Costa Mesa.
Register Picks New Agency
The Orange County Register has reached outside of OC to pick its new advertising agency.
After narrowing its search from about 20 ad shops to include locals Bates USA West and DGWB, the newspaper chose Colby, Effler & Partners in Santa Monica to handle its new campaign.
Douglas Hanes, the Register’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, said the agency was chosen for its originality, cleverness and strength. The multi-media campaign will seek to reinforce the Register’s brand image, he added, with a launch expected in mid-May.
Doner Gives Up Longs Drug
Doner, Newport Beach, has pulled out of the bidding for the $18 million Longs Drug Stores account.
“We had a great run, but it didn’t fit in with where we were strategically,” said Billy Fried, group managing director heading up the agency’s non-automotive business in OC.
Although the vast majority of the Walnut Creek-based retailer’s advertising is handled in-house, Doner’s parent offices in Southfield, Mich., had held the broadcast portion of the business for the past seven years.
Shafer Spins Off neoBrands
Chip Shafer, CEO of Irvine-based Shafer Advertising, has spun off a new marketing business under the name neoBrands and he plans to launch the new agency as a public company.
Although both of Shafer’s agencies now operate at his Irvine offices, neoBrands will be moved into new facilities in Costa Mesa next month, taking the bulk of Shafer’s staff, or 35 employees. The Shafer agency will retain about 15 to 20 employees. Plans are to continue hiring staff and growing the business.
Shafer’s Internet clients and business-to-business e-commerce clients move to neoBrands. The list of clients under the neoBrands agency include J.D. Edwards, entrepreneur.com, Healinx, escrow.com, huddle247 and eFront Media Inc.
The new agency recently launched a new campaign for its client Cox Business Services, a division of Cox Communications Inc., with the new tagline: “Plug in. Do business.” The campaign, which debuted in Phoenix and OC, includes direct mail, radio, TV, print and outdoor.
FCB Off to Races
“Ladies and gentlemen, start schmoozing!” So read the racy invitations to FCB Southern California’s shindig at the Long Beach Grand Prix. The ad shop invited all 350 of its employees down to watch the races to get to know one another over “high-octane” cocktails at the Sky Room in the Breakers Hotel, said Jim Harrington, FCB president. It was the first time the OC and Los Angeles staffs all got together, he said.
Indeed, the agency had many reasons for celebrating, including a new account for McElroy:FCB youth marketing division with clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters in Pittsburgh, whose billings are estimated to be between $10 million and $15 million annually.
