One Westside advertising agency has acquired two others.
Santa Monica-based Phelps Group quietly absorbed Anita Santiago Advertising, a Santa Monica Hispanic agency, and Copia Creative, a brand strategy consultancy in West Los Angeles. The deal was sealed in late December. Santiago and Copia Creative have been dissolved and all personnel now work in Phelps offices.
Chief Executive Joe Phelps told the Business Journal that the 15 new employees will be dispersed throughout the organization. That’s because the agency is organized into teams working for each client, not by media or functional specialty.
“We won’t have a Hispanic division with Anita Santiago and we won’t have a branding division with Copia,” he explained. “They have already been integrated into our teams.”
The acquisitions bring the total payroll to 70, and Phelps estimates they will add about 27 percent to revenue.
Copia Creative founder Michelle Adelson made the move to Phelps. Anita Santiago will play an advisory role – but will not work as a full-time employee – under the new management.
All clients made the transition to Phelps. Anita Santiago’s major accounts are Ikea, Wells Fargo and UnitedHealthcare. Copia Creative brought Applied Materials and Crowell Weedon. Phelps’ roster already included Panasonic, Panera Bread, Public Storage, Western Dental and Whole Foods Market.
Phelps said advertisers today want one agency for public relations, online advertising and traditional campaigns. Neither of the acquisitions had PR or online sophisticated capabilities, but now the firm will have those capabilities.
Master of Tickets
Frederic Rosen, the former chief executive of Ticketmaster Group, has joined government relations agency Englander Knabe & Allen.
In his new job, he will help chief executives deal with crises and litigation-related communications.
“Increasingly, CEOs are recognizing how critical it is to combine the best legal counsel with the best professional public relations, and Fred will play a critical role in our crisis and litigation communications practice,” Harvey Englander, managing partner, said in a statement.
Rosen worked at Ticketmaster from 1982 to 1998; during his tenure, the company went from less than $1 million in annual ticket sales to a global behemoth that controlled $2.4 billion worth of tickets.
KSL Poverty Campaign
KSL Media, a media buying firm in Encino, has agreed to help United Way of Greater Los Angeles with a branding campaign for its anti-poverty project.
The campaign will appeal to donors by emphasizing the charity’s education, employment, housing and health programs. KSL will use research to target audiences and negotiate discounts on media buys for the campaign, titled Creating Pathways Out of Poverty.
“I worked with KSL very successfully at City National Bank, so when it came time to recommend a partner for the United Way, it was an easy choice,” Thom Miller, director of marketing at the bank and a United Way board member, said in a statement.
Agencies & Accounts
Michael Levine, founder of PR firm Levine Communications Office in West Hollywood, is the new columnist for Herald de Paris, an online newspaper with European-style news for intellectuals throughout the world. The author of 19 books will discuss popular culture in a monthly column titled Random Notes. … AdlhochCreative, an L.A.-based marketing and branding agency, has landed two new clients, Shari’s Restaurants and Faye Business Systems Group. For Shari’s, a 105-location chain based in Beaverton, Ore., AdlhochCreative will develop a new brand and menu. For Faye, a Woodland Hills technology consultancy, AdlhochCreative will handle corporate PR. … Cohn & Wolfe has appointed Kazumi Mechling president of the marketing agency’s West Hollywood office. She comes to the job from Waggener Edstrom, where she was executive vice president. The local office’s clients include Hilton Hotels, Taco Bell, Mattel, Ubisoft and Blu-ray. … Priority Public Relations has moved to a new address at 2118 Wilshire Blvd., No. 835 in Santa Monica. The agency was formerly in Valencia. … Advertising agency 72andSunny in Del Rey has acquired UnlockPR, a boutique branding agency that specializes in parenting, beauty and home product clients.
Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.
