Local Agency to Accent Latin Music Label’s Acts

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Universal Music Latin Entertainment has signed an agreement with the Axis Agency in West Hollywood to match Latino music celebrities with brand-name products.

The partnerships envisioned in the agreement go far beyond the usual beer sponsorship of a mariachi concert tour. An Axis deal will include fan parties, product placements in music videos, likenesses of the artists on in-store displays, licensing of music for online sharing and concert headline sponsorship.

“That’s what we mean by cross-platform an unlimited access to borrow the band’s equity,” said Armando Azarloza, president of Axis.

Azarloza hopes to pattern future deals on an arrangement he negotiated between his client Absolut Vodka and the Latin hip-hop duo Wisin y Yandel, who work under the Universal label.

Axis is a unit of Weber Shandwick, a PR agency owned by Interpublic Group. Besides Absolut, Axis clients with an interest in the Hispanic market include Nintendo Co. Ltd., General Motors Corp., World Caribbean Cruises, American Airlines and the U.S. Army.


BizBash Relocates

BizBash, a trade show for corporate meeting organizers, will move the 2009 version of the event to the Los Angeles Merchandise Mart. Previously, the event was at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The reason for the move was financial. BizBash estimates that each exhibitor at the show will save about $2,000 at the new

location.

“Our goal is to do everything possible to lower the costs for exhibitors,” said David Adler, chief executive of BizBash, in a statement. “While we love the Los Angeles Convention Center many of our exhibitors are small businesses that will benefit greatly from being at the Merchandise Mart.”

BizBash Los Angeles will open June 11. It is expected to draw about 1,500 meeting planners and vendors from the western United States.


PR as Art

For Your Art is a Los Angeles PR firm that specializes in helping galleries, museums and individual artists promote their art. The company acts as curator, publisher, event producer and/or marketing firm.

FYA co-produced last week’s Los Angeles Art Weekend 2009. The firm also launched Map ForYourArt, a pocket-size quarterly map and guide to the local art scene. The map, which shows the locations of galleries and lists what they’re displaying, also appears on the ForYourArt.com site. Both the print version and Web site include advertising.


Effie Awards

The 2009 winners of the Effie Awards, which recognize marketing ideas, include several local ad shops.

TBWAChiatDay of Playa del Rey won a total of four Effies for work with clients Visa, Nissan, Apple and Pedigree dog food.

DDB West in Venice received three Effies for the McDonald’s “Unsnobby Coffee” campaign.

Ignited LLC in El Segundo nabbed two awards for its U.S. Army recruiting

campaign.

L.A.-area agencies Dailey & Associates, Deutsche and Edelman also won Effies.

The non-profit Effie Awards recognize great ideas in marketing. The winners will receive trophies at a ceremony in New York on June 3.


Agencies & Accounts

Wongdoody, a Culver City ad agency, has shot a TV commercial for GameFly, an online video-game rental service. The spot shows gamers disappointed after buying a bad game, showing regret by throwing furniture or suffering in silent despair. The message is that it’s better to rent than own. The ad began airing last week. Soul de Cuba Specialty Foods has selected Blaine Group in Beverly Hills to promote the national rollout of its Cuban food line. The PR shop’s assignment is to get Soul de Cuba “positioned to take full advantage of the Hispanic food industry’s current and projected boom,” Devon Blaine, president of the agency, said in a statement. Bayard Advertising Agency in Los Angeles has hired Don Sabatino as senior vice president of new business development. He comes to the B2B agency from a 24-year career in recruitment advertising. JMPR Public Relations in Woodland Hills has signed up for a three-month project with Kampgrounds of America Inc. The agency will promote the idea of family camping at KOA facilities as a bargain vacation this summer. Public Relations Society of America Foundation in New York has appointed Alfredo Padilla, vice president of corporate communications at Comerica Bank in Los Angeles, to its board. DDA Public Relations has expanded its Los Angeles office with the addition of Dana Archer. She will focus on TV, home entertainment and corporate entertainment clients. Archer joins DDA from Weber Shandwick, where she handled accounts for Warner Bros. and Paramount Home Entertainment.


Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.

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