
Ad firm's success tied to focus, not flash
In 1997, Ocean Media had been open less than a year in Huntington Beach, Calif., when owner Mike Robertson got a call from the founder of a new e-commerce company that let people to name their own price for airline tickets.
Jay Walker of Priceline.com wanted Robertson to give a price quote for some non-Internet advertising for the fledgling concept.
''I said, 'Before we talk about budget, what's your objective?' " Robertson recalls.
Walker was shocked. The big New York agencies first wanted to know the budget, which was $200 million, and -- surprise, surprise -- recommended $200 million ad campaigns.
Ocean Media came up with an all-radio campaign for $14 million to $22 million ''because 'Name your own price for airline tickets' doesn't require visuals; it's a great radio ad," Robertson says.
After 150 days of radio-only advertising, Priceline had 62.5 million customers, Robertson says, ''the fastest-branded company in marketing history."
That approach put Ocean Media on the map and laid the foundation for the media-strategy agency's approach with all its clients:
Specialize in e-commerce companies seeking offline advertising. Concentrate on objectives, not dollars. Spend money like it's your own. ''If I can achieve any goal for less money, I will," he says.
''It was the right way to go," says Brett Keller of Priceline in Norwalk, Conn. ''We have been with Ocean Media since we launched the product because it gives a high level of service and attention that you don't get with larger agencies. It's very flexible, which you don't get with larger agencies."
Ocean Media has been very quiet about its work, accepting only a few new clients a year and turning away companies that aren't a good fit. Still, its client list includes eHarmony.com, the relationship-dating service; and Freecreditreport.com.
Robertson says he approaches every client as if it were his own company. In fact, he buys stock in them so he can tie his financial interest to theirs.
He came to advertising through a back door. He was a mutual fund analyst for a Huntington Beach money management company when his boss, Dick Fabian, asked him to develop an infomercial to sell lessons that Fabian had developed on how to play the piano.
Robertson spent hundreds of thousands of dollars producing an infomercial that brought $11,000 in sales. He soon realized that the show had the wrong message and didn't reach the right audience, he says.
So he created another infomercial for the piano lessons for $66,000 and negotiated on his own when, where, and under what terms the infomercials would air. The result was $100,000 in sales the first weekend and great overall success.
That experience helped him define his advertising approach when he started Ocean Media several years later to help online companies move into offline advertising. The approach is to concentrate on making the right media buys with the right message but hiring other agencies to do the creative work.
In many cases, Robertson worked directly with the founders of e-commerce start-ups, growing his own agency by growing these other companies.
Despite such success, most companies have never heard of Ocean Media, Robertson says.
''We landed the Fandango (online movie ticket sales) account recently," he says. ''When we submitted our proposal they said, 'We have heard of all the companies you work for, but we never heard of you.' I guess we fly under the radar."
Jan Norman is a columnist for the Orange County Register.