Gearon Hoffman Grows Naturally

Organic Food Provider, Pure Juice Maker Tap Shop for Assignments
BOSTON–Gearon Hoffman here is preparing a $2 million ad push for New Organics, a Braintree, Mass., provider of 100 percent organic foods that recently hired the shop following a review.
Separately, the agency has expanded its relationship with all-natural juice maker Apple & Eve of Roslyn N.Y. In addition to a consumer branding campaign slated to break in May, Gearon Hoffman will create ads supporting the client’s licensed line of Sesame Street juices, said agency president Bob Hoffman.
New Organics’ move to Gearon Hoffman follows a consolidation of its operations on the East Coast. The company had maintained offices in both Massachusetts and California. Elgin/DDB in Seattle had previously handled the business.
Gearon Hoffman this fall will unveil a multimedia branding campaign supporting the New Organics brand and a second as-yet-unnamed line to be launched at that time, Hoffman said.
Creative and strategic development are now under way. The campaign will run in spot markets where sales of all-nature foods are especially strong, including Boston, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle, Hoffman said.
In most cases, the ads will include the names of supermarket chains–such as Stop & Shop and Albertson’s–where New Organics’ jams, jellies, cereals, pasta sauces, corn chips and other fare may be purchased, Hoffman said. The supermarket chains will likely kick in some funds toward the overall budget, which Hoffman estimated at $2 million.
Gearon Hoffman is just a few weeks away from breaking its first work for Apple & Eve, a $2-3 million account the agency picked up last summer [Adweek, July 27].
For Apple & Eve, the agency will roll out television and radio spots, focusing on areas where the brand is a strong seller, such as Florida, Washington, D.C., and other markets in the Northeast.
Ads for the Sesame Street drinks will follow in the summer or fall, Hoffman said. Licensed from the Children’s Television Workshop in New York, the line includes such flavors as Grover’s Grape, Elmo Punch and Big Bird Orange.