West Los Angeles PR Firm Opens Santa Ana Office

In the belief that clients are turning to public-relations services instead of advertising, which costs more, a PR company in West Los Angeles has doubled its staff and opened two new offices, one of which is in Orange County.

“A lot of companies are cutting back on advertising, but they want to keep their exposure strong,” said Jeanne Jalan, president.

Her company, formerly Marcom Strategies, has changed its name to Mesa Communications to reflect an emphasis on public relations, she said. Clients of the 5-year-old agency include FileNet Corp., 3D Systems Inc., POC-IT Management Services Inc., Apex Software Corp., Econo-Med Systems Inc. and Financial Decision Systems Inc.

Jalan hired five people, increasing the staff to 10, and has opened offices in Van Nuys and Santa Ana.

Joel C. Don, formerly manager of corporate public relations for AST Research in Irvine, is manager of the Santa Ana office. He was laid off from AST in January after more than three years with the company.

Don said the purpose of the Orange County office is to expand into the computer, biotechnology and health care industries here.

“I’d suggest that there could be a boom, like the high-tech boom of the ‘70s, for biotechnology in Orange County,” he said.

He pointed to a recent announcement by UC Irvine that it will consider building a health sciences research center. The center would work well, the university contends, with a biomedical industrial park it hopes to develop in partnership with Orange County medical and pharmaceutical companies.