A British advertising agency that picked up work for Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations plans to bring about 100 jobs to Orange County.
Britain’s WPP PLC expects to form a new agency, Team Mazda, by October. The agency is likely to set up in Irvine near the U.S. arm of Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp.
WPP is looking to emulate the model of its Team Detroit advertising agency, which does major marketing for Ford Motor Co. and has its headquarters in Michigan.
WPP plans to fill positions in human resources, creative staff and account executives as it builds Team Mazda from the ground up.
The agency likely will pull half of the staff from existing WPP offices around the country and the other half from within the county.
“Orange County has a deep talent pool of automotive experts,” a source close to the account said.
WPP declined to comment for this story.
Team Mazda is expected to hire an initial 100 workers in October and add workers as the work increases.
Early estimates could see more than 150 workers at the agency by early next year.
Mazda awarded its $150 million yearly advertising account in June to a consortium of WPP agencies that make up Team Detroit.
The agency was created in 2006 as an experiment that tapped all of WPP’s agencies to work on the $750 million advertising account for Ford.
Team Detroit pulls from WPP’s top agencies, including JWT, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Inc., Young & Rubicam Brands Inc., Wunderman, Mindshare North America and Mediaedge:cia.
Team Mazda would be a similar effort among agencies, albeit on a smaller scale.
The group is looking for space in Irvine because the automaker requires its advertising agency to be nearby, according to a source familiar with the account.
WPP appears to be in the early stages of scouting office space in the Irvine Spectrum area, according to the source.
George Rogers, chief executive of Team Detroit, is said to be one of the people building Team Mazda, though he’s unlikely to head the new agency.
Team Mazda is set to be one of the largest agencies here by capitalized billings and employees, along with Southfield, Mich.-based Doner Co. and the Irvine office of WPP’s New York-based Wunderman.
The team model hasn’t always worked for WPP.
In 2007, Texas computer maker Dell Inc. committed $4.5 billion in a three-year advertising budget to start up WPP’s Enfatico—which was similar to the Team Detroit model.
WPP had to shutter the 1,000-person agency in 2009 amid criticism that it wasn’t pulling its weight.
The work was shifted to WPP’s Y&R office in Texas.
Advertising Review
The creation of Team Mazda marks the end of a 13-year relationship the automaker had with the Newport Beach office of Doner.
Earlier this year, Mazda hired Boston-based firm Pile and Co. to oversee an advertising review that included Doner.
“We undertook an agency review as a process check, to ensure our company is properly positioned for substantial growth in North America,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief executive of Mazda’s U.S. arm.
The team of WPP shops bested a New York-based Omnicom Group Inc. team in the final round.
The selection was a blow to Doner, which opened its West Coast office here in 1998 to serve Mazda.
Doner is known for creating the “Zoom, Zoom” line used in much of Mazda’s commercials and print ads.
The phrase, which Mazda intends to keep using, became a bit of pop culture in the past decade.
Doner is expected to finish up the automaker’s latest vehicle launch for the subcompact Mazda2.
It expects to cut workers from its Newport Beach office, which will remain open. The shop didn’t disclose how many jobs would be eliminated.
Doner also is expected to stay on Mazda’s account to help the automaker and Team Mazda during the transition.
The agency declined to comment on transition plans, but many expect a three- to six-month overlap.
Local Office
It’s common for a national advertising firm to set up an office in the county for a large account.
Earlier in the decade, Y&R arrived in OC to handle a Lincoln Mercury account. Since then Y&R has expanded its staff from 55 to more than 300 people working on the Lincoln account and other work.
Doner followed a similar strategy in opening its office in Newport Beach. It also grew its business outside of the Mazda account.
Huntington Beach-based Innocean Worldwide grew from a 30 person shop in 2008 to more than 100 workers last year after landing Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc., part of South Korea’s Hyundai Kia Automotive Group., as a client.
The agency was relatively unknown when Hyundai shifted its $450 million advertising account from San Francisco-based ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.
Much of the original automotive advertising work that arrived in early 2000 has dried up as automakers have relocated or been sold.
The auto brands that once made up Ford’s Premier Automotive Group have moved their North American headquarters out of Irvine or been sold.
Ford’s remaining European brand, Volvo, moved its North American headquarters from Irvine to New Jersey in 2008.
A few years back, Ford moved its base for Lincoln Mercury from Irvine back to its original home in the Detroit area. n
