The Los Angeles office of MWW Group has won the public relations account for Olson Co., an urban homebuilder that has begun specializing in environmentally friendly housing. Olson’s biggest project in L.A. County is the 133 Promenade Walk in Long Beach.
But its easterly projects Alta Vista Walk in Montebello, Fair Oaks Walk in Pomona and Village Walk in Claremont hew closer to the Olson formula of urban-style town homes or flats located near Metrolink and other mass transportation systems. The developments also cluster near retail shops, parks and professional offices.
MWW will handle the launch of Depot Walk, a model Olson development in Orange. The agency will also publicize the company’s sustainable building practices.
“Real estate communications, sustainable technology communications and consumer lifestyle brand-building are all core MWW Group areas of expertise,” said Michael Kempner, president of MWW. “This project gives us an opportunity to combine those disciplines to drive awareness of Olson Company’s environmental initiatives.”
Single-Sponsor Webisodes
In the early days of television, a single company could afford to sponsor an entire show and underwrite its production costs. Thanks to the Internet and Hollywood actor Milo Ventimiglia, those days have returned.
This month, Ventimiglia, one of the stars of the NBC show “Heroes,” and his company Divide Pictures have Webcast five episodes of an animated holiday series produced for American Outfitters, a clothing store chain. The series, “AE Winter Tales,” consists of three- to five-minute comedic holiday-special videos. They appear only at 77E, the entertainment channel on the American Outfitters site.
“Winter Tales” marks the second collaboration of Ventimiglia and American Outfitters. He produced the Web series “It’s a Mall World” in May, and it had a popular run on YouTube.
“I grew up loving the classic animated tales,” said Ventimiglia.
DVR Impact: ‘Minor’
For advertisers with time-sensitive messages, the increasing use of digital video recorders may not matter, according to a study from Palisades MediaGroup in Santa Monica.
The study found that more than half of all DVR primetime program playback occurs within the same day it is recorded. By the end of the following day, DVR owners have completed about three-quarters of all program playback.
While fast-forwarding through the ads remains an issue, “the data show that less than half of people who watch a recorded program fast-forward through the ads during playback,” according to Palisades.
Overall, DVR use hasn’t affected Nielsen ratings “at least not yet,” said Susie Thomas, director of research at Palisades. “Nielsen estimates DVR penetration to be at 20 percent, up from 12 percent in January of this year. While this is a good-sized increase, the impact on viewership remains minor.”
The study concludes that advertisers with time-sensitive messages such as post-holiday sales or opening-weekend movie releases can proceed with their ad schedules because “viewers are watching recorded programs shortly after they’ve been recorded, thus maintaining the timeliness of the advertising message.”
Agencies & Accounts
Human Touch in Long Beach, a maker of robotic massage chairs, has retained Pollack PR Marketing Group. Pollack, based in Century City, will promote the chairs through national media exposure and support at national trade shows. L.A.-based Mayo Communications has won the national publicity account for “Whittaker Bay,” a TV drama that debuts Jan. 5 on cable channel Superstation WGN. Napolitano Communications in Covina is the new PR agency for Gkkworks, a construction firm in Irvine that provides master planning and funding support for construction at many community colleges in California. Wongdoody, an ad agency with offices in Los Angeles and Seattle, has joined Worldwide Partners, the world’s ninth largest marketing communications network, with 84 member agencies in 43 countries. Gensler, an L.A.-based architecture firm, has signed Clifford PR as its agency. Clifford, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles, will handle publicity locally for the LA Live project and the 2000 Avenue of the Stars building in Century City. Bob Gold, president of PR agency Bob Gold & Associates, will serve on the board of directors for Public Relations Society of America’s Los Angeles chapter. Gold’s Torrance-based agency focuses on marketing for cable TV and telecom clients. Real D, a three-dimensional cinema technology company, has appointed Elizabeth Brooks chief marketing officer. Previously, she worked in marketing at GoTV Networks, the first TV network launched on mobile phones. Madelyn Hammond has rejoined Variety as chief marketing officer. She will focus on developing Daily Variety, Weekly Variety and Variety.com, as well as Video Business, Tradeshow Week, LA 411 and NY 411. Most recently, Hammond worked for Mark Cuban’s Landmark Theatres, but in the past she did an eight-year stint in various executive positions at Variety.
Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [email protected], or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.
