Costa Mesa-based J.D. Power wants to help improve auto advertising for agencies and media owners.
The consumer data and analytics firm partnered with New York-based research firm Nielsen Holdings PLC to launch Nielsen Auto Cloud, a marketing and measurement platform that combines audience data from Nielsen and J.D. Power’s car-buying intelligence.
Automotive marketers will be able to target and personalize their advertising message based on criteria such as car features and style, buying stage, brand affinities, media engagement, geo-location and device type.
Clients can activate campaigns across digital and television.
It’s the first time that J.D. Power’s data is being made available for advertising and measurement, according to reports.
The service also provides users with campaign measurement tools, allowing advertisements to be changed if needed. Clients can measure and control how often and what type of ads people see through the life of a campaign, as well as leverage Nielsen Auto Cloud to measure the effectiveness and return-on-investment of their marketing spends.
J.D. Power Chief Digital Officer Bernardo Rodriguez said the partnership is a new era for the automotive industry.
“We’re empowering auto marketers with immediately actionable intelligence—whether for consumer insights, cross-media planning and targeting, or campaign measurement,” Rodriguez said in a statement.
Hot Dog Homework
School is back in session, and college students studying advertising will need to churn out fresh ideas for hot dog chain Wienerschnitzel.
The Irvine-based company was named the official corporate sponsor of the 2019 National Student Advertising Competition for the American Advertising Federation and will assign a real-world marketing challenge for competing student teams.
The assignment will focus on hot dogs, but specifics of the case study will be revealed later this year, according to Wienerschnitzel.
Student teams will develop an integrated marketing campaign and a 20-minute presentation for the company.
Chief Marketing Officer Doug Koegeboehn said the company’s looking forward to having students from top colleges work on its business.
“Wienerschnitzel is a highly creative brand open to new ideas, campaigns and ways to attract customers,” Koegeboehn said in a statement. “We’re honored and delighted that we were selected to be the client in this year’s National Student Advertising Competition.”
The company joins previous sponsors, including Nissan Motor Co., Snapple and Yahoo.
Advertising, marketing and media students from more than 150 U.S. colleges and universities will bring their pitches to a panel of judges. Student teams from 15 districts compete in a three-tiered competition structure starting in April. The top team from each district moves on to the semifinals in May; the final eight teams compete in June in Hollywood, Fla.
Fresh Cup
The smell of coffee is wafting through the halls of Santa Ana-based public relations agency Powerhouse Communications.
It announced this month that it has retained the U.S. arm of Australian food and beverage company Retail Food Group to handle public relations efforts for subsidiaries Gloria Jean’s Coffees and It’s a Grind Coffee House.
The addition comes one month after the agency signed on Newport Beach-based pizza chain Mountain Mike’s Pizza.
Powerhouse will be responsible for the coffee brands’ communication campaigns to help reach consumers, as well as prospective franchise partners.
President Kristin Daher said both labels have “rich histories with very different backgrounds” and that it’s excited to introduce the coffee houses to consumers and franchisees across the U.S.”
Daher said in a statement that, “Just like most of America, enjoying a cup of coffee is a delicious part of our daily routine, and we’re thrilled to help remind coffee lovers what makes Gloria Jean’s and It’s a Grind so special.”
Gloria Jean’s was founded in Chicago in 1979 and plans to expand beyond its 60 locations with 40 new cafes in Germany. It’s a Grind launched in Long Beach in 1994 and operates 26 locations, with two scheduled to open this year.
Santa Fe Springs-based Retail Food Group USA President Sam Ferreira said Powerhouse will help the company reach its goal to grow the local and global presence of Gloria Jean’s and It’s a Grind.
“We may have been quiet for a while, but we now have a lot to talk about, and we’re confident we’ve chosen the right partner to get people buzzing about our legacy coffee brands again,” Ferreira said.
Powerhouse ranked No. 34 on this year’s Business Journal’s list of OC-based public relations firms with eight employees.
