November 5, 2007
J-U Prez Makes Over Agency, Nabs Client, Plans More Hires
Pacific Communications In Need of Staff After Adding Business; St. John Making Glasses Push
By Jennifer Bellantonio
Orange County Business Journal Staff
J-U, an advertising shop in Irvine, just nabbed an account.
The agency recently landed business-to-business marketing work for Irvine-based Pasternack Enterprises Inc., which distributes coaxial and RF cables, said Donna Carter, J-U’s president.
“We’re working on a brand platform for them that translates into catalog, e-mail and direct mail,” Carter said.
J-U has been aggressively going after new business this year under Carter, who bought the agency from its founders.
Since she took the reins, the shop has changed its name, expanded its staff and brought in several clients.
Earlier this year, J-U picked up Woodland Hills-based HealthNet Inc.’s senior division, marketing for Beachwood, Ohio-based Wastequip Inc. and Cypress-based Real Mex Restaurants Inc., which tapped J-U to develop a local marketing program for its Acapulco Mexican restaurant chain.
“We’ve got a new business push going that is getting a lot of notice,” Carter said.
J-U has steadily been building its staff to help with new clients.
The shop is expected to hire up to five workers by the end of the year, Carter said.
J-U has already been moving in that direction. This summer, the agency hired a vice president, executive creative director and made some other promotions.
New Business Drives Hiring
Costa Mesa-based Pacific Communications is on the hunt for workers after bringing in more business.
The shop is looking to hire three employees—two in account services and one in creative, according to Ryan Abbate, president of the advertising shop, which focuses on the healthcare market.
More workers are needed to help with Pacific Communications’ recent signing of Prometheus Laboratories Inc. in San Diego as a client.
The work will include marketing and promotional advertising to highlight Prometheus’s diagnostic tools for diseases.
Pacific Communications beat out several other agencies in a competitive review that included RCW/McCann Worldwide.
The news came on the heels of another win: NeurogesX, a drug maker in the San Francisco area, which focuses on treatments for chronic pain relief.
Abbate said Pacific Communications was tapped for that job after an intensive review that included two East Coast shops, including Cline Davis & Mann.
The agency will create and develop brand, marketing and promotional materials for a NeurogesX neuropathic pain patch, which is set to launch in 2009.
“We have been expanding all year and still plan to add additional people,” Abbate said.
Abbate said he’s “very optimistic about the coming year.”
Pacific Communications is also involved in several other reviews and expects to announce other new business soon, he said.
Expanding Media Relations
Porter Novelli in Irvine is knee-deep in work after winning four clients.
The public relations shop said it recently landed the California chapter of the American Planning Association, and is organizing a statewide media relations campaign.
It also won a local media relations contract for the Children and Families Commission of Orange County, a group that provides education, health and child development programs for children ages five and younger and their families.
Other work includes handling media and community relations for the Second Harvest Food Bank of OC and working on media relations for California State Fullerton’s 50th anniversary campaign.
St. John Selling Eyewear
Irvine-based St. John Knits International Inc. is starting to promote its new glasses.
The clothing company, known for upscale knit suits worn by affluent women in their 40s, 50s and 60s, recently signed a multiyear license agreement with Italy’s Visibilia SPA to make sunglasses and prescription frames. This is Visibilia’s first U.S. partnership.
The company said the collection will initially be sold in St. John stores starting spring 2008 and then launch globally in May at a tradeshow in Milan.
St. John will kick off the line with some 20 different sunglass styles, including oversized aviators.
“Eyewear is a natural extension of the St. John lifestyle and complements our California roots,” said Glenn McMahon, St. John’s chief executive.
McMahon, former president of Dolce & Gabbana USA, started at the apparel maker in October.
He comes on board at a time when St. John has been working hard to reconnect with customers.
Changes include tweaking spring and fall clothes to include a bigger selection for avid St. John wearers, some of whom were turned off by an earlier push targeting younger women with more fitted outfits.