Innocean USA, an advertising agency in Huntington Beach, kicked off a charity program, “Lines of Hope,” to raise $25,000 for Kenyan orphanages.
The idea came from the agency’s senior copywriter, Nick Flora, who’s supporting a boy at the Kauriong Orphanage in Pokot, Kenya.
“I wanted to do more than write a monthly check to help them,” Flora said, adding that during his visit to the orphanage last year he took Etch A Sketches to the children so they could draw the things they wanted and needed. “Their [demand] is simple: shoes, beds and school supplies.”
The agency, with the help of its partners in Los Angeles, such as Jump LA, Eleven Sound and Activator Pictures, created a promotional video at IndieGoGo.com to motivate donors. Innocean USA also plans to send a crew to Kenya to film the children receiving donated goods.
The company’s main client is Hyundai Motor America Inc. in Costa Mesa.
A New Kind of PSA
The Newport Beach Police Department kicked off “The Stolen Collection,” a public awareness campaign designed to educate the community about property theft prevention during the holiday shopping season.
The campaign, created by Long Beachbased ETA Advertising, debuted this month on local billboards, bus shelters, gas stations and buses. Its digital components include StolenCollection.com, social media outreach, and a 30-second video airing during movie previews at Triangle Square Cinemas in Costa Mesa.
Property theft accounts for more than 96% of all crimes reported in Newport Beach and most often involves goods stolen from unlocked vehicles.
The police department wanted to “do something creative to reach the public” instead of issuing a traditional public service announcement and “reprimanding them for leaving their cars unlocked,” said Paul Gately, account executive at ETA Advertising.
The agency’s first assignment for the police, valued at $21,000, wasn’t acquired through a traditional bidding process.
“They just found us,” Gately said.
The contract amount excludes media placements. Funding for the campaign comes from Narcotics Asset Forfeiture funds. ETA Advertising’s other clients include Smart & Final, Lyon Communities in Newport Beach and Farmers & Merchants Bank.
Sharing the Workload
Jonsson Media Group has launched JMGShared, a new “white labeling” program aimed at helping small and medium-size agencies compete with bigger competitors.
In white labeling—much like ghost writing—marketing companies brand a product or service produced by another company as their own.
The Aliso Viejo-based digital marketing and advertising agency started out by helping “other agencies fulfill their obligations to clients, and as such, JMGShared is the next step” in its growth, Cameron Jonsson, the agency’s managing director and founder, said in a news release.
“The main difference between large and small agencies is not talent or fees, [but] scale and product offerings. I’ve seen several small agencies that are extremely talented lose out on projects only because they lack manpower, bandwidth and specific expertise.
With JMGShared we are offering that missing component and now leveling the field between small and large agencies.”
The JMGShared program includes pitch support, media and strategic planning, and campaign development, as well as account logistics, such as reporting, billing and invoicing.
Bits and Pieces
Morgan Marketing & Public Relations in Irvine added Black Angus Steakhouse to its client list. The agency also promoted Kristin Daher to the agency director position. … Bolt Public Relations in Irvine established an office in Dallas, its third overall.
Bolt hired Shawn Paul Wood to run the new office. The agency also has an outpost in Raleigh, N.C. … Costa Mesa-based global information services firm Experian PLC hired Jennifer Schulz as group president of its vertical markets group, which includes its automotive, public sector and healthcare businesses in North America.
