Agencies Pare Back; Big Man Revamps Web Sites
Newport Beach-based Lawrence, Mayo and Ponder recently broke a TV spot for Read California in Sacramento featuring pro skateboarder Tony Hawk,a teen favorite in focus groups, according to Lynda Lawrence, agency president
In the spot, airing on Fox, ESPN2 and Prime Time, the championship skateboarder repeatedly misses a trick and then is shown how to do it right with a book. The message: reading is an easier and less painful way to learn. The spot,aimed at boys ages 9 to 13,ends with the tagline: “Read today. See where it takes you.” The campaign is reportedly budgeted at around $3 million.
This is Lawrence, Mayo & Ponder’s second spot for Read California, a state-backed campaign designed to get youngsters to read. The first focused on older teens, parents and small kids. This one targets middle school kids, where the biggest drop off in reading occurs, according to Lawrence.
“It took a little work to convince the state to use someone like skateboarder Tony Hawk to promote reading,” Lawrence said. “Those are two things you normally wouldn’t put together.”
But she said that’s also what has made the spots a hit with teens. And Hawk, who regularly reads to his two children, was eager to participate when the agency contacted him out of the blue, she said.
Agency Layoffs
The softening economy recently hit home at the T & O; Group in Irvine.
Six or seven people,about 5% of the agency’s workforce,were laid off about six weeks ago, with positions cut across T & O;’s public relations, interactive and advertising divisions.
“I don’t know of anybody that hasn’t gone through it,” said Steve O’Leary, T & O; president, adding that agencies both in the U.S. and globally have been cutting back due to a pinch in clients’ budgets.
O’Leary said the layoffs were not associated with the loss of one chunk of business, such as that of Anaheim-based retailer Clothestime, which not long ago took its account in-house. (T & O; still handles projects for the chain). Instead, it had more to do with a range of clients tweaking or letting up on their ad budgets in light of the economic climate, he said.
Other agencies to trim staff, albeit slightly, in the past year include the Impiric division of Y & R; Companies, Shafer Advertising and FCB Southern California, all of Irvine.
Lately, however, there seems to be a change for T & O;, according to O’Leary.
“I’ve been encouraged about our new business activity,” he said. “It was dead for a while.”
Now, he says, it seems the agency is “coming out of it” with several undisclosed projects in the works.
At least one is for the fast-food chain In-N-Out Burger of Irvine. The T & O; Group is one of three finalists (Ground Zero in Marina del Rey is another) vying for the reported $5 million to $10 million account. A decision is expected by the end of the month. McCann-Erickson of Los Angeles is the incumbent.
In other matters, Dave Robinson, T & O; executive vice president and media director, was promoted to general manager, where he will lead the charge to win new business, among other duties including supervising human resource and incentive programs. A former head exec at Doner Advertising’s Baltimore office, Robinson recently helped launch T & O;’s new consulting and planning division called The Media Strategists.
The Short and Tall of It
The nearly 12-inch height difference between the two top chiefs at Laguna Hills-based Big Man Creative Inc. is not quite as dramatic as, say, Shaq standing next to Spud Webb.
But it definitely made it a no-brainer when picking a name for the multimedia firm. The “Big Man” portion comes from one partner’s 6-foot-8-inch build. And the “Creative” part comes from project work the firm has done for clients such as Laguna Hills-based Del Taco and the Santa Ana-based Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union. The size of the projects was not disclosed.
Recently, the OC shop launched a revamped Web site for the teachers’ credit union, which has 230,000 members and 11 branches in OC, to help improve its image and make navigating for services easier.
Big Man Creative also is behind Del Taco’s site, featuring entertainment and contests, among other things. The site’s design allows Del Taco to manage and update info from its headquarters, according Scott A. Shuford, chief business officer and a firm partner,the shorter one.
The six-person design shop runs a tight ship, but that’s how chief creative officer Stefan Mumaw,the tall partner,likes it.
“I want to be the small shop playing in the big pool,” he said.
Bits and Pieces:
Colby Effler & Partners in Los Angeles recently broke a new TV and radio campaign,spending was not disclosed,for the Orange County Register. The spots tout the paper’s recent format and layout changes meant to make it appear more modern and reader-friendly Orange Coast magazine in Newport Beach is mixing things up with the launch of a new feature in its July 2001 issue focusing on OC’s most prominent families El Torito Restaurants recently put its account,previously handled by Young & Rubicam’s Impiric division in Irvine,up for review.
