Admarketing Wins 2 Clothier Accounts : Advertising: Ross Stores and Kids Mart join other apparel retailers who use the Los Angeles ad shop.
Admarketing has suddenly picked up a closetful of new business. On Thursday the Los Angeles agency won a big chunk of the $30-million Ross Stores off-price clothing ad business as well as the $2-million broadcast ad account for the Kids Mart discount chain.
Los Angeles-based Western International Media formerly purchased broadcast time for Ross Stores, although the clothing chain has created most of its ads. Italia & Associates, also in Los Angeles, handled advertising for Kids Mart.
“Admarketing has shown a string of successes with retail clients,” said David Goldman, vice president of marketing at Newark, Calif.-based Ross Stores. “They have a very focused strategy.”
The agency may be best known for the successful “What a Difference a Day Makes” campaign for C&R; Clothiers. It also created the ads for Clothestime that feature young women shouting “Clothestime” when asked where they bought their clothes.
But Thursday’s wins could give at least the appearance of client conflicts. After all, Admarketing added two clothing chains to a client roster that already included C&R; Clothiers and the off-price Clothestime stores.
“We discussed the possibility of conflicts with our clients, and they said they could live with it,” said Jack Roth, president and chief executive of Admarketing. “Besides, they’re all very different.”
Retail analysts agree. “There’s really no big conflict,” said Jonathan H. Ziegler, an analyst at the San Francisco investment firm Sutro & Co. The agency can position each of the clients differently, he said.
Ross Stores--which uses the slogan “Dress for Less” in its logo--sells men’s as well as women’s clothing. Ross generally appeals to a slightly older customer--and broader audience--than teen favorite Clothestime, said Julie McElwain, retail editor at California Apparel News.
For Ross, which has 185 stores nationwide, the aim is simple: “We want to more effectively reach our customers,” said Goldman. “Why else would we change agencies?”
Executives from Anaheim-based Clothestime were unavailable for comment Thursday.
Meanwhile, City of Industry-based Kids Mart switched to Admarketing “because we want to become more offense-oriented,” said Frank Hirsch, vice president of advertising at the chain. He said the 460-store chain will greatly increase broadcast advertising in 1991. “It’s no secret 1990 was a tough year for most retailers,” Hirsch said.
The additional business boosts Admarketing’s annual billings to more than $300 million--ranking it among the top three agencies in Los Angeles.
Although Admarketing has a reputation for being extremely conservative in hiring additional staff, Roth said he plans to hire up to four employees as a result of the latest wins.
