Blitz, a Santa Monica ad agency, acquired social media marketing agency Big Method last week to add power to its digital services.
Blitz produces online, e-mail and mobile ads, while Venice’s Big Method brings Facebook and blog marketing to the table. Big Method also has proprietary software that tracks and reports the results of social network advertising.
Ivan Todorov, Blitz chief executive, said that until now, his agency posted information on Facebook but didn’t monitor clients’ pages on the site. He bought Big Method because clients wanted that better monitoring and communication with the audience.
“We polled our clients late last year and asked what they wanted,” he said. “Social media was the second most requested service.”
Already, Blitz clients Pepsico and THQ have commissioned more work from the agency based on the Big Method acquisition. Todorov said Blitz is now the official social media agency for Pepsi’s Naked Juice brand.
Big Method was established in 2008. The agency has produced social media campaigns for City of Hope, Disney Music Group, Honda Motor Co. and Maya Entertainment.
Blitz has rented new space next to its offices and knocked down a wall to make room for the acquisition. Big Method has moved its staff of 18 in to join Blitz’s payroll of 75.
Todorov said clients have moved away from payment by retainer toward a project-by-project basis. However, in social media marketing, the norm is still retainer contracts, an arrangement he sees as providing a valuable and stable source of revenue.
Growth Agent
Quigley-Simpson, a West L.A. agency that specializes in direct-response TV advertising, has hired Rick Carpenter for the newly created position of president.
Carpenter’s main job will be to manage the growth of the agency. Quigley-Simpson has doubled revenue and staff in the last two years by signing clients in the financial services sector, mostly credit cards. Management expects further growth.
Carpenter previously worked as chief executive at both DDB Los Angeles and DDB Chicago, where he worked on campaigns for Wells Fargo & Co., State Farm Inc., Anheuser-Busch Cos. and McDonald’s Corp.
“I couldn’t imagine a better match culturally and philosophically, nor a better opportunity to leverage my skills and experience,” Carpenter said in a statement. “I’m now excited to be joining a true entrepreneurial agency, built from the ground up.”
Quigley-Simpson ranks No. 4 on the Business Journal’s directory of largest ad agencies in Los Angeles with billings of $421 million.
Bubblehead Sign
When a magazine can’t fill a page with advertising, it fills the space with a public service announcement or house ad. But when Mike McNeilly, chief executive of supergraphics company SkyTag Inc. in Beverly Hills, has an open space, he puts up artwork to make a personal statement.
McNeilly thinks texting while driving is dangerous. He has put that message on a supergraphic along the San Diego (405) Freeway in Inglewood near the Los Angeles International Airport.
“There was a small window between paid advertisers and I wanted to use that space for my own artwork,” he said. “The 405 is the busiest freeway in the country. It was the right location to get this message out.”
The supergraphic shows Bubblehead, a woman in a space helmet, with a phone displaying the tagline “Pls Dnt Txt + Drive.” McNeilly said he has painted his Bubblehead character on buildings since the 1960s.
While restrictions on supergraphics have been enforced aggressively in Los Angeles, the signs are legal in Inglewood.
Agencies & Accounts
Pollack PR Marketing Group has opened an office in New York headed by Mike Greece. Previously, Greece was managing director at Padilla Speer Beardsley’s New York office. The office will help the Century City agency better serve the national needs of its clients. … Mercury Insurance in Santa Monica has signed its first college sports sponsorship deal with UCLA football. Mercury will have a booth at the Rose Bowl for home games to promote its “Get a Quote, Get a Pair of Bruins Tickets” campaign. The company already has deals with pro sports teams, including the Dodgers and Kings. … Joule, a mobile marketing agency based in New York, has opened an office on the Miracle Mile at 5700 Wilshire Blvd. The expansion comes from the agency’s recent signing of the Paramount Pictures mobile account. Joule is a unit of conglomerate WPP Group. … Regan Group, a marketing agency in Hawthorne, has hired Jennifer Brown as director of digital marketing. She will supervise digital strategy for all Regan clients that include Lions Gate Entertainment, Fiji Water and California Pizza Kitchen. Brown previously was an account supervisor at Ketchum. … Sitrick & Co. in Century City has rehired Jason Booth, who left five years ago to work for an activist investment firm, Steel Partners Japan. Booth will pick up where he left off, advising clients on restructurings and proxy contests. Earlier in his career, Booth served as Asian economic correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. … Bolthouse Farms, a San Joaquin Valley-based producer of baby carrots and salad dressings, has hired Goodness Mfg. in Hollywood as its ad agency. Goodness will expand Bolthouse’s “Eat ’Em Like Junk Food” campaign. Crispin Porter & Bogusky in Boulder, Colo., previously handled the account.
Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.
