Talk about high-end marketing: Advertisers now have a medium that reaches affluent consumers at altitudes above 35,000 feet.
Brand in the Hand, an operation that puts brand logos and messages on the wrappers of airline snacks, launched last week. The company is a division of Harvey Alpert Co. in Marina del Rey, a firm that supplies snacks to the airlines.
Darrin Sarto, director of Brand in the Hand, said a typical campaign lasts from one to three months, with between 3 million and 10 million snack wrappers distributed per month. The total cost for a campaign starts at about $80,000 and goes up to $650,000 or more.
Harvey Alpert distributes about 300 million wrappers per year, Sarto said, and all of them are potential ad platforms. Brand in the Hand, with seven employees, already has one client with Hilton Garden Inn’s promotion of their “Cooked-to-Order” meals on peanut and pretzel snack bags aboard Delta Airlines.
“Getting our brand message in the hands of consumers at a time when they are in the act of travel and thinking about hotel choices is an ideal marketing moment for us,” Jim Cone, vice-president of marketing at Hilton Garden Inn, said in a statement.
Award Earned
The Dodgers’ outdoor marketing campaign “This is My Town” won four Addy Awards for the Los Angeles market, including one for a billboard featuring Star Wars character Yoda.
The campaign launched with extensive billboard placement throughout the city featuring Dodger players, coaches and celebrities. All the billboards showed a person or character with the headline: “This is My Town.” In the case of Yoda, the words were reversed – “My Town, This Is” – in keeping with his distinctive idiomatic language.
The Dodgers produced the campaign in-house on both the creative and media buying fronts. Erica Johnson, director of advertising and promotions, led the team.
In addition to the billboard barrage the campaign included television, radio, print, transit, online, mobile, events and in-stadium promotions.
“Winning an award of this magnitude, one that represents the entire L.A. market, is a major accomplishment,” said Harlan Hendrickson, Dodger senior director of marketing.
“This is My Town” will now advance to the district competition that includes entries from Southern California and Las Vegas. If it wins at that level, it will advance to the national Addy competition in the fall.
Phone Taxes
Inter/Media Advertising in Encino is airing a new crop of direct response commercials for Roni Deutch Tax Centers to introduce the company’s over-the-phone tax preparation service.
Deutch owns the nation’s largest tax resolution law firm and three years ago moved into tax preparation. Her Sacramento-based company now has 77 franchisee-owned tax centers in 16 states.
The TV spots will run mostly on local cable systems and include a call-in contact number. Radio spots will run in 10 markets. Deutch has partnered with Inter/Media since the 1980s, when she started to build her national law practice with TV advertising.
Agencies & Accounts
Levine Communications Office has added Generosity Water to its client list. The non-profit organization raises money to build wells in developing countries. Levine will manage publicity for a new charity album titled “Generosity Water Project,” which will feature songs by Queen Latifah and other celebrities. … Mustang Marketing in Thousand Oaks has a new client: Home Field Sports, which provides radio play-by-play announcers for high school and little league games. Mustang will create brochures and other sales materials for Home Field. … Moxie Interactive, a new media agency owned by Publicis, has added Lane Soelberg and Christine Bensen as senior vice-presidents in the L.A. office. They will work on the Twentieth Century Fox, Microsoft and Lifetime accounts. … Northridge Hospital has retained Carl Terzian Associates to recruit members for its foundation board. The West Los Angeles agency will recruit from among its database of contacts in other health organizations and non-profits. … Siltanen & Partners Advertising in El Segundo has released a new campaign for Panda Express featuring talking bears Eddie and Tom-Tom. The campaign, which includes TV, online and in-store ads, introduces the restaurant’s new Honey Walnut Shrimp entrée. … Navigate Boomer Media, a Santa Monica-based online ad network targeting baby boomers, has appointed Nora Gervais as sales director in New York. She was formerly associate publisher at Los Angeles Times Magazine. … PR agency Blaze has won six new accounts, including Marina del Rey Convention & Visitors Bureau and Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa and four Web site clients. … Peri Software, a consulting firm based in Newark, N.J., has hired Mayo Communications for brand strategy and media relations.
