By Heidi Modarelli-Frank, Vice President, Client Social Strategy, Marcus Thomas
The world has learned to turn to social media when tragedies unfold. Whether it's a school shooting, a hurricane or the senseless bombing of the Boston Marathon, we've learned to turn to social media within the immediate hours of the event for news and information.
We want facts. We want to know if our friends and families are okay. We want to know that we are safe. If we are directly affected by the tragedy, social media can play a critical role in helping us learn where to go, where to get help...
By Steve Beale, News Editor and Inside Health Media Editor, Bulldog Reporter
Every now and then, a certain PR tactic seems to come into vogue. The most annoying one I've seen lately is what I call the "Fake Reply Con." An email arrives with "Re:" in the subject line, as if the sender is replying to a message I sent them. But when I open the email, it's just a poorly targeted PR pitch from someone I don't know. This is an old technique used by email spammers—what seems to be new is its adoption by a handful of PR agencies.
Fortunately, only a few agencies seem to be doing this. More common are...
ab+c (www.a-b-c.com), a full-service marketing communications agency, won a total of 28 awards between two prominent healthcare competitions. At the 30th annual Healthcare Marketing Report Health Advertising Awards, the agency received 19 awards. Also, the agency hoisted nine awards at the 2013 Aster Awards, judged by Marketing Healthcare Today.
"The healthcare marketing industry is just as competitive as healthcare itself," says ab+c president and CEO John Hawkins. "Our team is tremendous. We start with top healthcare clients and add laser-focused strategy and engaging creative. It's a recipe for sustained success."
The Healthcare Advertising...
By Keith Beech, Head of Content, LEWIS PR
Few industries are changing faster than the media industry. The explosion of social media has transformed the ways by which we all consume information. News is available on the go and 24/7. We all have the ability to become publishers, and more and more brands are investing in journalists and content creators to get their messages out.
Media houses are no longer divided between print and broadcast—the majority have been forced to embrace the multimedia, digital platforms which are now available and which consumers demand. This...
Influencer marketing platform Traackr and contact management firm Nimble, creators of the simply insightful relationship management platform, have announced an integration of their services to enable social businesses to manage their influencer marketing programs end-to-end. The combined platform will provide users the ability to perform influencer discovery and tracking, relationship building and nurturing, as well as activating and measuring results.
"Building relationships with key individuals who can impact a market, a brand and ultimately sales, has become a core skill to the modern marketer," said...
Brianna Swales has returned to Vantage Communications (http://pr-vantage.com/), a global technology PR firm, as account director. In her new role, Brianna will be responsible for driving internal employee development initiatives, developing comprehensive strategy and messaging for clients, and tapping into new emerging markets while serve as a liaison with international agency partners in an effort to grow the firm. Based in the developing technology hub of Gainesville, Fla., Brianna will also help to broaden Vantage Communications' presence throughout the state of Florida. She will split her time between Gainesville and the agency's Orlando office.
After six years at Vantage Communications, she went on to...
San Diego-based Scatena Daniels Communications (www.scatenadaniels.com), announced the addition of three new clients from a diverse range of industries, which include two non-profit organizations, Home Start, Inc., and Mama's Kitchen, as well as Coastal Animal Hospital to its growing client roster.
Home Start, Inc. chose Scatena Daniels Communications to provide support to bring attention to the agency's impactful social service programs and legislative efforts. The non-profit organization promotes the safety and nurturance of children by fostering healthy families and communities.
Mama's Kitchen is a non-profit organization, whose staff and volunteers...
Cohn & Wolfe (www.cohnwolfe.com) announced it will take a minority stake in BPG | pr, one of the most respected PR agencies in the Middle East. The move strengthens and broadens Cohn & Wolfe's offer to clients across the MENA region and follows on the heels of the agency's Asia-Pacific expansion in China, India and Southeast Asia.
The new agency, BPG | Cohn & Wolfe, will provide current BPG clients access to an award-winning international network, while bringing Cohn & Wolfe clients deep expertise in the MENA region across lifestyle, FMCG, travel and tourism, healthcare, corporate and government.
BPG | Cohn & Wolfe provides PR and marketing services to leading...
In the span of just one week, the U.S. government is suffering the PR fallout from two separate covert episodes of arguably unwarranted intrusions of organizational privacy. First came the revelation that the Internal Revenue Service had secretly but purposely targeted certain Republican groups, and now it has been revealed that the Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for the Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news. And all of...
Nashville-based DVL Public Relations & Advertising (www.dvl.com) recently announced the addition of Lisa Button as senior account supervisor.
At DVL, she will work on several agency accounts, including those in the healthcare and utility industries.
Button previously worked for LifePoint Hospitals, Ingram Content Group, HealthSpring and Bill Hudson & Associates.
