Executive Leaves to Found West Hollywood Shop

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After three years of running Hollywood publicity shop Levine Communication Office, Dawn Miller has left to start her own agency.

Miller PR takes a number of LCO’s clients, including comic book writer and TV producer Stan Lee, Mandalay Entertainment Group Chairman Peter Guber, National Lampoon Inc. and Highroad Entertainment. The company already has offices in West Hollywood with four employees.

The British-born Miller, who arrived in Los Angeles six years ago, gives a lot of credit to former boss Michael Levine and said she will remain a consultant to his agency.

“He gave me a lot of freedom to expand and develop the company, and now I’m looking forward to doing it for myself,” she said.

For his part, Levine plans to take back day-to-day responsibility for his 12-person firm, during the next six to 12 months, after which he will select a new president. Frontrunners include Vice President Liam Collopy and Chief Operating Officer Patricia Anderson.

Levine wants to continue the agency’s Hollywood tradition currently 70 percent of its clientele are entertainment related while continuing to grow the business.

“That’s a challenge in this economy,” he said. “I plan to go back to the founder’s role, but what this business requires is an ever-changing plan for an ever-changing world.”

The leadership switch involves contrasting styles of PR. During her tenure at LCO, Miller preferred to let her celebrity clients get all the attention, whereas Levine has never shied away from the microphone. He has published 17 books and often can be seen on TV commenting on media and PR issues.



Big Fat Account

Fast-food chain Fatburger has named Long Beach-based the Designory as its advertising agency.

The Designory’s first task is to develop a marketing plan that maintains Fatburger’s model of limited-time promotions. The agency will work with PHD Media, the client’s in-house media buying operation.

Fatburger serves a one-third-pound beef burger that can be dressed with chili, bacon or a fried egg, made to order.

Based in Santa Monica, Fatburger is owned by Oregon-based Fog Cutter Capital Group Inc. The Designory is a subsidiary of Omnicom Group Inc.


Hispanic Awards

Torrance-based ad agency Conill took top honors at the gala of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies on Sept. 12 in Beverly Hills. Conill’s work for Toyota Motors was named Best of Show, while the agency’s Pablo Buffagni won Creative Director of the Year.

Conill’s Toyota Tundra ads won a bronze and two silver awards, and the agency took home trophies for T-Mobile and Procter & Gamble ads.

“It’s exciting that so much of our nontraditional work was appreciated, as it’s our biggest growth area and focus for the future,” said Carlos Martinez, managing director of Conill.

Also, Long Beach-based Grupo Gallegos won two awards for best spot and best media planning for work on the California Milk Processors Board account.


ELA LA

Irvine-based ELA Advertising has opened an L.A. office through acquisition of 100 to 1 Productions.

“Our new location in Los Angeles empowers our production arm to focus on what it does best creating inventive and entertaining commercials and films,” said Andre Filip, vice president of worldwide marketing.

ELA clients include Warner Bros., Aptus Games, Walt Disney Co., Verizon Wireless and Obagi.


Agencies & Accounts

Mayo Communications in L.A. will handle PR for the horror movie “Cornered!” by Belgian director Daniel Maze. The serial-killer story stars Steve Guttenberg and James Duval, and will debut in October. Fraser Communications has hired Genny Drennen as manager of digital strategy in an effort to boost its online marketing capabilities. She will supervise the digital accounts for clients UCLA Extension, Flex Your Power, Toyota Motor Co., Whole Foods Markets and Metropolitan Water District. Previously, Drennen worked at interactive agency Genex. Blaine Group in Beverly Hills will promote safety equipment manufacturer Global BioNetwork, starting with a presence at the National Safety Conference in Anaheim on Sept. 22-24. GBN will demonstrate its Man-Down System, which monitor’s a worker’s vital signs wirelessly while in hazardous conditions. Blaine will demonstrate the monitoring capabilities by logging on to the GBN Web site. Jackie Price, senior vice president and leader of the digital practice at Edelman in Los Angeles is a founding member of the newly minted Social Media Advertising Council in New York.




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

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