T & O; Forms Consulting Unit; Blue C Adds Accounts
Irvine-based Toshiba America Business Solutions, a unit of Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp., is digging deep to get customers to notice copiers and other office products from its Electronic Imaging Division.
This year, Toshiba America Business upped its advertising budget from $1.8 million to $10 million to create a television, print and radio campaign designed to give it a boost against its three big competitors: Canon Inc., Xerox Corp. and Ricoh Corp.
“A study conducted for TABS last year found there is little brand awareness for Toshiba copiers,” said Mark Mathews, vice president of marketing for the Electronic Imaging Division. “People know Toshiba for laptops, televisions and even medical equipment, but their knowledge of our copiers is weak.”
Toshiba America Business was created as a separate company within Toshiba to look for ways to grow sales of copiers and faxes. Currently, Toshiba America Business holds about 7% of its market, Mathews said.
But the company hopes that will change, in part through its new ad campaign,the largest in its 15-year history. DGWB Advertising, Santa Ana, is heading the effort. DGWB, which also handled the media buying, was awarded the account in August, replacing Long Beach-based Nostrum Advertising Inc.
The spots target technology professionals, operations managers, office administrators and purchasing agents.
The first spots with the slogan, “Don’t copy. Lead” began appearing in publications such as Time, Money, Fortune and Forbes last fall. The message: color copier affordability, overall improved image quality and speed, among other things.
Television and radio spots are set to air this month on cable channels including CNN Headline News, Imus on MSNBC, and ESPN’s Sports Center. The campaign also is set to run in Latin America.
“These spots promise to be edgy and fun, and not your typical boring copier ads,” Mathews said. “The goal is to create a personality for Toshiba.”
“We have data that indicates that when we’re considered for office equipment, faxes, we have a very high likelihood of winning. But the key for us is getting considered,” Mathews said. “We’re trying to establish ourselves as leaders, particularly in the area of technology.”
T & O; Forms Division
The T & O; Group, an Irvine advertising, interactive and public relations agency, is reaching out to clients in another way.
The company launched a new consulting and planning division earlier this month called The Media Strategists, meant to give clients and even other ad agencies a “second opinion” as they make media plans and organize advertising budgets, according to Dave Robinson, managing director of the new unit.
Housed in T & O;’s Irvine location, the division started with about six employees working with three undisclosed accounts. The group brings big-agency experience, having worked on brands including Sears, Colgate-Palmolive and Mitsubishi.
The ad shop spent about nine months working after hours to launch this division, which grew out of a need in the marketplace, Robinson said.
According to Robinson, companies spending upward of $80 million on advertising wanted a “second set of eyes” to look at plans, while other clients,and even some ad agencies,wanted guidance in buying and planning Internet media. The Media Strategists offers both services, he said.
“We help clients stay current with the rapidly multiplying choices of media that are out there,” Robinson said, citing virtual stadium signage, or ad images only seen on TV during baseball games, as an example.
“It’s really weeding through all the different opportunities and making sure that you’re maximizing budgets,” Robinson said.
This is the fourth division the T & O; Group has launched since 1994. The agency is expected to unveil a fifth division in the next three months.
Blue C Lands Accounts
Newport Beach-based Blue C Communications, an advertising and interactive development agency, has picked up some new clients. Blue C competed with three other undisclosed OC agencies to land Newport Beach-based LifeMasters Supported SelfCare Inc., an interactive health services company. The ad shop will handle the company’s advertising. Meanwhile, Blue C also will handle brand development, e-commerce and the Web site for Huntington Beach-based Nitro Records, which is owned by OC rock band The Offspring. Billings for the accounts were not disclosed
Bits and Pieces:
Huntington Beach-based James Communications now is called PR Talent Newport Beach-based Greenlight Communications recently was tapped by Addison, Ill.-based Francotyp-Postalia Inc., a manufacturer of postal systems, to handle its marketing campaign in the U.S. Billings for the account were undisclosed. Francotyp-Postalia turned to the OC shop after hearing about marketing campaigns Greenlight had conducted for other Chicago-based companies like Bell and Howell Co.
