Robaire And Hogshead Tally A String Of Firsts

Two months after forming their creative partnership, Jean Robaire and Sally Hogshead have secured their first client, hired additional staff and moved into brand new office space.
The Venice, Calif., boutique, known as Robaire and Hogshead, recently won the account of Clifford Electronics, a leading manufacturer of auto security systems, after a review that included several undisclosed full-service shops in Los Angeles. Billings were undisclosed. The Northridge, Calif.-based client had handled previous advertising in-house.
"What appealed to us about Robaire and Hogshead was their superior creative product, as well as their ability to communicate technology in a simple, consumer-friendly way," said Clifford marketing manager Keith Field.
The shop, which bills itself as an "ˆ la carte" creative service, won the account after making strategic presentations to executives at Clifford, according to Hogshead, one of the creative partners. "[With us, Clifford] can get top-notch creative, without paying for services they're not going to use," she said.
The shop will create consumer print ads for the client to run in major automotive and consumer electronics publications.
Separately, the creative duo, who have spent much of the last few months working on undisclosed creative projects for various agencies nationwide, has added a junior creative team. Art director John Domas has joined from Publicis-Hal Riney & Partners in Chicago, and copywriter Dave Holloway comes from The Creative Circus in Atlanta. Both begin work today.
The shop also opens its new offices today across town, near Venice's trendy Main Street.
"We now have the space to house as many people as needed [for a given project]," said Robaire, the other creative partner. "We will immerse ourselves as much into a piece of business as an agency will allow us to. We're an agency positioned to work with other agencies."
Robaire and Hogshead began working as a team in 1996, when Richmond, Va.-based The Martin Agency opened a creative satellite, Martin Creative LA. Martin closed the Santa Monica, Calif., office in February due to financial difficulties.