On a weekly basis, someone inquires whether San Diego creative marketing agency 62ABOVE is for sale.
And for good reason: The agency has amassed an impressive list of high-profile clients, including Qualcomm, See Monterey, Visit Carlsbad and Love Catalina. The distinctive name comes from its Downtown San Diego location, which sits at 62 feet above sea level.
“We receive M&A (mergers and acquisitions) inquiries every week,” Indra Gardiner Bowers, 62ABOVE’s chief communications officer, told Times of San Diego. “But this one was different. And, ultimately, the right one.”
62ABOVE, with 25 employees, has announced it has been acquired by Associated Luxury Hotels International, a global sales organization that serves more than 250 luxury properties worldwide. Terms of the acquisition and a purchase price were not disclosed.
“We were not looking to sell,” said Gardiner Bowers. “We were approached by ALHI in September 2023. We negotiated through the balance of that year and into the early part of 2024.” The acquisition became effective April 1, she said.
“This was an unusual opportunity,” Gardiner Bowers said. “Unlike selling to a holding company, ALHI offers us the chance to continue to manage the agency as we see fit. They had been looking for an agency like ours that offered a full suite of marketing services and had deep expertise in the tourism and hospitality industry.”
62ABOVE offers a suite of marketing services, including strategy, creative development, paid media, public relations and social media.
ALHI, with 80 employees located in 26 offices across North America and Europe, books and manages group sales for independently-operated or owned hotels, resorts, cruise ships and destination management companies. Annually, ALHI accounts for more than one million room nights annually, Gardiner Bowers said.
“We are not an in-house agency (for AHLI),” she said, “We will continue to operate as an agency, taking care of existing clients and pitching business both within the ALHI network and outside of it. We will provide our services to those ALHI members interested in hiring a marketing firm for one or more of our service offerings.”
This is the latest chapter for the agency, which began as a public relations firm called Bailey Gardiner, founded by Gardiner Bowers and Jon Bailey in 1995. In 2012, the agency expanded as a full-service marketing agency with a new name, i.d.e.a. In January, 62ABOVE was launched.
Greg Carson joined the firm in late 2019 and became a partner in 2022. Today, Carson serves as president and chief operating officer.
“The transition will be seamless for our clients,” said Carson. “And we’re thrilled to work with ALHI to bring its research and insights to new and existing clients.”
According to Gardiner Bowers, “It has been our plan for several years that Greg step into the leadership role as Jon and I focus on our primary responsibilities, new business for Jon and PR and social media for me. We sure do hope to retire one day, whatever that means, but we have a few more years of work as part of our earn-out.
“We loved the team at ALHI, especially its president & CEO, Mike Dominguez, who is an inspiring and likable leader. We both felt like we would enjoy working for him and with the ALHI team. ALHI will present a pipeline of new business opportunities that was hard to resist, plus a strong operational function, which means we can focus more on what we love doing and less of what we don’t.”
In a statement, Dominguez said, “We are excited that we can now offer 62ABOVE’s expertise and its full range of marketing. 62ABOVE completes a critical segment of our comprehensive service portfolio.”
TW2 Marketing Hires Lauren Stovern as Marketing Coordinator
TW2 Marketing, a Carlsbad-based marketing and public relations firm, has hired Lauren Stovern as a marketing coordinator. Stovern will broaden client relations through news release development, social media management, marketing research and account coordination, a statement said.
With a career spanning 12 years, Stovern has successfully managed her own marketing agency, called Northern Pines Marketing. She also has held various positions, including marketing strategist at Cuno365 in Meriden, CT; marketing coordinator at Evolving Solutions & Keyva, an IT consulting firm in Minneapolis; and digital communications specialist at Eastern Carver County Schools in Chaska, MN. She holds an associate degree from Lake Superior College in Duluth, Minn.
“Lauren brings her high standards, organizational skills and creativity to TW2,” said Nicole Hagaman, president of TW2 Marketing. “She has the experience supporting clients and implementing marketing campaigns that will allow TW2 to continue to provide best-in-class service to clients.”
SOCi Adds Ben Bronlee as Chief Customer Officer
SOCi, a San Diego-based developer of social media and marketing platforms for multi-location brands, has announced the appointment of Ben Brownlee as chief customer officer.
Brownlee brings 25 years of experience in post-sale functions, with a focus on revenue-generating support and services, account expansion and customer retention disciplines. He previously served at Gong, a San Francisco-based, artificial intelligence services global company, and Blackbaud, a cloud software company based in Charleston, SC.
As chief customer officer at Gong, Brownlee oversaw the customer journey from point of sale, including monetization of services, to renewal and expansion.
During nearly two decades at Blackbaud, Brownlee held various leadership roles, including VP of global customer success when the company scaled from privately held to a publicly-traded global organization.
“Ben’s appointment to SOCi’s award-winning success team underscores our commitment to invest in our customers’ success, and to deliver an exceptional experience that matches the power of the CoMarketing Cloud platform,” said Afif Khoury, CEO of SOCi. “With Ben’s expertise and strategic guidance, we will build upon the outsized value we provide to our clients while driving tangible results, solidifying SOCi’s position as a trailblazer in digital marketing automation.”
A SOCi statement said Brownlee will help build a strong connective tissue between product development, marketing efforts and customer engagement.
“I was immediately drawn to SOCi’s unparalleled CoMarketing Cloud, exceptional team and forward-thinking product strategy,” said Brownlee. “The company’s commitment to simplifying tech stacks and its innovative approach to customer success truly sets it apart in the industry.”
Digital Marketer Cordial Signs Agreement with Realtor.com
San Diego-based Cordial, offering a cross-channel marketing platform for retail brands, has announced it has signed a new digital marketing agreement with Move Inc., the operator of Realtor.com, to deliver highly-personalized and unified marketing campaigns to Realtor.com audiences.
“Large, sophisticated brands, such as Realtor.com, have complex data, personalization and orchestration needs, especially in today’s marketing and customer experience climate,” said Jeremy Swift, CEO of Cordial. “We are proud to help Realtor.com leverage real-time data for automated, personalized messaging at an unlimited scale and drive better customer experiences.”
Cordial’s advancements in the AI space also will allow customers to execute strategies faster, anticipate their customers’ every move and make more adaptive, better-informed decisions, a statement said.
“Since the beginning of our transition process, Cordial has showcased the exceptional firepower of its platform for a brand of our size and its excellent service team, which got us up and running quickly and efficiently,” said Jenna Klebanoff, VP of marketing at Realtor.com. “Cordial’s ability to help us optimize our messaging will enable us to deliver high-quality, personalized touch-points to our consumers at the right moment.”
Cordial’s marketing platform automates billions of data-driven emails, text messages, social media, direct mail and mobile app messages for such retailers as PacSun, L.L. Bean and Revolve.
Rick Griffin is a San Diego-based public relations and marketing consultant. His MarketInk column appears weekly on Mondays in Times of San Diego.