This has been a challenging year for professionals across all industries and, despite the relative resilience of the public relations field, PR executives also experienced their fair share of obstacles. Whether it was deflated budgets, scaled-back client accounts or necessary layoffs, the effects of the downturn were unavoidable—which is why the winners of PR News’ first annual “Top Places to Work in PR” competition are all the more laudable.
Nominations submitted to PR News by industry professionals were divided into three categories—agency, corporate department and nonprofit—and were reviewed by a panel of external judges as well as PR News editors, who considered everything from the organization’s turnover rate and opportunities for growth, to employees’ candid descriptions of the intangibles that keep them happy and driven.
The winners, listed below, will be profiled in a special issue of PR News to be published on October 19, 2009; they will also receive special recognition at the Platinum PR Awards luncheon in New York City Oct. 21. At the luncheon we will also announce our "Best in Show"—the top place to work in each of the three categories.
PR News' 2009 Top Places to Work in PR:
Corporate:
Best Buy
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals
Chesapeake Energy Corp.
Cisco
Discovery Communications
First Horizon National Corp.
Pfizer
State Farm Insurance
Symantec
Turner Broadcasting System
Agency:
APCO
Carmichael Lynch Spong
CJP Communications
Cohn Marketing
Marina Maher Communications
MWW
Sterling Communications
Text 100
Waggener Edstrom
Weber Shandwick
Nonprofit:
American Red Cross
Children’s Home Society of Florida
Cleveland Metropolitan School District
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Kaiser Permanente
To advertise in the PR News' Top Places to Work in PR special issue, or for more information about attending the Oct. 21 luncheon, please contact Diane Schwartz at [email protected].
Were colleges and universities eligible to compete? I’m surprised no institution’s communications department received an award. In this economy, college marketing/pr campaigns have been in turbo mode to retain enrollment demand amidst rising unemployment and tuition hikes.