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Ad Agency Sets Upcoming Shopping Center Apart

Pacific City in Huntington Beach is scheduled to open to the public on Nov. 7, according to its developer, DJM Capital Partners in San Jose.

Its advertising agency of record, Corona del Mar-based The Larson Group Creative Marketing Group LLC, has created the “Take Me to the City” marketing campaign to promote the 191,000-square-foot oceanfront shopping center.

“We are having a lot of fun … There really has been no restrictions on how we can approach this,” said Michelle Larson, the agency’s owner and creative director who shot the photos for the campaign near the Huntington Beach pier.

DJM Chief Marketing Director Linda Berman created “the DNA of the project, what the story behind the story of the Pacific City is, and from there we were able to put our own twist on it, to differentiate it from any competition that’s in the area,” Larson said. “We brought to life the idea that Huntington Beach is only six miles from Newport Beach, but it’s so different, the consumers, the culture … It’s a surf city and it’s also very real, where Newport Beach has a little bit of aloofness. We wanted that to come through in the campaign.”

The agency created the center’s website, print ads, and a “Look Book Deck” brochure to be handed out during opening ceremonies. The Larson Group also produces marketing materials for Irvine Company’s Fashion Island and Irvine Spectrum.

Stretch of a Selfie

Irvine-based Asics America Corp. brought an eight-story-tall selfie stick to the 2015 TCS New York City Marathon festivities held over the weekend in Manhattan.

Fans, using a custom selfie-orb, launched their phones up a 90-foot track, all while recording a video. Asics encouraged them to share the footage on social media using the hashtag #GoRunIt.

The promotion is a part of the Irvine-based footwear and apparel company’s global ad campaign, “It’s a Big Race. Go Run It.” Media placements for the marathon included broadcast, out-of-home advertising at Time Warner Center and Times Square, and digital ads on Thrillist, Mashable and the mobile app Waze.

Asics last month signed on as a sponsor of Girls on the Run, a national grassroots organization that teaches life skills to girls through interactive lessons and running games. It asked its “digital community” to post during the marathon weekend what they learned while running. Each Twitter and Instagram response earned a $5 donation to Girls on the Run.

Kia Wanderlust

Vacation season may be over, but not for Kia Motors America Inc. The Irvine-based automaker is traveling the country and posting photos of its vehicles taken at popular sightseeing spots: the Hollywood sign, the Brooklyn Bridge, Florida beaches, the Pacific Northwest’s forests, New England docks. Questions, including, “Did you know that the Rocky Mountains span about 3,000 miles?” accompany the photos posted on Kia’s social media accounts.

The road trip is part of the automaker’s most recent campaign, #KiaWanderlust.

It also released a two-minute hyperlapse video of its eight-day journey in a Kia Sorrento CUV to the SEMA show in Las Vegas.

Bits & Pieces

Experian PLC in Costa Mesa won a Plutus Award for best use of social media, its second in a row. … Weistec Engineering in Anaheim, a Mercedes AMG tuner and after-market parts manufacturer, hired Moorpark-based Kahn Media Inc. as its public relations agency of record. … Mat Young joined Netlist Inc. in Irvine as vice president of marketing. He hails from Data Propulsion Labs at SanDisk in Milpitas, where he served as senior director of ESS technical marketing. … Wienerschnitzel will give members of the military a free chili dog and small Pepsi on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. … Allison Lesser is the new director of sales and marketing at Hotel Irvine.

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