Wahoo’s Lets Hair Down (More) in Colorado Spots
Marketing & Media
by Jennifer Bellantonio
RiechesBaird Sees Turnaround Signs in New Work; DGWB Plays Ponies, Er, Wieners
The fish is out of the bag for Wahoo’s Fish Taco in Colorado.
The Santa Ana-based chain recently started its first ad campaign in Colorado, its second market after California. In Wahoo’s fashion, the campaign is different.
“We’re hoping to create some noise,” said Geoff Shaffer, marketing director for Wahoo’s in Colorado. “We’re surrounded by a bunch of big companies in our business out here that have a very corporate feel. We wanted to intentionally feel non-corporate.”
The first print ad reads: “Advertising agencies lie. Tacos don’t.”
Outdoor ads have the same one-line humor. A billboard, with a Wahoo’s logo, reads: “Last year 179 humans were attacked by fish. Get even.”
Ads running on buses read, “There’s no such thing as mad fish disease.”
The campaign, set to run through year’s end, also features spots on MTV and cable sports channels. Billings weren’t disclosed.
The campaign was created by Longmont, Colo.-based TDA Advertising & Design Inc., which Wahoo’s hired in January. Wahoo’s co-owner and California marketing director Wing Lam worked on the campaign with Mike Donnelly, owner of the Colorado franchise.
TDA’s first move was to sit with the “California guys,” including laid-back surfer Lam, to get some direction, said Jonathan Schoenberg, the agency’s creative director. He said a buddy of his was surfing with Donnelly, which helped TDA get the account.
“Wing’s main thing was, ‘Let’s not be corporate with the advertising.’ And I thought that was a nice place to start from,” Schoenberg said.
Wahoo’s wants to cultivate a cult following in Colorado, just as it has done here.
The chain opened its first Colorado restaurant in 1995. Lam moved to Colorado for a few months to work in the store alongside his friend and business partner Donnelly.
The company continues to grow there.
Last month, Wahoo’s opened its seventh Colorado restaurant and has one more planned for this year, Shaffer said. He expects two to three more restaurants to open in 2003.
But Wahoo’s is building up in Colorado.
“They’re a very well established mature brand in California that people are very familiar,” Shaffer said. “We’re not at that level yet.”
Half Full
Ray Baird, agency partner at Irvine-based RiechesBaird Advertising Inc., sees reason to believe.
“Most of the agencies that have been singing the blues six months ago are seeing positive momentum,” he said.
Baird said his agency is “slammed” and has picked up three to four pieces of business in the past few weeks. The accounts are set to be announced in a couple of weeks, he said.
“The clients are starting to let go of the reins a little bit,” he said.
That’s good news with consumer confidence sagging, some apparel teen retailers missing forecasts and jittery Wall Street hammering stock prices.
Baird said the economy has taken a toll, and client confidence still is a bit shaken from watching fat shops with large rosters shrink.
“The better (shops) have survived,” Baird said. “There’s a lot less people out there competing for the business than before. We’re going up against a lot more L.A.-type shops than local stuff. We’ve really carved out a niche here with business to business (marketing).”
Baird said most people still are saying the fourth quarter is when things will turnaround.
“If they’re right about that, than we’re seeing the work right now,” he said.
Dog Day at the Races
Santa Ana-based DGWB Advertising has gone to the dogs again.
The ad shop created three ads for client Wienerschnitzel and its annual Wiener Nationals race, recently held at the Los Alamitos Race Course.
Local wiener dog owners flocked to the track to see who had the fastest dog. The event, which raised more than $10,000 for the Seal Beach Animal Shelter, drew about 6,000 people.
One DGWB ad shows a women opening her back door to find her horse wearing the remnants of a doggie door around its neck.
This ad, and the two others, have the tagline: “Wiener dogs make better horses than horses make wiener dogs.”
Bits and pieces:
Rancho Santa Margarita-based NationalTour Inc. recently put together a massive mobile marketing package for client Sirius Satellite Radio, sponsor of “Sirius at the Glen” Nascar Race held recently in New York. NationalTour created four 53-foot tractor trailers, five Winston Cup replica race cars and five passenger cars,all branded with the Sirius name Lages & Associates of Irvine was tapped by Irvine-based Accenx Technologies Inc. for some public relations work involving case studies, news releases and media outreach Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp. has teamed with Animal Planet to promote Suzuki XL-7 sport utility vehicle. The promotions feature spots on Animal Planet, an online push on Discovery.com and a sweepstakes offer later this year 900 Films Inc. of San Juan Capistrano called on Irvine-based Stun Gun, an editing, animation and finishing house, to create a 90-minute video and DVD of “Tony Hawk’s Trick Trips, Volume 3.”
