The Orange County Register has brought back a favorite son to oversee a new self-service advertising Web site and has landed a printing contract with a Los Angeles newspaper group.
David Threshie is the Register’s former director of market segmentation and a director at Irvine-based parent company Freedom Communications Inc. (as well as the son of for-
mer Freedom chairman R. David Threshie).
He’s set to serve as manager of the paper’s newest advertising project, which allows small to midsize businesses to build ads online or upload their own and schedule when they run.
Threshie left the Register in 2007 to start Irvine-based Velocity magazine, a car buff publication. The magazine ended its print run last December and now is focused on the Web.
He said he came back to Freedom because, “It’s my family’s business and I’m extremely passionate about it.”
The self-service ad site now is being used for the Register’s weekly papers.
Threshie said he expects it to roll out for the Register’s local section in about two months and shortly after for the full run of the paper, its Web site and the Register’s direct mail program.
The Register recently landed a printing contract to handle production of papers for the Woodland Hills-based Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
The Register plans to start printing four of the group’s newspapers,The Pasadena Star-News, Whittier Daily News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune and the weekly The Highlander,on its presses in Santa Ana.
The newspapers are part of Denver-based MediaNews Group Inc., headed by Dean Singleton. They now are printed at a Valencia plant, which is set to close in May.
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. It’s too early to tell how many copies a day it will add to the Register’s print run.
Early estimates expect it to add about 85,000 copies a day, according to the company.
The Register’s circulation ranges from about 215,000 on Monday to 300,000 on Sundays, the company said.
The deal represents a chance for Los Angeles Newspaper Group to cut costs and the Register to increase revenue at a time when both are seeing ad revenue shrink.
The Register also prints Nguoi Viet Inc., a Westminster-based Vietnamese-language daily, and Los Angeles-based La Opini & #243;n, a Spanish language daily newspaper owned by New York-based ImpreMedia LLC.
In other Register news, the paper named Matt Degan as automotive editor.
TV Launch Work
San Clemente-based Motor Creative Marketing has been busy with an advertising and marketing campaign for Mission Viejo-based EQD Corp.’s line of Auria liquid crystal display TVs.
EQD is a startup seller of budget flat TVs that’s set to start selling online in April via Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. and Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com Inc.
The company is run by Steve Woo, formerly of Walnut-based ViewSonic Corp.
Woo started EQD last November after running a ViewSonic division that developed and marketed LCD TVs.
The ad shop was tasked with developing the brand, logo and all the trade show material for January’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, as well as create package design, Web site content and interactive material.
“It’s been a whirlwind of activity in a very short period of time from establishing the company to getting the brand off the ground in under 45 days,” said Peter Quill, president at Motor Creative.
Riverside Paper Cuts
Riverside-based Press-Enterprise Co. could be the next newspaper to cut more jobs.
The newspaper’s Dallas-based parent A.H. Belo Corp. said in January its plans to cut more than 14% of its workforce, or about 500 jobs from its overall media operations.
In a January letter, Robert Decherd, A.H. Belo’s chief executive, said, “These are difficult steps to take, but they are necessary and reflect economic conditions far more uncertain than anyone anticipated even three months ago.”
It’s unclear how many people will be cut from the Riverside paper, which has seen
a drastic decline in advertising revenue due to the recession and advertisers looking elsewhere.
Bits and Pieces:
Irvine-based EluminatePR has been hired by Dallas-based Advanced Beauty Systems Inc., a beauty supply product company. The public relations firm will be using its StorytellingPR and SmartStartPR programs designed to help smaller companies receive PR on a budget. The firm will be developing and launching integrated consumer PR campaigns for Advanced Beauty’s beauty care brands, according to Kimberly Capwell, partner with EluminatePR Tustin-based Echo Media Group has hired Lauren Ellermeyer and Sarah Unke as account coordinators. “We recently added four new clients to our roster, including European lifestyle brand Villeroy & Boch,” said Kim Long, managing principal at Echo.
