From Kuala Lumpur to New York, advertising agencies and graduating students have been checking each other out on one special night each year since 2002.
It? called Portfolio Night, and this year? L.A. edition will be at David & Goliath, an independent agency in El Segundo on June 11.
The event is the largest simultaneous advertising portfolio review in the world. The global project involves 19 cities with a review of student artwork hosted in each. The reviews feature a ?peed-dating?type format, allowing multiple execs to give feedback to each student.
The feedback could lead to job offers.
?iven where the economy is right now, this is a great opportunity to sit down with about 100 portfolios and hopefully hire somebody,?said David Angelo, president of David & Goliath. ?ou never know when you?l find a diamond in the rough and sometimes you have to look at 100 to find one gem.?p>Angelo said the cost per student is $35. He expects 26 creative directors in attendance to critique the portfolios. Participants must register online at PortfolioNight.com.
Sponsors of this year? local event include production house Radical Media, film editor shop Cutters, audio designers Ravenswork and music library Musik Vergnuegen.
Besides Los Angeles, other cities having a Portfolio Night include Mexico City; Buenos Aires, Argentina; London; Milan, Italy; Johannesburg, South Africa; Shanghai, China; Melbourne, Australia; Tokyo; and Bangkok, Thailand.
Prius Power
Saatchi & Saatchi LA has launched a sweeping ad campaign for the 2010 Toyota Prius with the tagline ?armony Between Man, Nature and Machine.?p>The campaign employs some unconventional techniques. Oversized ?olar flower?sculptures will be installed in public parks around the country. The sculptures will provide seating, Wi-Fi access and a recharging station for mobile phones and laptops. Solar ventilation bus shelters will demonstrate how solar panels on a Prius cool the parked vehicle.
Online, Toyota will introduce a carbon emissions calculator for major social networking sites. A mobile phone campaign will launch this summer.
In traditional media, the first Prius TV ad of this campaign aired on the season finale of ABC? ?astle?on May 11. Prius plans a presence on NBC, Discovery, Bravo, TNT, TBS and USA.
Saatchi LA has handled the Prius account since the hybrid model debuted in 2000 with Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. as the client.
Growth by Fire
On March 26, Hill Billy Golf Carts in Ventura burned to the ground in a fire of undetermined cause. The disaster could have spelled the end for the manufacturer.
But management decided to take the opportunity to expand with help from PR agency Mustang Marketing in Thousand Oaks.
Hill Billy will add electric bicycles to its current product line of golf carts and electric golf bags. The company will keep the Hill Billy name on its golf carts but have new names for the other products.
Mustang will revamp the company? Web site and execute an e-mail campaign to promote the bike launch. A traditional publicity campaign will target about 300 golf publications nationwide that each have a circulation above the 100,000 mark.
?e got good media coverage for them after the fire and we think we can replicate that both nationally and locally with the electric bike launch,?said Danny Bracco, a copywriter at the agency.
?e see an opportunity to change the way we market ourselves, and we are confident Mustang can help us do that,?Peter Miller, co-owner of Hill Billy, said in a statement.
Agencies & Accounts
Dentsu America has been selected as the ad agency for Brandman University, a new school at Chapman University in Orange County that targets working adult students. The Santa Monica office of Dentsu will handle the account, with the first ad campaign to launch in September. ?Hispanic firm RL Public Relations has hired Jennifer Vides Blake as senior vice president in its West L.A. office. She will work on the ?ot Milk??campaign for the California Milk Processors Board as well as the Fresh & Easy markets and Baskin-Robbins accounts. Blake previously worked at Weber Shandwick in West Hollywood. ?IE Design Communications, a graphic design firm in Hermosa Beach, won 16 awards at the American Graphic Design & Advertising Awards competition. Winning entries included the annual report for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, a direct-mail piece for the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and a publication for USC Keck School of Medicine. ?Brian Biglin of Biglin Architectural Group has hired L.A. PR agency Penelope Francis & Co. A celebrity architect, Biglin is working on projects for Simon Cowell, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani. ?Rene Ridinger is the new vice president for film promotion at mPRm Public Relations on Miracle Mile. Ridinger joins the agency from 42West Public Relations where she handled PR for the film ?o Country for Old Men,?the Showtime movie ?n American Crime?and the ABC Family cable channel.
Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.
