RTG Ventures, a digital agency based in London, has opened a downtown L.A. office and has hired Steve Baughman, former songwriter for the Pussycat Dolls, 50 Cent, Destiny’s Child and Snoop Dogg, to run the shop.
What’s the connection between music and search engine marketing? In a word: software.
Reggie James, senior vice president at RTG in London, said the company has a team of software developers who believe the music industry needs help marketing songs online. The techies have created a website and software to help record labels and independent bands sell through the Internet and keep track of different revenue streams from music download sites and CD ecommerce sites.
Baughman will sell the software to local bands and labels as well as help in finalizing the details of the product.
“A lot of these sorts of programs are written by guys who have never been in the music business and most are useless to artists, labels and managers,” Baughman said. “My previous experience with hundreds of artists and running my own band management company will help me function as a liaison with the artists and record companies.”
He also will work with RTG clients that want to bring Hollywood stars and promotional deals into their online marketing. The agency’s clients in the U.K. include Mercedes-Benz and Santander Bank. Its only Southern California-based client is TSW Wheels, an aluminum rim maker in Huntington Beach.
Gluttony Revisited
Last week, Mountain View-based Google Inc. presented the next phase of a project to remake classic ads using new technology. Howie Cohen, creative director at Phelps Group in Santa Monica, was selected to participate with a remake of the Alka-Seltzer spot “I Can’t Believe I Ate the Whole Thing,” which Cohen co-created in 1972.
The Google experiment, called Project Re: Brief, is an attempt to bring emotion and creativity into online advertising, which is mostly about eye-catching imagery and quick sales pitches. Other ads selected for remaking include the Coke TV spot featuring the song “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” and the Avis ad with the slogan “We’re No. 2. We Try Harder.”
Cohen, who has a blog about advertising and has worked on digital campaigns, made an online video called “The Day Ralph Ate the Whole Thing” that reveals the rest of the over-eating character’s day after the meal.
“After all these years I’m more inspired than ever by the new technology that enables us to reach people in ways we never could before,” Cohen said in a statement. “But while everything’s changed, everything’s the same. We still need to connect with consumers on a human level.”
Acura Avenged
Santa Monica-based ad agency RPA nearly crossed over into movie-making with its latest assignment from client Acura.
The campaign for the 2013 Acura RDX centers on the car’s presence in Walt Disney Co.’s summer blockbuster “The Avengers.” Military-style versions of the car and other Acura models are the vehicles used by the Avengers, a team of superheroes from the pages of Marvel comics.
An April 11 red-carpet preview screening featured a motorcade led by Robert Downey Jr., who plays Iron Man, and his wife, producer Susan Downey. Also tooling down Hollywood Boulevard in black Acuras to the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood were Chris Evans (Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye).
RPA’s ad campaign will include a 30-second TV spot, featuring the RDX in scenes from the movie; a website; social media; and retail displays.
Agencies & Accounts
Blitz, a digital marketing agency in Santa Monica, has named Cathy Saidiner to the new position of president. Saidiner formerly held the same title at McCann Erickson Los Angles. In her new job, she will work with Blitz’s biggest clients, including recently signed Dole Food Co. and Vizio. … Pollack PR Marketing Group has been named the agency for the L.A. office of RKE, a real estate leasing and sales brokerage. PPMG will focus on getting RKE coverage in Southern California and national trade media outlets. … L.A. ad agency 72andSunny has hired Frank Hahn as creative director. Hahn formerly worked as executive creative director at Weiden & Kennedy’s Tokyo office. He will move to Los Angeles and begin work with 72andSunny clients such as Activision, Anheuser-Busch, Carl’s Jr. and K-Swiss. …Direct-response buyer Media Design Group in Santa Monica has hired Mark Rasmussen as a long-form media buyer. He brings 15 years of buying experience to the job from stints at Euro RSCG Edge and AfterMarket Co. … BrightRoll, a provider of digital video ad services, has promoted Nadine Jarrard senior sales director in the L.A. office. She will lead a regional sales team covering the Southwest and focusing on entertainment, automotive and technology clients. … L.A. ad agency Omelet is the agency for HBO’s series “Veep,” about a woman vice president of the United States. Last week, the agency staged a Veep Motorcade tour in Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; and New York. It also produced a limited run of commemorative plates and sent them to bloggers and influential personalities with an official letter signed by fictional Vice President Selina Meyer.
Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.
