News: Big Ideas

TD will keep banking its ad campaign on a pair of TV talkers

TD Bank will continue the “most convenient” advertising campaign launched by its predecessor Commerce Bank. The campaign features Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa and was created by Tierney Communications in Center City.

Lest we forget, this is the same agency that was the subject of a long-running review — that started 34 months ago and was never officially declared finished, though the bank never switched ad agencies. Here we are, nearly three years later, and Tierney has survived that agency review, plus the banking crisis and a bank takeover by TD Bank, which has dual headquarters in Mount Laurel, N.J., and Portland, Me.

“It is a great story,” said Tierney’s executive creative director, Patrick Hardy. “Taking into consideration the never-ending review, the merger, the banking crisis, and so many Philly companies taking their business out of town.” As a sign of the times, Regis and Kelly have also made a transition — to animated characters.

In the new installment, the “most convenient” campaign is being used online, with Regis and Kelly appearing in animated, JibJab-style, with cut photos and moving mouths. The 60-second spots, which launched after Thanksgiving and will run through mid-February, were produced in-house at Tierney. Animation was done by Freddy Freeman, with Hardy and a team of creatives overseeing.

Not surprisingly, the targeted audience is those 18 years old to mid-20s, compared to TD Bank’s traditional target of ages 25 to 50. To check them out, go to www.tdbanktheater.com.

Hatfield’s new agency

Allebach Communications, a Souderton, Montgomery County, agency, is taking over a larger share of food-company advertising. Most recently, Allebach was named agency of record by Hatfield Quality Meats, based not far away in Hatfield. Previously, Hatfield had worked with Center City-based Red Tettemer and, before that, Horsham-based Diccicco Battista Communications.

Other food clients at Allebach include Sabra Hummus, Queens, N.Y.; Pretzel Crisps, Princeton, N.J.; the Greek deli-meats producer Creta Farms; Bell & Evans, Fredericksburg, Lebanon County. Going back to 1997, Allebach has been agency of record for Atkins Nutritionals, even creating the iconic “A” logo (better known, maybe, during the Atkins craze of a few years ago). For Hatfield, Allebach created TV-and-radio spots and truck wraps for the pork producer’s tractor-trailers. Next month, it will help launch new Hatfield products. Even while the Hatfield work was with Red Tettemer, the 21-person Allebach agency was handling other aspects of the advertising business, including food service.

But Allebach’s signing of Hatfield has been a long journey that may have started in the 1980s, said agency president Jamie Allebach, who grew up just a few miles from Hatfield’s plant. “You see, back in the early ’80s, I worked for Hatfield cutting hams,” he said. “Having been out of high school for several years, I was still undecided as a career.”

He claims it was while working on the ham line that he got the idea for going into advertising.

PETER VAN ALLEN can be reached at pvanallen@bizjournals.com or 215-238-5145.

Past Column:

Look! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … a flying billboard in the sky

A Horsham helicopter flight school is getting into advertising.

Fox Choppers LLC has started Fox Sky Sign, which lights up the night sky with a kind of lighted billboard.

It’s the idea of Brian Rischmann, who came up with a way to attach a large frame to the bottom of helicopter. The frame, in turn, is studded with high-intensity light bulbs, spelling out the advertiser’s message.

Think of it as a glitzier version of the plane banners you see at the Shore.

Advertisers can buy small blocks of time and vary their message to regional consumers. Messages can be changed daily, or even hourly.

“This is our competitive edge over billboard advertising,” Rischmann said. “We have the flexibility to change or modify the message while in flight; then we simply hover over the target and deliver.”

Fees range from $2,000 to $3,500.

Dorland change

Dorland Global Corp., Philadelphia-based subsidiary of a British communications conglomerate, made a key executive change in its PR division. Camela Morrissey was named president of Dorland Global Public Relations, effective Nov. 10. She replaces Nancy Bacher Long, who led the division since 1992. Long will stay as a consultant.

Morrissey has 20 years of PR and marketing experience, most recently as vice president of public affairs, marketing and patient satisfaction at New York Hospital Queens, which is part of the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System. “We are confident that Camela will lead DGPR to its next phase of growth,” said Richard T. Minoff, president and CEO of Dorland Global. “Her client-side perspective, broad range of agency experience, and her comfort level in leading U.S. as well as global teams make her a valuable addition to our agency and to Huntsworth Health [Global].” Huntsworth plc acquired Dorland for $20.7 million last year. On Jan. 1, ex-owners Rita and Harry Sweeney passed leadership of the agency to Minoff.

Morrissey will oversee Dorland PR in offices in Center City, San Francisco and New York. She will also sit on the executive committee at Huntsworth Health.

PETER VAN ALLEN can be reached at pvanallen@bizjournals.com or 215-238-5145.

New head of creative grabbing the wheel of Diccicco BattistaMNew head of creative grabbing the wheel of Diccicco Battista

Diccicco Battista Communications has a new creative director — and a new direction. Sean Donahue, who’d previously been at Star Group, joined the Horsham firm in July. President Mike Diccicco called Donahue “the best creative director I’ve ever worked with.”

Donahue is known for gathering the creative team at all hours.

“It’s not like we’re cracking the whip,” Donahue said. “[The creative team] is energized. They want to do it. With one client, we had a four- or five-hour turnaround. I gave them the freedom to do it. They came back with some stuff and I said, ‘This is really good. Now, really push it. Make it something you’d put in your portfolio.’”

Donahue gives the 40-year-old agency a fresh approach, Diccicco said.

“Today’s client does not come to us like they did in the old days. It was always a relatively simple business,” Diccicco said. “We still do the traditional work, but now there has to be some new wrinkle.”

Diccicco and Executive Vice President Dick Battista both started at DBC’s predecessor, Letven Advertising, in the 1970s. They bought the full-service agency in 1990 and rebranded it in 2000.

DBC clients include the Rose Group, of Newtown, the owner of Applebee’s franchises; Philadelphia-based chemical maker Rohm and Haas Co.; Lititz, Lancaster County-based Susquehanna Bank; Hologic, a Bedford, Mass., women’s health company; and Hyland’s, a Los Angeles maker of homeopathic products.

Donahue also brought an intriguing client with him: the Original Canal’s, which has 11 South Jersey liquor stores.

It is an interesting case because of the Hatfield-McCoy split between the Canal family. A family member owns Joe Canal’s, which also has 11 liquor stores in South Jersey.

To differentiate the Original Canal’s, Donahue steered the client away from discount-driven newspaper advertising toward more of a branding message. The firm launched a Web site, www.originalcanals.com, and bought billboard space on the Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross bridges.

The billboards have a simple message: “Cheap booze and plenty of it!”

To paraphrase Diccicco, when it comes to the message, advertising remains a relatively simple business.

PETER VAN ALLEN can be reached at pvanallen@bizjournals.com or 215-238-5145.