Phillips Follows Bell Second Time Around
Graham Phillips has left his post as chairman of Burson-Marstellar to become chairman and CEO of parent company Young & Rubicam's advertising unit.This move marks the second time Phillips is filling a spot vacated by industry veteran Tom Bell. No word from Burson at this point regarding possible successors to Bell.
Birth Announcements
OgilvyOne Worldwide announces the formation of The OgilvyOne Brand Practice, a new venture serving up one-to-one marketing expertise to clients in the consumer goods industry.
Recognizing that mass marketing tactics no longer apply to consumer goods, the new practice will leverage the relationship-building brain power of experts "who eat and drink this stuff on a daily basis," says Reimer Thedens, chairman/CEO of OgilvyOne Worldwide. Jean-Paul Courant, formerly VP at OgilvyOne in Paris, has been appointed president. (Mary Fichter, 212/237-5732)
Smith & Collins takes its first steps on Omaha turf this month. The PR firm was formed by Doug Smith, president of Ervin & Smith Advertising, Inc. and Felicia Collins, a PR and marketing executive hailing from Bozell/BSMG Chicago. The company plans to offer a full range of PR and marketing services, including strategic development, media training, publicity, promotional events and online marketing. (Felicia Collins, 402/556-7991)
Publication Kudos
Detroit-based PR Associates recently snagged two awards for outstanding work in technical writing and publication development. Senior account exec Kathleen Hickey received a Renaissance Award of Merit from the Detroit chapter of IABC for a bylined article in Body Engineering Journal. (Jeannette Porter, 313/963-3396)
Research
A window at the top. Microsoft is the top marketer and branding is the No. 1 marketing issue, according to the Summer 1999 Trendwatch survey by ARiA Marketing Inc. The survey of 150 marketing heads in high-tech, healthcare technology and consulting industries placed IBM in the second spot, followed by Coke, Intel, Nike and Procter & Gamble. Branding is the top marketing issue, yet is ranked only seventh in terms of budget.
Additionally, 62% of respondents are developing new Internet products and services while 48% expect more than 10% of their sales from the Internet in the next two years. (Quentin Homan, 617/457-5787, ext. 204)
Accelerating the speed of business. The business landscape experiences 8,500 changes each business day, according to research from Penton Research Services. These include new business incorporations (3,196 changes per day on average), corporations going out of business or being acquired by another firm (2,621 cpd), businesses changing their address (1,984 cpd), businesses changing their telephone number (704 cpd) and corporations changing their name (8 cpd).
"Companies selling to industry have to hit a constantly moving target," says Ken Long, director of Penton. (Ken Long, 216/931-9283)