To sell a project in Hollywood, you need a good trailer.
That’s the thinking behind a final promotional push for W Hollywood Residences, the luxury hotel and condo development at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. In order to drum up buzz for the condos, the developer has hired PR agency Macy & Associates in Playa del Rey to produce and distribute eight short films about the project and the personalities behind it.
The shorts imitate the interviews with actors and directors that accompany DVD versions of movies. What’s unusual is the focus on personality, rather than kitchen amenities or other functional details of the units.
Also, each film lasts about two minutes: a time frame designed for clip sharing with friends online or watching on a cell phone.
“The viral nature of it relates to how Hollywood is marketing films today,” said Kim Macy, president of Macy & Associates.
The first installment features Gatehouse Capital Chief Executive Marty Collins, the developer who has worked 10 years on the W Hollywood. Other clips will spotlight the architect, the hotel manager, a nightclub owner and a restaurateur, all of whom are plying their respective trades on the project.
A link to a Web site that shows the films will be sent to the developer’s e-mail list of interested brokers and buyers. The footage also will be posted on social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube.
The 143 units of W Hollywood Residences open for occupancy Jan. 15. About one-third of them are already sold.
Curb’s Appeal
Curb, a London-based ad agency specializing in highly unusual media, has opened a Hancock Park office at 5872 W. Second St.
The company uses crop fields, snow, sand and other natural materials to create outdoor advertising for clients such as Legoland, Kia Motors and the BBC. Its work has ads using mowed fields of grass or grain that can be seen from highways; “dust art,” which is painted on back windows of vans to create that “Wash Me” look, except with a company logo or slogan; “clean ads,” which are created on dirty sidewalks by removing grime; and sand sculptures on beaches.
The company’s U.S. headquarters is in Minneapolis. The company opened its L.A. location to tap into eco-friendly California advertisers and the entertainment industry.
“Brands have limited eco-friendly alternatives to traditional advertising like billboards and print advertising,” Baba Uppal, the head of the Hancock Park office, said in a statement. “Our portfolio is comprised of innovative, fresh and engaging natural media that has proven to be a successful return-on-investment formula for our clients while being easy on our planet.”
Advertising Auction
Santa Monica-based product placement agency Brand in Entertainment, has scheduled an auction of product placement packages Jan. 20 in New York. The sale will include advertising and brand integration spots for network TV, Internet text, Webisodes, graphic novels, movies and theater.
Only advertising agencies and brand managers will be invited to bid. An online auction preview catalog will be available on BIE’s Web site by Dec. 1.
The auction will allow agencies and marketers to bid on BIE’s 2010 production slate, which includes 33 feature films and 25 television projects with product placement deals available.
Agencies & Accounts
Pollack PR Marketing Group in Century City has signed on as the agency for Pocket Radar, a startup that manufactures a palm-sized radar device that can do what a professional radar gun can do: track the speed of baseballs, tennis serves or other moving objects. Pollack will handle all aspects of the product launch in spring 2010.
Beth Harris, former executive director of marketing at Disney’s ABC Television Group, has joined Ketchum Sports and Entertainment. She will lead an L.A.-based team of 10 that will handle celebrity talent deals and PR events.
Carl Terzian Associates in West Los Angeles has signed Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park as a client. Terzian will recommend philanthropic organizations in Southern California for support from the engine manufacturer.
Brent Bolthouse and Jenifer Rosero, partners in event company Bolthouse Productions, are now part-time publishers of 944 Magazine Los Angeles. The 944 publication, which focuses on nightlife and luxury lifestyle, has nine editions in large U.S. cities. Bolthouse and Rosero will continue to run their marketing event company.
Creative Channel Services, a Westchester retail marketing agency that trains salespeople, has added Gregg Nole to its team as senior vice president of client solutions. Nole comes to the job from Sony Electronics, where he served as director of consumer sales and marketing.
72andSunny in Venice has hired Kelly Schoeffel as strategy director and Matt Murphy as creative director. Both come from Wieden & Kennedy in Portland, Ore. Schoeffel ran the Target account at W&K. She will focus on new business development at 72andSunny. Murphy will supervise ad creation for all 72andSunny clients.
Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.
