John Doyle is replacing Mike Belitsos as head of all creative work, including the Lincoln Mercury account, at OC’s largest ad shop, Y & R; Advertising in Irvine. The ad shop is Young & Rubicam Inc.’s second-largest worldwide, behind its flagship New York digs. Belitsos, who ends a nine-year stint with the company, announced in May that he wanted to leave to pursue other interests and has remained on board in the interim.
Additionally, the agency plans to announce two new accounts this month, valued at roughly $80 million in annual billing, including a tech-company deal according to David Murphy, president of the Irvine Y & R; office. The new accounts would grow the shop’s total billings to more than $650 million.
Before coming to Y & R;, Doyle, who begins work this week, was executive creative director at Publicis/Hal Riney in San Francisco. His official title in Irvine is executive vice president and executive creative director.
Murphy said he and Doyle worked together at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide in New York, when Murphy was that agency’s worldwide client service director and Doyle was group creative director.
“He has an outstanding national reputation as one of the top creative talent talents in the industry,” Murphy said. “He’s best known for a couple of campaigns such as the EV1 electric car (for General Motors).”
Doyle also was nominated for an Emmy award, Murphy said.
Most recently, Doyle has headed Publicis/Hal Riney’s creative work for clients Saturn, Sprint and eToys.com, Murphy said.
In Irvine, Doyle has some big shoes to fill. Under Belitsos, Y & R; handled the launch of the 2000 Lincoln LS in April 1999, winning top advertising awards including a silver Belding and turning around the stodgy image of the brand.
“The strategy that Lincoln is pursing won’t change, but hopefully (Doyle) will take the creative to the next level,” Murphy said.
His first assignment will be to oversee the launch of the 2001 Mercury Mountaineer SUV early next year.
Since following Lincoln Mercury to Orange County two years ago, Y & R; Advertising has added to its roster Chevron, Taco Bell’s retail advertising and El Torito.
The Y & R; office in Irvine houses four other Young & Rubicam Inc. units: Burson-Marsteller public relations and perception management; impiric, customer relationship management, interactive services and e-business; Landor, brand consulting and design; The Media Edge, media buying and planning services.
Orange Zone Gets Cool Account
The Orange Zone, the youth-oriented marketing arm of Irvine-based The T & O; Group, recently added a new Internet client whose Web site is a sounding board of sorts for the Generation Y demographic.
Costa Mesa-based icelounge.com will use the Orange Zone to create an advertising campaign and oversee its media planning.
The Web site allows teenagers to post their opinions and earn “ice cubes,” or points, that can be redeemed for products or exchanged for credit towards a purchase. The categories include lifestyle (surf, skate, snow, BMX), entertainment (music, movies, actors, bands) and fashion.
Koo Koo Roo Adding Spokes-Chicken
Koo Koo Roo’s new spokes-chicken “Cluck,” created by its new advertising agency, LA-based Colby Effler & Partners, debuted last week on billboards, print advertising and in-store merchandising as part the company’s new “Chicken with exceptional taste” campaign. A subsidiary of Irvine-based Prandium Inc., the 44-unit quick-service chicken chain hired the agency in June.
Bits and Pieces:
Strategies, Costa Mesa, picked up a new high-tech client that develops digital signal processing. Irvine-based 3DSP Corp. hired the agency to launch its new product “HiFi” (Highly Integrated Flexible) online assisted design environment Dula Image Group, an Irvine-based branding and design consulting firm, won eight American Graphic Design Awards in a national competition held by Graphic Design: USA magazine in New York SCDRG Inc., Irvine, recently developed a branding campaign including collateral materials and coupons for client Time Warner’s Big Picture and its Digital Cable services. Knott’s Berry Farm has teamed with Macy’s West top open a 5,000-square-foot boutique on the third floor level of the retailer’s South Coast Plaza store. The boutique, which opened last week, features Peanuts merchandise and Knott’s special event tickets and annual passports Sinan Kanatsiz, principal of Kanatsiz Communications, will be the featured speaker at the Professional Communications Exchange at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Costa Mesa at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19. Information: (949) 654-0263 Roughly 1,000 to 2,000 attendees are expected for the first Digital Marketing Expo, set for Dec. 13-15 at the Hilton Anaheim. The three-day event, co-sponsored by Steven Dworman Enterprises in Brentwood and AdWeek magazine, will feature demonstrations, panel discussions and workshops. Information: (310) 826-8810.
