Rubin Postaer Buys OC’s Open Minds and Ponzi Group
NeoBrands Wins a Shootout; Del Taco Sticking With Dan
Marketing & Media
by Jennifer Bellantonio
Santa Monica-based Rubin Postaer and Associates, an advertising agency with excess of $850 million in yearly billings, recently bought Aliso Viejo-based Open Minds, a creative boutique, and Trabuco Canyon-based The Ponzi Group, a marketing support company. Terms were not disclosed.
The two OC shops had been pitching business together since November 1999, when they went after Callaway Vineyards and won. The pair had been talking about combining.
Now, they are a subsidiary of Rubin Postaer, operating as a single marketing and advertising company under the name of Open Minds Agency Inc. The new Open Minds will have 13 employees to start (it’s looking to grow) and will be based in Irvine at 4 Park Plaza, Suite 650, according to Angelo Ponzi, executive vice president and director of marketing services.
“We had been in serious merger discussions with Open Minds for several months when the Rubin Postaer and Associates opportunity presented itself,” Ponzi said.
What was the lure?
Gerry Rubin, chief executive and president of Rubin Postaer, said the agency had been looking for a way to grow “without putting our independence at risk.”
So, the agency chose to buy Open Minds and Ponzi Group to give it a separate brand in the market “that may appeal to a different type of client than Rubin Postaer would normally attract.”
Some of Open Minds’ clients include; Callaway Coastal Vineyards, Johnny Rockets, SupplyPro, Universal Music Group and Peterson Brothers Construction. Rubin Postaer’s clients include American Honda, ARCO and ampm minimarkets.
Mark Choate of Open Minds will be the new agency’s president and director of creative services. Several other people from both OC shops are joining the new company.
As part of Rubin Postaer’s network, Ponzi said, Open Minds will be able to call upon the agency on an “as-needed basis.”
The bulk of the work, which will include market research, account planning, media planning, buying and creative, will be done in-house.
Open Minds plans to keep things simple.
“Unlike a traditional bureaucratic agency structure, our clients have direct access to each and every department head if they like,” Ponzi said.
NeoBrands Wins PeopleFirst.com
Costa Mesa-based neoBrands beat out nine other public relations agencies, including incumbent Ogilvy & Mather, to win work from San Diego-based People First.com, an online vehicle-loan service.
The OC shop is now handling public relations for the dot-com, including media relations, trade shows and speaking opportunities. Rick Sharga, executive vice president at neoBrands, would not disclose billings, but said, “it will be a significantly sized PR account.”
“It was a pretty extensive search,” he said. “PeopleFirst.com was looking for an improvement in service on the account.”
After last year, neoBrands has been “much more careful” about any companies, including dot-coms, that it goes after, according to Sharga.
But he said PeopleFirst.com is “the kind of account we were created to handle.”
“They have a legitimate real business model that makes use of the power of the Internet to take friction out of a difficult tedious process,” Sharga said. “They have an established track record.”
Plus, it helped that financial services firm Capital One purchased the dot-com.
“That was the final validation in our minds,” he added.
NeoBrands is going to help People- First.com broaden consumer awareness and acceptance in North America.
“We’ll be able to help them build awareness frankly by retargeting who they attempt to reach with their press efforts,” he said. “We’re taking a disciplined and orderly approach.”
Sharge conceded the acceptance part,getting people to transact online,is a little trickier.
“Any time you ask people to change behavior, it’s scary for them,” he said. “It’s going to take some time.”
In other news, neoBrands was tapped by another dot-com,San Diego-based Constructionjobs.com,to handle public relations work. The agency beat out two or three other shops for the win.
Sharga said the work will start with public relations and direct marketing and may eventually lead to advertising.
Del Taco Doings
Consumers can now download Del Taco wallpaper and screensavers from the Laguna Hills-based company’s Web site, deltaco.com. They include scenes from Del Taco commercials featuring spokesman, “Dan the Product Guy.”
Those TV spots can also be downloaded, a feature recently added by Laguna Hills-based Big Man Creative, which handles Del Taco’s site.
In other business, the Mexican fast-food chain recently launched a new series of commercials and a radio campaign. The TV spots again feature Dan.
“Our research tells us that people want to see what Dan will do next,” said Tim Hackbardt, vice president of marketing.
Bits and Pieces
A 45-foot C-SPAN bus recently visited Century High School in Santa Ana. Students got a close-up look at the traveling television production studio Newport Beach-based Sturgess Co., a marketing, advertising and public relations firm, was tapped by Irvine-based start up Triage Medical Inc. for marketing and Costa Mesa-based STI Medical Inc. for advertising and public relations work Livewire Corporate Communications in Anaheim is helping design, develop, produce and distribute a new soccer magazine called 90:00 Minutes. The magazine is set to be launched by San Diego Soccer Development in early spring.
