Digital media has been a boon to L.A. restaurants as foodies often use blogs and social media to crow about their favorite eateries. But one boutique food-focused PR firm has found restaurants still want the same exposure they craved a decade ago: praise from newspapers and magazines.
“The thing that gets our clients most excited is still a big print placement,” said JS2 PR’s Jill Sandin, who co-founded the firm in L.A.’s Fairfax District with Jeff Smith in 2001. “They like to hold it and feel it – that’s super validating.”
Numerous local PR firms cater to the hospitality world. But Sandin said JS2’s strength is pitching the right story to the right outlet, whether a niche blog, Los Angeles Times or smaller paper.
“We’re known for being a really food-knowledgeable agency and for working really hard to find the right story,” said Sandin.
To emphasize the company’s focus on media relations, Smith and Sandin recently streamlined their name from JS2 Communications to JS2 PR, a rebranding effort accompanied by a flashy new website.
The firm’s clients include ice-cream shop Salt & Straw, vegan Mexican restaurant Gracias Madre and the Café Gratitude chain.
Smith and Sandin said even successful eateries such as those need their help.
“It doesn’t matter how popular any restaurant is,” said Sandin. “You have to take that popularity and do something with it. … With good PR, it feels effortless.”
She and Smith began collaborating in the mid-1990s at New York firm Kratz & Co. on national campaigns for Starbucks Corp. and Jamba Juice Co. When the company was acquired by a larger entity, the pair decided to split off and launch a boutique agency named for their shared initials.
They kept Jamba Juice as a first client and built a business on work for the health, beauty, nonprofit and entertainment industries, eventually operating offices in Los Angeles and New York with 22 employees. But after losing clients in the recession, the firm gradually shrunk. Smith and Sandin closed the New York office and began shifting their focus to L.A.’s food and beverage world, charging restaurants between $3,500 to $6,000 a month.
“The credibility of the L.A. food scene has changed exponentially in the last five years,” said Sandin.
She and Smith have found solid writing skills essential to their success. Just as important is mentoring their small staff.
“We really put a lot of time and effort into cultivating their talents and improving their skill set so they can fulfill their dreams, but also so they can be as successful as possible for the clients,” Smith said.
Super Numbers
L.A. ad agencies that aired game-time commercials during the Super Bowl got a lot of bang for their buck.
That’s because Super Bowl 50 drew almost 112 million viewers, according to Nielsen, and 3.96 million people watched the game online, setting a streaming record for the football showcase.
Brands shelled out up to $5 million to CBS for 30-second commercial spots, drawing on the talents of L.A. agencies including Deutsch Inc., David&Goliath, Omelet and RPA. The big challenge was to squeeze out extra social media attention and viewers seem to have responded.
During game day, 3.8 million individual accounts posted 16.9 million tweets related to Super Bowl 50, said Nielsen. Of those tweets, 1.4 million users posted 4.6 million tweets specifically about the ads.
Social media research company Geofeedia of Chicago mined location-specific data from 140,000 posts to see which ads resonated across the country. It found that L.A. viewers engaged the most with BMW, Audi, Doritos, Skittles and PayPal Holdings Inc. ads, according to data published by Adweek. But Hyundai Motor Co. did well across the board, notching 2.6 million online views during game day, according to Bellevue, Wash., ad-tracking firm iSpot.TV. Of course, the ads played online before and after the game, too. An ad for Pokemon, created by Culver City’s Omelet, grabbed the most online attention with a total of 20 million views.
While some brands released their ads early, others opted to save their best goods for the big day. Taco Bell, represented by Deutsch’s L.A. team, waited until the game to reveal its latest food item: a quesadilla-chalupa mashup called the Quesalupa.
Agencies & Accounts
Venice ad agency Loyalkaspar has hired Rhys Demery, formerly of Troika, as executive producer. … Koreatown ad agency Stun Creative has launched a commercial production unit called StunSpots led by Patrick Biesemans, Jay Karas and Nick Enriquez. … Playa Vista ad agency Team One, part of Saatchi & Saatchi, has hired W. Joe DeMiero, formerly of Razorfish, as management director. … Santa Monica’s TSN Advertising has hired Greg Flaherty, formerly of the Los Angeles Clippers, as chief revenue officer.
Staff reporter Daina Beth Solomon can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5262, ext. 263.
