Irvine’s Innocean Worldwide is looking to move closer to the ocean—and client Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America.
The ad shop, relatively unknown until last year, is moving to Huntington Beach sometime this summer.
“We are really undertaking the second stage of our build,” said Jim Sanfilippo, chief operating officer and executive creative director at Innocean.
The agency outgrew its Irvine office ahead of schedule, he said.
“Our pace was slightly underestimated,” he said.
A year ago, Innocean had about 30 workers here.
That number has grown to more than 100 with additional work from Hyundai, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Kia Automotive Group.
Innocean is part of South Korea’s Innocean Worldwide Inc., also a Hyundai unit.
The Business Journal estimates the shop’s yearly billings at $200 million.
Last year, Innocean made waves when it took over creative and planning duties for Hyundai from San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.
Innocean has been gradually assuming more work from Goodby, Silverstein.
Hyundai Motor is estimated to spend about $400 million a year on advertising and has been aggressive with its advertising through much of the downturn.
“We expect more growth this year with Hyundai and some other prospects,” Sanfilippo said.
Got Milk Goes Greek
The San Clemente-based California Milk Processor Board is hoping to get people to drink more milk by showing them a utopia where milk flows like water and beautiful people walk around like Greek gods.
The board, which is funded by dairy producers and run by the state of California, launched the “Mootopia” campaign touting the purported health benefits of milk through TV, radio, print and online ads last month.
The campaign is a variant of the board’s recently launched Hispanic campaign, “Mucho Más Que Leche,” or More than Just Milk.
“We’re not trying to do them at exactly the same time but will synchronize the messaging and the benefits of milk in the general market,” said Steve James, executive director for the board, best known for its “Got Milk?” commercials.
The campaign is being handled by San Francisco’s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which created the original “Got Milk?” campaign.
Like the Hispanic campaign, Mootopia is broken into three marketing pushes planned for release throughout the year.
The first 30-second TV spot features two women in Athenian robes sipping from a lake of milk. The spot ends with the “Got Milk?” tagline.
Other spots, dubbed “Dentist” and “Muscle Recovery,” are expected to launch later in the year, featuring similar themes.
Online Newspaper Ads
Irvine-based Brand Affinity Technologies Inc., an advertising startup that looks to hook up celebrities and athletes with online advertisers, is getting into newspaper sites.
The ad shop partnered with Chicago-based quadrantOne to bring Brand Affinity’s celebrity endorsements to online newspaper ads.
QuadrantOne is the online ad sales network launched last year by Virginia-based Gannett Co., New York-based Hearst Corp., New York-based New York Times Co. and Chicago-based Tribune Co.
Brand Affinity runs a database that advertisers and marketers can tap to hire celebrities and athletes for endorsements for national, regional and local markets.
It’s the latest in a series of partnerships Brand Affinity has forged with various media companies.
Last year, it inked deals with Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc., parent company of the Orange County Register; Microsoft Corp.; Centro LLC, a Chicago online media planning and buying company; and Phoenix-based CBS Outdoor, the billboard unit of New York-based CBS Corp.
Bits and Pieces:
Seal Beach-based digital ad agency MarketSnag has been hired by Tustin-based eChem Inc., a provider of industrial chemicals and cleaning compounds, to help build out the company’s Web site and expand online traffic. The ad shop also added Irvine-based Susan Grossi & Associates Inc., a counseling and educational consulting firm, as a client last month to increase the company’s Web site traffic and build client relationships … Costa Mesa-based Rodheim Marketing Group has added three clients. The ad shop saw the addition of Lyon Air Museum in Costa Mesa near John Wayne Airport. The museum is the pet project of Chief Executive William Lyon of Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes Inc. The ad shop also picked up Newport Beach-based Pass the Baton Inc., an owner-to-employee transition consulting firm, with its new “Baton Partnerships” program. Rodheim also added Malaysia’s Axcess Tickets Sdn Bhd, a ticket broker, to handle its social media campaign to promote the upcoming musical production “The Lion King,” to be held at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in May.
