A midday knock on Marshall Advertising & Design’s front door last week went unanswered. So were calls to the Costa Mesa-based advertising agency. And its website was also down.
It appears that owner Diana Marshall has pulled the plug on her 27-year-old business, which had $21.4 million in capitalized billings and employed 26 staffers, according to the Business Journal’s 2013 list of ad agencies here.
The ad shop’s decline started in July of 2012 when Marshall Advertising lost its first of three major account reviews.
San Diego-based Vitro took over as the agency of record for Cypress-based Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp.
The contract included brand and product strategy, creative development and production, and media planning and buying.
Another setback came last summer when the San Joaquin Hills and Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agencies in Irvine put its advertising contract up for review. Marshall Advertising had been the agency of record on the toll roads account since 2003.
Irvine-based ELA Advertising won the business, landing a three-year deal worth an estimated $7 million to $10 million. It included general market and Spanish-language campaigns, along with media planning.
Marshall Advertising lost its third major account last month, a hit that came after several key staffers left to form their own shop and pitch Cypress-based Yamaha Motor Corp. U.S.A.
The exodus included Account Director Thomas Blinn; Digital Creative Director Norm Tribe; Creative Director Eric Cwiertny; Creative Director/Brand Strategist Roger Feldman; and Production Manager Nevin Safyurtlu.
All five worked on the Yamaha account while at Marshall Advertising, which had been the agency of record for the motorcycle brand since 1988.
They left in December to form GearShift Advertising in Costa Mesa, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
Yamaha put its ad account up for a review at about the same time and eventually chose GearShift to replace Marshall Advertising.
Neither Marshall nor the GearShift executives could be reached for comment last week.
“I’m proud to have attracted some of the best and brightest people in the industry that make solving new challenges fresh and exciting,” Marshall wrote in a LinkedIn profile post. “I’m equally proud to have earned the trust and confidence of some amazing clients with whom we’ve enjoyed incredibly long-lasting relationships. And it’s these connections that we value the most.”
