RiechesBaird Holes Up With New Golf Course; MindArrow Lands Big-Name Clients
The T & O; Group in Irvine recently launched an advertising campaign for one of its largest clients, Fantastic Sams, a unit of Anaheim-based Opal Concepts Inc.
The two new television spots play with the original “Gotta Be the Hair” campaign, but draw on real-life situations rather than exaggerations that were the focus of earlier advertisements. One spot, called “Getting Ready,” features a young woman fumbling as she preps to go out and when she opens the door for her date, he just notices her hair. The tagline follows: “When your hair looks great, that’s what they notice. Fantastic Sams. Gotta be the hair.”
The campaign was created for Fantastic Sams franchises nationally. Each franchise is responsible for running its own broadcast media. In this area, the campaign will run Jan. 8 through Feb.12 on the seven broadcast TV stations and five cable stations.
Fantastic Sams’ total media spending is about $7 million. The T & O; Group, which reported 1999 billings of $63 million, also handled the media planning for the campaign, while the San Diego office of New York-based Initiative Media Worldwide placed the media buys.
RichesBaird Hooks Golf Course
Irvine-based RiechesBaird added another account to its cap, the CrossCreek Golf Club, a new 18-hole golf course in Temecula.
Chosen as the agency of record, RiechesBaird will handle advertising, marketing and public relations for the golf course, set to open in May.
The agency competed with up to three other local undisclosed agencies in a review that began in August. The size of the account was not disclosed.
RiechesBaird, which reports annual capitalized billings of about $35 million, will handle CrossCreek’s branding and positioning, advertising, direct mail and public relations campaign.
Ryan Rieches, agency partner, said the ad shop positioned CrossCreek as “pristine golf,” referring to the beauty of the course, which is built in a canyon surrounded by thousands of old sycamores and oaks.
“‘Pristine golf’ also refers to a course built on the founding traditions of golf,” Rieches said. “To reinforce this, each of the staff will wear era-specific clothing, complete with knickers and berets.”
MindArrow Adds Ford, NBA
Aliso Viejo-based MindArrow Systems Inc. recently added two big names to its 100-client portfolio: Ford Motor Co. and the National Basketball Association.
The year-old agency, which handles the online marketing portion of companies’ overall marketing campaigns, recently created and distributed interactive e-mail messages, known as eBrochures, for Ford’s 2001 Escape sport utility vehicle and several NBA teams, including the Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic.
The messages, which are highly compressed files containing video, audio, graphics and interactive hyperlinks, are designed to replace traditional print brochures, and target customers who want information via e-mail. MindArrow, a developer and provider of online marketing technology, tracks messages so their clients can get statistics on their customers.
The publicly traded company worked with Ford’s advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson, to create the Escape e-mail campaign for an undisclosed amount. The eBrochures were sent to 20,000 people and feature a 30-second video clip from the Escape television commercial along with hyperlinks.
Meanwhile, MindArrow recently struck an agreement for an undisclosed amount with the NBA, which will have MindArrow working with the marketing teams for the NBA, the WNBA and NBDL to create interactive campaigns.
“It’s the wave of the future in marketing,” said Mike Pennell, vice president of marketing at MindArrow, noting that eBrochures get a high response rate.
MindArrow, which grew its customer base from 10 clients to 100 in a year’s time, has worked with marketing or advertising agencies to help develop e-mail campaigns for clients like Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett-Packard and Toyota. The company, which usually works on a per-project basis, obtained new contracts totaling about $3.1 million for the year ended Sept. 30.
MindArrow, which employs about 100 people, reported a net operating loss of $17 million on revenue of $1.6 million in the year ended Sept. 30.
“To accelerate the company’s path to profitability we have recently completed a reorganization and consolidation of operations that we anticipate will reduce expenses by more than $200,000 per month commencing January 2001,” said Robert Webber, MindArrow’s president and chief executive.
No one was laid off in the process, according to the company.
Beard Boy Airs Carl’s Jr. Ads
Laguna Hills-based Beard Boy Productions is working on several spots for the Carl’s Jr. unit of Anaheim-based CKE Restaurants Inc. The company is writing new 60-second and 30-second radio spots for the fast-food chain’s “Too Good to Be True” campaign, which has been airing since September. Beard Boy, hired by Carl’s Jr. on a per-project basis, also has written two 30-second radio spots to promote the Carl’s Jr./Green Burrito dual-restaurant concept. That campaign was set to begin airing last week. Beard Boy also is producing 30-second TV spots for Newport Beach-based Donahue Schriber, a retail real estate developer and property manager, and its clients, Anaheim Hills Festival and The Market Place in Tustin and Irvine.
