Newspaper circulation on the increase
U.S. newspaper circulation is on the increase despite all of the doom and gloom projections, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a media industry group.
The Los Angeles Times reported that circulation increased 1.9% to 616,575 daily, and 0.4% to 952,761 on Sunday. Most of the increase was in digital readership, which is a great sign that the industry is just evolving. The Wall Street Journal remained No. 1, holding steady with an average weekday circulation of 2.1 million.
OWC named finalist for 2012 PR Daily Awards
Tracy Williams, CEO and president of Olmstead Williams Communications
Los Angeles-based Olmstead Williams Communications, a business-to-business public relations and social media firm focusing on technology and professional services, has been named a finalist for the 2012 PR Daily Awards. The firm is joined by three other finalists – the Department of Labor, LIMRA, and NETGEAR/Weber Shandwick – in the “Best Speech” category for its work with interpretation industry leader Language Line Services.
Winners of the inaugural 2012 PR Daily Awards will be announced at a luncheon presented by Ragan and Dow Jones in Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2012. The awards program was launched to celebrate talent in the public relations industry and received hundreds of entries in categories spanning traditional, cause-related, crisis-related, event and social media campaigns.
“We’re proud of this nomination because it reflects our commitment to our writing craft and to helping clients truly inspire and connect with their audiences,” said Tracy Olmstead Williams, president and CEO of Olmstead Williams Communications. Williams founded the firm in 2008 after more than 25 years as a top public relations and crisis communications expert.
Ernst & Young announces semifinalists for Entrepreneur Of The Year in LA
Ernst & Young LLP has announced the 32 semifinalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 Award in the Greater Los Angeles area. Ernst & Young‘s awards program recognizes entrepreneurs and leaders who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.
The semifinalists are:
- Daniel Yomtobian, Founder & CEO, Advertise.com
- Mike Zhang, CEO, Airsoft Megastore
- Ernesto Gutierrez, President & CEO, Allied Industries, Inc.
- Jeffrey Clark, President & CEO, Anthony International
- Linda Stone, President & CEO, APR Consulting, Inc.
- David Hagan, President & CEO, Boingo Wireless, Inc.
- Michael Burdiek, President & CEO, CalAmp Corp.
- James Cameron, Co-Chairman and Vince Pace, Co-Chairman,
Cameron Pace Group - David Overton, Chairman & CEO, The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated
- Justin Choi, President & CEO, Cie Digital Labs
- Andrew Puzder, CEO, CKE Restaurants, Inc.
- David Malone, President & CEO, Community Bank
- Alex Bouzari, CEO and Co-Founder, DataDirect Networks (DDN)
- Ronald Miller, Managing Director, Disability Group, Inc.
- Jon Kirchner, Chairman & CEO, DTS, Inc.
- Jeff Stibel, Chairman & CEO, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.
- Alex Kazerani, Chairman & CE and James Segil, President, EdgeCast Networks
- Simon Bax, CEO, and Bill Tillson, President & COO, Encompass Digital Media, Inc.
- Aaron Broder, CEO & Co-Founder and Brian Fitzgerald, President & Co-Founder, Evolve Media Corp.
- Dan Engel, CEO & Co-Founder, FastSpring
- Patricia Watts, President & CEO, FCI Management Consultants
- Emelio Castaneda, President, Field Fresh Foods, Inc.
- Sunnie Kim, President & CEO, Hana Financial, Inc.
- Philip Cummins and Lee Maen, Partners, Innovative Dining Group
- Saskia Chiesa, President & CEO, International Checkout Inc.
- Bob Brisco, CEO & Director, Internet Brands
- Cesar Garcia, President, Chairman & CEO, Iris International, Inc.
- Eduard Jaeger, Founder & Head of Business Development and Scott Jarus, Chairman & CEO, Ironclad Performance Wear
- Alan Zafran, Partner, Luminous Capital
- Allen DeBevoise, Chairman & CEO, Machinima, Inc.
- Pervez Pyarali Delawalla, CEO, Net2EZ Managed Data Centers, Inc.
- Michael Sheldon, President & CEO, Network Hardware Resale, LLC
- Peter Dameris, President & CEO, On Assignment, Inc.
- Tim Cadogan, CEO, OpenX
- Josh Meyers, CEO, People Media
- Josef Gorowitz, CEO, Prodege, LLC
- Amar Shokeen, President & CEO, RJT Compuquest, Inc.
- Loren Bendele, CEO, Savings.com
- John C. Spesak, President & CEO, Security Industry Specialists, Inc.
- Nathaniel J. Victor, CEO, Sonic Electronix, Inc.
- Jack Evans, Jr., CEO, Total Airport Services, Inc.
- Rick Eiserman, CEO, Trailer Park
- Randy Bishop, CEO, and Ken Button, President, Verengo Solar Plus
Brentwood Associates’ Rahul Aggarwal honored by M&A Advisor as ’40 Under 40′
Brentwood Associates, the leading consumer-focused private equity firm in the West, recently announced that Managing Director Rahul Aggarwal was named one of M&A Advisor‘s 2012 “40 Under 40″ Award Winners in the West Region. The third annual M&A Advisor Awards recognize and promote emerging business leaders in the international mergers and acquisitions and financing industries.
This marks the second consecutive showing for Brentwood as Partner Anthony Choe won the award in 2011.
“Rahul is an exceptional director and our guru when it comes to understanding today’s best concepts in restaurants, franchises and the fast casual movement,” said Bill Barnum, partner and co-founder of Brentwood Associates. “He’s added significant value to our portfolio and has led us to one of our largest investments to date, K-MAC Holdings.”
Aggarwal was instrumental in the firm’s recent investment in Veggie Grill and previous investments including Pacific Island Restaurants, Spectrum Clubs and Zoes Kitchen.
Youth sports social media platform thriving
Weplay CEO Lane Soelberg was brought in by 18 months ago to jumpstart the company’s advertising initiative, and the company is now thriving, reports the Los Angeles Business Journal.
“Most of our relationships are strategic parterships,” Soelberg says in the article. “We spend the majority of our time looking for things that are a win for all parties. A lot of times that requires some creative thinking about how we make the best fit happen.”
Big-name advertisers now include Microsoft, Gatorade, American Family Insurance, Cartoon Network and most recently Benadryl.
Weplay is a social platform for families involved in youth sports. It functions as a way to share videos, photos, and memories as well as organize and share all information about a team’s games.
In a recent interview with socalTECH’s Ben Kuo, Soelberg addressed how Weplay is different from other team sports sites.
“I think we’re more about the fun than about the function,” Soelberg told socalTECH. “We’re there to help capture those magic moments, and let you share them in fun and interesting ways, and let the kids participate.”
Ortho Mattress adds Tempur-Pedic at its 65 stores
Made-in-California mattress chain Ortho Mattress announced today it is expanding its product offering at its 65 stores to include Tempur-Pedic, the high-end foam mattress brand. Ortho Mattress will sell Tempur-Pedic mattresses at its stores and online starting in May.
In addition to Tempur-Pedic, Ortho Mattress stores carry leading national brands, including Simmons, Sealy Posturepedic and Stearns & Foster, as well as its own luxury beds that include Summerhill & Bischop, the Ortho Doctor Preferred collection and the Ortho Avant collection of high-density memory foam mattresses.
“We deliver what our customers want, so when they asked about Tempur-Pedic, we thought it would complement our own luxury line,” said Ortho Mattress CEO Ken Karmin. “We’re proud of the great line of foam beds we make and sell here in California, and now customers can easily compare all of the top brands right in our stores.”
LanguageTrak report shows Somali, Hmong among top requested languages in Minneapolis
The latest LanguageTrak report shows Spanish, Somali, Hmong, Vietnamese and Russian atop the list of over-the-phone interpretation requests in Minneapolis, according to an article in the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The city is home to a distinctive array of immigrant and refugee communities, the article noted. The quarterly report, released by Language Line Services, analyzes over 20 million phone interpreter requests fielded by the company over a year’s time. The report also found that after spanish, the most requested languages for interpretation across the country were Arabic, Vietnamese and Mandarin.
Ernst & Young announces semifinalists for Entrepreneur Of The Year in Pacific Northwest
Ernst & Young LLP just announced the 32 semifinalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 Award in the Pacific Northwest. Ernst & Young‘s awards program recognizes entrepreneurs and leaders who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.
This year’s semifinalists are:
- Chris Ulum, Agilyx (Oregon)
- Kamyar Moinzadeh, Airbiquity (Washington)
- Sunny Gupta, Apptio (Washington)
- Brandon Dawson, Audigy Group, LLC (Washington)
- Amy Tykeson, BendBroadband (Oregon)
- Craig Bramscher, Brammo, Inc. (Oregon)
- Donald Howard, MD, PhD, CellNetix Pathology PLLC (Washington)
- Jacob Engelstein, Classic Accessories, Inc. (Washington)
- Geoff Gilmore, Climax Portable Machine Tools, Inc. (Oregon)
- Jay Haladay, Coaxis, Inc. (Oregon)
- Marc Barros, Contour, Inc. (Washington)
- Dave Shaffer, DePaul Industries (Oregon)
- Greg Enell, Double Down Interactive (Washington)
- Christina Lethlean, Gesa Credit Union (Washington)
- Ocean Yuan, Grape Solar, Inc. (Oregon)
- Josh Neblett, GreenCupboards (Washington)
- Jeremy Ames and David Nilssen, Guidant Financial (Washington)
- William Colleran, Impinj, Inc. (Washington)
- Naveen Jain, Intelius (Washington)
- Greg Pierson, iovation, Inc. (Oregon)
- Sandra Green, n-Link Corporation (Oregon)
- Glen Bertini, Novinium, Inc. (Washington)
- Robert Harris, Jr., Pacific Market International, LLC (Washington)
- Clay Siegall, PhD, Seattle Genetics (Washington)
- Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz, (Washington)
- Diana Friedman, Sesame Communications (Washington)
- Stephen Marsh, Smarsh (Oregon)
- Paul Fichter, Taphandles, LLC (Washington)
- Darryl Rawlings, Trupanion (Washington)
- David Madore, US Digital (Washington)
- Vikram Chalana, Winshuttle, LLC (Washington)
These business leaders were selected from more than 60 nominations by a panel of independent judges and winners will be announced at a special gala at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue. Now in its 26th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 140 cities in more than 50 countries throughout the world.
New Weplay app helps coaches manage teams, families track schedules
Many families struggle with keeping track of their kids with busy sports schedules and who participate in numerous sports leagues, but as reported by Fanlala.com, the perfect app for parents now exists. Weplay, a social network that allows parents, coaches, and kids to keep track of schedules, manage teams, post photos, and update statuses, just announced the release of a mobile app, available both on Apple and Android platforms.
Weplay’s mobile app now features an allergy alert, making sure athletes are ready for anything that may come their way. The alert is backed by Olympic Gold Medalist Summer Sanders, who suffered from allergies as a child.
OWC honored on list of top PR firms in Los Angeles
The team at Olmstead Williams Communications
Olmstead Williams Communications has been honored by the Los Angeles Business Journal for the third straight year as one of the 25 largest independent PR agencies in L.A. County. The agency earned the No. 18 spot on the list, which ranked agencies by their 2011 county fee income.
“We’re thankful to be recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal for doing what we enjoy,” said Tracy Olmstead Williams, CEO of Olmstead Williams Communications, which she founded in 2008 after more than 25 years as a top public relations and crisis communications expert.
