Ketchum declared Large Agency of the year 2009 – Holmes Report

Ketchum Worldwide now ranked amongst the top 4 global PR networks

After a year in which the revenues of the global public relations industry declined by more than 10 percent, it is worth remembering that at the end of the day, building a great PR agency is largely about doing great work. And over the past 12 months, no agency did more great work than Ketchum, which is why the Omnicom-owned firm is our Large Agency of the Year for 2009.

Omnicom has decided not to allow its various subsidiaries to reveal information about their billings, but the holding company saw its PR revenues decline by 15 percent in 2009, and there’s no reason to believe that Ketchum was immune to the forces that battered the global marketing and communications services business. But what is clear is that despite difficult economic circumstances, the firm continued to produce work of the highest caliber for a wide range of clients in a wide range of industries.

Ketchum’s work on behalf of Doritos—inviting consumers to “Crash the Super Bowl” with user-generated advertising—was recognized by this publication as the Campaign of the Decade and enjoyed its fourth year of success in 2010. The firm also took home the Campaign of the Year award at the PR Week awards for its work on behalf of Dreyer’s Ice Cream, and led the way among all agencies with 22 finalists for the North American SABRE Awards competition.

The highlights ranged from managing public relations for the 50^th anniversary of Barbie, a campaign that revitalized the image of Mattel’s most iconic brand with a Barbie runway show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week to helping FedEx respond to the economic downturn with a much-imitated Free Resume Printing Day; from supporting (with several partner agencies) IBM’s vast Smarter Planet initiative to working with Walgreens to help consumers prepare for flu season.

Beyond all that great work, it wasn’t a bad year for new business either: Ketchum picked up assignments from clients such as Philips (as part of Omnicom’s One Voice agency team), Applied Materials, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Newell Rubbermaid and more; added more multi-market, multi-discipline assignments to a roster that includes blue-chip brands such as FedEx, IBM, Kodak, Nestle and Nokia; and retained all of its top 50 clients.

Finally, the firm expanded its global footprint more significantly than any of its multinational peers via a merger with sister agency Pleon in Europe, a move that almost certainly elevated Ketchum into the top four firms in the world.

Source: Holmes Report

Richard Edelman – President & CEO Edelman Public Relations

Long before Richard Edelman was named president and chief executive of Edelman—the public relations firm launched by his father, industry legend Daniel J. Edelman, in 1952—there were questions about whether the agency would be able to hold on to its independence in an industry where the largest players were being acquired by giant communications holding companies.

Edelman not only held on to his independence, he turned into a source of competitive advantage. The firm is not only the largest independent public relations firm in the world, it is the third largest firm overall, and arguably the most successful of the past decade, outperforming its peers by growing in excess of 20 percent a year—most of that growth organic—expanding its international footprint, and establishing itself as the industry thought leader on issues such as institutional trust and the use of social and digital media.

There’s no doubt that Edelman has found independence liberating. It has enabled him to become a vocal—and occasionally outspoken—leader for the cause of a public relations-centric view, an advocate for a PR leadership role in marketing and corporate communication in an age of increasing transparency, at a time when authenticity is increasingly valuable.

That has been most visible in Edelman’s pioneering work in social and digital media. Edelman may not have been the first big agency CEO to grasp the importance of new media—although he was certainly among the pioneers—but he was the first to hire bloggers and other digital media experts in highly-visible senior roles, the first to start blogging himself, and the most outspoken in pointing out that the conversational nature of digital and social media created an unprecedented opportunity for PR to succeed advertising as the central discipline in communications.

He also created what has become the most-cited ongoing research in the industry, examining opinion leader trust in institutions—public and private—and information sources (media new and old) in major markets around the world. That research has helped to underpin Edelman’s expansion into non-traditional areas, most notably word-of-mouth (following from the finding that people trust their peers more than they do more traditional and authoritative sources of information) and has provided access to corporate chieftains, most notably at Davos, where Edelman has provided the survey’s findings to CEOs and others in recent years.

Edelman was named president and CEO of the firm in September 1996, after serving as president of Edelman’s U.S. operations, regional manager of Europe and manager of the firm’s New York office. In addition to his management responsibilities, he remains active in business development—he has a reputation as one of the best new business people in the PR business—and in client counseling, with current assignments including work for Scotts Miracle Gro, McGraw Hill and HP. He has also counseled several countries on economic development programs, including Egypt, Israel and Mexico.

An expert in working with non-governmental organization, Edelman has spoken on the topic at several conferences including The Institute of Social & Ethical Accountability, The Conference Board and the World Economic Forum.

In 2006, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year in the New York Metropolitan Area by Ernst & Young, and he was named the Most Powerful PR Executive by PR Week in October 2008 and Agency Executive of the Year by AdAge in January of the same year. The Edelman agency, which now has more than 3,100 employees in 54 offices worldwide, was named PR Agency of the Year 2009 by PR Week and Global Agency of the Year by the Holmes Report.

Richard Edelman serves on the board of directors of the Ad Council, the Atlantic Council, the International Business Leaders Forum, the Gettysburg National Battlefield Foundation and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum, the Arthur Page Society and PR Seminar.

World Governments acknowledge dependence on Digital Infrastructure for Future Readiness

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a recent statement to the media acknowledged the need to build digital infra-structure to stay current with the 21st century.

Government’s across the world have embraced digital governance through development and incorporation of E-Governance across government-wide systems and operations. Over the last 5 years Pakistan has also widely incorporated e-governance across its ministerial and divisional infrastructure. Infact a dedicated E-Governance Directorate, under the regulatory and policy guidance of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom is entrusted to analyse, develop and introduce e-governance systems to the collective and unique needs of the various government functions.

Some of the most sophisticated and out-standing e-governance projects have been:

1. Online Recruitment System for Federal Public Service Commission
2. Online Access to Statutory and Case Laws at District Bar Associations
3. IT Skills Training programme for Probationary Government Officers
4. Process Mapping for improving efficiency at Ministry of Science & Technology
5. Technical Support to IT Departments of Provinces & AJK
6. HMIS & Networking facilities at PIMS, Islamabad
7. Automation of CDA Hospital, Islamabad
8. Automation of Prime Minister Secretariat , Islamabad
9. E-Service for submission of documents at SECP
10. E-Service for submission of documents at SECP
11. E-enablement of Estate Office , Islamabad
12. E-Service to CC/DC Office
13. E-enablement of Senate & National Assembly
14. Automation of Patent Office, Karachi
15. Online Processing of Hajj applications and allied applications
16. Development of Urdu Lexicon, MT
17. Federal Government Data Centre and Intranet
18. Consultancy for Reengineering of Govt. of Pakistan’s Business Processes
19. E-Services for Ministry of Population welfare
20. E-Services at Chief and Deputy Commissioner’s Office – Islamabad
21. E-Enablement of Trading Corporation of Pakistan
22. E-Services at Civil Services Academy, Lahore
23. E-services for ICT administration
24. E services for ministry of food Agriculture & Livestock
25. E-Enablement of Islamabad Police
26. E-Services at Capital Development Authority
27. E-Enablement of Establishment Division
28. E-Services at Ministry of Interior
29. E-Services at Ministry of Health
30. HMIS for Karachi & Sheikh Zahid Hospital Lahore
31. Telemedicine Project for Rural Areas in PUNJAB and SINDH
32. Online Access to Case Law – Supreme Court
33. Online Access to Case Law – Punjab
34. Online Access to Case Law – NWFP
35. Online Access to Case Law – Sindh
36. Economic Developing Mapping at 5 Districts (Pilot Project)
37. Online tracking system for Cargo handling Freight Wagons & Locomotives

This should be enough of a business case to the PR agencies in Pakistan to equip themselves with the requisite capability and capacity to play a lead role in enabling the enormous government & public sector in utilizing their digital infrastructure for their internal and external communication needs.

Ketchum Public Relations comes to Pakistan

Ketchum PR, a global public relations company operating in over 50 countries worldwide, has finally  entered the Pakistani PR industry through an exclusive affiliation with Corporate and Marketing Communications (Pvt.) Limited (CMC). Previously CMC was affiliated with Manning Selvage & Lee, New York.

Manning Selvage & Lee – Advisors. Advocates. Activists

Manning Selvage & Lee has produced this short video that does a good job in explaining their new brand positioning as Advisors. Advocates.Activists.

This new approach is essentially a step forward in re-asserting PR as a ideology based, people driven and behavior change oriented practical process to enable a mutually rewarding environment both for the people and the corporate. The concept of “Shared Value” is well embodied into the evolution oriented new slogan of

Advisors     >    Advocates    >    Activists

The local PR scene can well benefit from incorporating this simple approach in closing the gap between CSR and Profits. The local media, masses and social development non-profits alike are currently divided on the validity of partnership between social responsibility and profit orientation. The corporates and specifically their PR agencies are responsible to share, clarify and create opportunities that re-assert the direct relationship between CSR and profitability through solid practicals and not merely words.

PR clients demand more political influence from PR agencies

Public Relations has been and still is largely practiced as a media relations exercise in Pakistan. At best and more recently efforts are being made to engage directly with the masses through public events. Thus media relations is currently the primary and major strength of PR agencies in Pakistan.

Government Relations is yet an unexplored territory for the PR agencies in Pakistan. Client’s exhibit lack of confidence to channel their most confidential and hardcore business and regulatory affairs through PR agencies. This shortage of confidence is also linked to the weak or no clout of PR agencies within the bureaucratic setup that could tempt clients to exploit an extra leverage.

Now since governments are primarily formed with a political mandate; having a political clout amongst powerful political parties could certainly lead to influencing the government or the bureaucratic setup. Essentially the interests of the bureaucracy are based on the effectiveness of relationship with the political government.

As Mark J. Penn of Burson-Marsteller remarks about the politicl model; the clients want sure answers from their PR agencies and as we know that any thing close to sure is associated with political influence when it comes to policy and regulatory affairs.

The Future of PR – Thought Leader Interviews – Richard Edelman, President & CEO of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide

Richard Edelman, President & CEO of Edelman Public Relations shares his opinion on attributes of a progressively competitive PR agency for today and future.

Edelman hi-lights specialized domain knowledge, diverse information base and a clear understanding of business and financial analysis for today’s PR executives to effectively engage with the stakeholders.

Momentum PR takes a leap

Momentum Public Relations, Pakistan has signed associateship with Upstream Asia; Asia Pacific’s leading Communications group.

MPR has also signed am associateship with the Dubai based leading PR firm Sahara Communications; World’s largest PR Company servicing the real estate sector.

MPR is a young PR firm with a seasoned and young team. With the strategic developments achieved within a short time frame we can surely expect this dynamic company to give a boost to the national and regional PR scene.

Burson-Marsteller resigns Pakistan’s Public Relations Contract

Burson-Marsteller is a global Public Relations firm that had signed Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the ruling political party of Pakistan, lobbying contract in March 2008 after the Pakistan People’s Party won the elections and came to power.

CEO Mark Penn of Burson-Marsteller recently resigned account of lobbying and managing Pakistan’s country and political image amongst the American politicians, media people and the affluent. The contract terms also included research contribution from Mark Penn’s market research firm called Penn, Schoen, Berland & Associates of which Penn is also the President.

Burson-Marsteller says that since March the PR agency had not undertaken any assignment for the Pakistani Government and that the PR agency was in the process of documenting the resignation process.

It is also noteworthy that Penn was ousted as the head strategist of the Hillary Clinton election campaign team and says that the Clinton owes him campaign fee (over USD. 5 million) that has been mutually agreed for clearance.

Secretary of State-elect Hillary Clinton would have to manage relationships with Pakistan and India and with the following resignation of the Pakistan account after Penn’s ouster from the Hillary camp new questions have emerged on the dynamics of the relationship and most of all who shall pick up the Pakistani account and what relationship would the new company enjoy with the new Secretary of State.

The full story may be read at POLITICO.COM (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16827.html)