Big-Name Clients Fuel Culver City Firm’s Growth

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Pitch Inc., a creative ad firm in Culver City, has grown its payroll about 52 percent in the last six months after winning two major accounts.

The agency became the official ad creator for Burger King’s youth and family-oriented campaigns in late June. Earlier in the year, Pitch landed the account for NBC Entertainment, based in Universal City.

To handle the new business, the payroll has jumped from 23 to 35.

“With both these wins we are the agency of record, so we are retained on a monthly basis,” said Kim Thomsen, principal and co-founder. “That way we are able to cover the cash flow of the new hires.”

Jon Banks, the other co-founder, said the agency focuses on corporate clients that want attention-grabbing ideas. For example, in May the agency put the peacock logo on 50 taxis around a New York City hotel where NBC held its “upfront” meeting for advertising presales.

The agency has reconfigured its office space in Culver City to accommodate the new hires, but it could reach capacity next year. The agency hopes to land one or two new clients in 2011 and increase its staff to the 50-60 range.

“That would be the tipping point both in terms of space and the culture of the agency,” Thomsen said.

Canon Acquisition

Industrial trade-show producer Canon Communications in West Los Angeles has been acquired by London conglomerate United Business Media Ltd. for $287 million.

The sellers were parent company Apprise Media, an investment company controlled by Canon Chief Executive Charles McCurdy, and Spectrum Equity Investors, a Boston-based investment fund.

McCurdy will continue as chief executive during a transition period, and the company plans to maintain and eventually grow its operations in Los Angeles, where about one-third of Canon’s 270 employees are based.

With an infusion of cash from the sale, McCurdy’s investment company “will be looking for interesting opportunities in the media and information sector,” he told the Business Journal.

Canon produces about 60 shows and conventions every year in the manufacturing, packaging, plastics and medical sectors. The company started with trade magazines, which led to its convention business.

Cultural Drinking

Baru Advertising wants tequila drinkers to step away from the lime and have a little taste of the grape.

Beringer Vineyards in Napa has hired the L.A.-based Hispanic agency to manage the vintner’s campaign to target the U.S. Hispanic consumer.

The campaign features Leticia Chacon Rodriguez, a Beringer winemaker, who presents the product. Los Angeles is the test market for the campaign, with ads running on local Univision and Telemundo stations, and signage in Hispanic-heavy grocery stores. The campaign broke Sept. 13.

Although Hispanic consumers have traditionally favored rum, tequila and beer rather than wine, wine consumption by U.S. Hispanics has jumped 35 percent since 2005 as they have adapted to the culture.

Agencies & Accounts

TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles has been named the ad agency for Pacific Standard Time, a group of more than 50 arts institutions in Southern California that are jointly producing a series of exhibitions about the birth of the L.A. art scene after World War II. The campaign will launch in October 2011. TBWAChiatDay’s “deep appreciation of the influence of art in Los Angeles, combined with its roots in the Los Angeles creative community, makes the agency an ideal partner,” Joan Weinstein, interim director of the Getty Foundation and co-chairwoman of Pacific Standard Time, said in a statement. … Bob Eagen has joined McCann Erickson on the Miracle Mile as executive in charge of the LifeLock account. LifeLock is an identity theft protection firm that awarded its advertising to McCann in April. Eagen joins McCann from Anderson DDB in San Francisco, where he served as director for the Johnson & Johnson account. … Interactive agency Blitz has launched a website to promote client FX’s show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” The site, called Sunny Tweets, allows fans to interact with one cast member each week via Facebook or Twitter. … TidalTV, a New York-based online video ad network, has opened an L.A. office headed by Susan Jaget and Datar Sahi, directors of West Coast sales. Before joining TidalTV, Jaget was director of social media at Mahalo.com and a sales manager at MySpace.com. Sahi was a sales manager at Fox Digital Media.

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

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