Young & Rubicam Brands Inc. in Irvine is close to naming a replacement for David Murphy, former North American managing partner at the Orange County shop.
A spokesman said the agency plans to announce the new chief as early as this week.
Murphy resigned from Y & R; in November to take a job as president of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Inc.’s Torrance office. He said he’s looking forward to several opportunities at Saatchi: “The opportunity to help diversify an agency, the opportunity to reinvent the type of offerings and creative services the agency has and do it on a much larger scale.”
Y & R;, a unit of Britain’s WPP Group PLC, put a team of people in place to manage the Irvine office in Murphy’s absence.
Murphy, 45, held executive positions at Y & R; for the past seven years. The shop’s most recent wins include Beverly Hills-based Hilton Hotel Corp., worth about $40 million to $50 million.
The work helps offset some big losses. Sony Electronics Inc. and Ford Motor Co.’s Jaguar Cars unit, which accounted for a combined $200 million in billings, were among the companies to take their ad business elsewhere.
Murphy helped transition Y & R;’s Lincoln Mercury account back to the company’s Detroit office a few years back. Y & R;’s local operation continues to handle Land Rover North America, which is part of Ford’s Irvine-based Premier Automotive Group.
Murphy’s departure from Y & R;, OC’s largest ad shop, is the latest change playing out at the area’s two biggest agencies.
Foote, Cone & Belding Inc. in Irvine, which checked in at No. 2 on the Business Journal’s list of top ad agencies last year, cut workers after its parent restructured its West Coast operations. FCB’s OC office now reports to FCB in San Francisco.
Former FCB president Jon Tracosas left in the fall. Work on the OC shop’s biggest account, Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp., shifted to FCB’s Chicago office.
Murphy will have a hand in automotive accounts at Saatchi, part of France’s Publicis Groupe SA. The shop’s biggest client is Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc.
He said Saatchi wants him to boost the shop’s digital marketing work with Toyota.
Murphy succeeds Rich Anderman, who recently stepped down as president of the 300-person Saatchi office, according to trade publication Adweek.
Saatchi’s chief creative officer Steve Rabosky also recently left, Adweek reported.
Riding the Surf Giant
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. is cashing in on team rider Kelly Slater’s seventh world surf title win.
The surfwear maker is making a special T-shirt and baseball cap celebrating Slater’s victory.
The gear is sold only at its online store at www.quiksilver.com.
Quiksilver features Slater all over its Web site and plays up the garb by telling people to “own a piece of history.”
The $28 hat and $20 T-shirt read
“KS7” and tout Slater as the world surfing champ.
The Web site warns shoppers of a two to three week delay in shipping due to “overwhelming demand.”
Quiksilver still directs shoppers to its online retail partners, such as jacksurfboards.com and beckersurf.com, to buy the rest of its garb.
Print Party
I recently wrote that ColorGraphics Inc. doubled its size in a move to new digs in Costa Mesa.
The printer has some more news.
ColorGraphics has hired about 10 workers since moving from Tustin, including two salespeople, according to Craig Evans, director of sales and marketing. The printer has about 65 workers in Costa Mesa.
ColorGraphics is looking to add three more sales employees and an undisclosed number of others in prepress, press room, shipping and fulfillment.
Evans said the new building has a very open layout so “customers can work directly with our technical people in both the prepress area and the press room.”
The shop has tripled its OC size since buying Calsonic Miura Graphics Inc. in 1998, he said.
“We are continuing to invest in new technologies that will allow our customers to succeed in today’s fast changing advertising and print environment,” Evans said.
Bits and Pieces:
Newport Beach soaked in some extra airtime this holiday season. The city’s Christmas boat parade, coordinated by the Newport Beach Chamber, was featured on Home & Garden Television for five days in December Newport Beach-based Ruby’s Diner Inc. is spreading the word on its Web site about its three new restaurants in Temecula, Long Beach and Brinton Lake, Pa. Irvine-based surfwear maker Lost International LLC was pushing two new DVDs for the holiday season: “Lost at Sea” and “Lost Across America” Emu Australia Ridge Ltd., which has its U.S. headquarters in San Clemente, recently made two new hires. Jerry Breig, formerly with DVS Shoe Co., came on board as national sales and marketing manager and Dawn Caylor, formerly with Brea-based Nomad Footwear Inc., is director of design.
