Hot on the heels of my look last week at what’s happening at Young & Rubicam Brands in Irvine, word comes that the shop won its first account under new boss Rick Eiserman: the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Y & R;’s first TV commercial for the team is set to air March 15, according to a recent report by trade publication Adweek.
Y & R; is Orange County’s largest advertising shop.
The Dodgers are high profile but aren’t big ad spenders under owner Frank McCourt. The baseball team spent about $5 million on advertising last year, according to Adweek.
Y & R; won the work after a review late last year.
It beat out Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Dailey & Associates in Los Angeles, which had held the account since 2004.
Part of Britain’s WPP Group PLC, Y & R; has struggled in the past few years with account losses.
Last year, Sony Electronics Inc. and Ford Motor Co.’s Jaguar Cars took their advertising business elsewhere (Wunderman, a Y & R; division, still handles Jaguar marketing).
The Irvine office lost $200 million in combined yearly billings with the departures.
The shop’s biggest win of late is Beverly Hills-based Hilton Hotels Corp. The work has helped but didn’t offset the recent losses.
The Hilton account is worth an estimated $40 million to $50 million.
Y & R;’s Irvine office has estimated yearly billings of about $325 million.
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Dodgers’ Web site: Y & R; won ad account after review last year |
Eiserman joined the Irvine office in late January.
He replaced David Murphy, who resigned from Y & R; in November to take a job as president of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Inc.’s Torrance office.
Eiserman, who has worked with Y & R; and its subsidiaries for 11 years, relocated from the East Coast.
Eiserman was chief executive at BrandBuzz, a marketing arm of Y & R; in New York with an estimated $150 million in annual billings.
He helped start BrandBuzz in 1999 and was general manager before being named chief executive in 2004.
DGWB Nabs Hospital Account
Santa Ana-based DGWB Advertising & Communications nabbed more work from St. Joseph Hospital in Orange.
The ad shop recently was named public relations agency of record for St. Joseph after a review involving several other undisclosed public relations firms in OC and Los Angeles.
DGWB had an edge. The shop has handled St. Joseph’s advertising account for five years.
The PR account will be managed by DGWB’s Stacey Doherty, director of public relations.
Doherty will work with St. Joseph’s marketing team to develop a long-term plan involving internal communications and outside promotions, the agency said.
DGWB launched its public relations arm a few years back, and continues to ramp up the unit. Other clients include Children’s Hospital of Orange County, which also has its advertising account with DGWB.
Busy Slate
Irvine-based Morgan Marketing & Public Relations LLC started 2006 with five new accounts.
The 15-year-old shop picked up work from the new venture of coffee man Martin Diedrich, founder of Irvine-based Diedrich Coffee Inc.
He has a new coffeehouse, K & #233;an Coffee, on Westcliff Drive in Newport Beach.
Other work includes Burbank-based Poquito Mas Mexican food chain, Pasadena-based Wetzel’s Pretzels LLC, Carlsbad-based HDOS Enterprises, known as “Hot Dog on a Stick,” and Centex Homes.
Morgan Marketing will handle media relations for K & #233;an Coffee, which opened in December, and store marketing and promotions for Poquito Mas.
The OC shop also will help promote Hot Dog on a Stick’s 60th anniversary with a direct mail campaign, events and more.
Plus, Morgan Marketing is helping Centex Homes, a unit of Dallas-based Centex Corp., handle media relations, community marketing and a grand opening party promoting its new community in Menifee.
Crunchwrap Launch
Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp. is getting the word out about a menu change in its latest marketing materials.
The Mexican fast-food chain, owned by Louisville, Ky.-based Yum! Brands Inc., is promoting its “Crunchwrap Supreme,” which is a flour tortilla filled with beef, cheese and more that’s grilled to seal.
Taco Bell is pushing the item in radio ads and 15- and 30-second television spots, which were created by Foote, Cone & Belding Inc.
The ad shop’s Irvine office helped work on the Taco Bell campaign, though the $230 million account now is handled by FCB’s Chicago office, where it was combined with other Yum work.
FCB, part of Interpublic Group of Cos., scaled back operations in OC last year. The OC operation now works under the ad shop’s San Francisco-based unit.
