House of Vans, a string of music venues hosted by Vans Inc. in Costa Mesa, is now one of more than 60 curators for Apple Music, tasked with perusing 40 million songs available on the streaming platform and developing playlists that its audiences would appreciate.
The curator profile launched last month with “Since 66: History of Vans Music,” a playlist of “66 songs spanning Vans’ rich musical heritage.” An “Office Stereo” playlist will showcase music popular in the brand’s offices, while “In Residence” is curated by Vans sponsored athletes, including pro skater Kyle Walker.
House of Vans’ permanent venues are in Brooklyn, Chicago and London. The brand also hosts pop-up locations in Austin, Hong Kong, Shanghai and São Paulo.
Other brands serving as music curators for Apple include guitar manufacturer Fender, media outlets Rolling Stone, Vice, MTV, Pitchfork and Hypebeast, plus Nike Inc., Disney and the BBC.
Loco Rewards
El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. in Costa Mesa hired Dallas-based Ansira LLC as its digital advertising agency. Ansira will support the grilled-chicken restaurant chain’s Loco Rewards program by “leveraging ongoing data to improve customer insights, individual customer engagement, and ultimately drive increased profits.”
“As consumer behaviors change and the restaurant landscape shifts, data is more important than ever in understanding who our customer is, what motivates them and how that drives incremental profits,” Chief Marketing Officer Ed Valle said in a statement. “Ansira’s real-time and results-driven approach will enable us to better acquire, retain and engage customers as we continue to grow and invest in our Loco Rewards loyalty program.”
El Pollo Loco, which named San Diego-based Vitro as its creative agency of record late last year, has about 470 locations in California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Utah, about 50 of them in Orange County. It ranked No. 4 on the Business Journal’s list of restaurant chains based here, with $795 million in 2016 systemwide sales.
Domier to Yum Board
Advantage Solutions Inc. Chief Executive Tanya Domier has joined Yum Brands Inc.’s board of directors.
Louisville-based Yum Bands, owner of Taco Bell Corp. in Irvine, KFC and Pizza Hut, has 44,000 restaurants in more than 135 countries. Advantage Solutions in Irvine provides sales, marketing, merchandising and digital technology services for packaged goods makers and retailers; it’s majority-owned by Leonard Green & Partners LP in Los Angeles and CVC Capital Partners in Luxembourg, has 120 offices in North America, and employs 45,000 people. The company filed for an initial public offering in May with plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ADV.
Advantage hasn’t commented on the filing since May. Last month the Business Journal reported that the Irvine firm acquired Stamford, Conn.-based Daymon Worldwide Inc. on undisclosed terms—a deal that links two private equity-backed big players in brand and retail sales and marketing work. The firms will operate as separate entities, Domier continuing as chief executive of Advantage.
Yum Brands Chief Executive Greg Creed in a statement said, “Tanya is a talented executive with a customer-focused and growth mindset. We look forward to the insights she will bring as we rapidly transform into a more focused, more franchised and more efficient company in order to strengthen and grow KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell globally and deliver more growth to our shareholders.”
Nominated
Kia Motors America Inc.’s sports sedan Stinger was named a finalist for the 2018 North American Car of the Year. Other finalists in the category are the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. More than 60 jurors evaluated the vehicles on “innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value for the dollar.”
The Irvine-based automaker’s Chief Executive and President Justin Sohn said the nomination is “an important milestone in Kia’s history and the jurors’ acknowledgement of Stinger’s world-class style, performance and value honors the global research, development and planning teams that ushered the Stinger from concept car dream to reality.”
The winner, along with truck and utility vehicle of the year, will be announced on Jan. 15 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Bits & Pieces
Mission San Juan Capistrano hired public relations firm McCue Communications to “help the 241-year-old California cultural landmark communicate its stories of education, inspiration, preservation, celebration and tradition.” The Burbank-based agency, founded in 2008, specializes in travel and tourism and also has the Orange County Visitors Association among its clients.
