AT&T Gets Press From Volunteers' Disaster Help
IBM may have gotten tons of publicity from Deep Blue, but let's not forget what a philanthropic face does for a corporation today. AT&T continued to answer the call for assistance in relief efforts in North Dakota when it flew nearly 100 Minnesota-based employees to Grand Forks, N.D. on May 10 to help residents clean up their homes and get their lives back on track.
The AT&T relief crew participated through the corporation's "AT&T Cares" volunteer program and joined other corporate volunteer teams who helped victims remove mud and debris from their homes. The "AT&T Cares" program (See PR NEWS, Nov. 25, 1996) earned the company industry and PR kudos when it announced last year that it would give its employees paid days off for community-service projects.
Footnote: Northwest Airlines, which flew the telecommunications giant's employees for free, also netted some good press. (From wire reports.)
Ketchum PR formed a worldwide partnership May 8 to expand its management team.
The move calls for 23 managers at Ketchum to become partners and for regional associate teams to be formed in the U.S. and Europe, with Asia and Latin America slated to be added later.
Ketchum will initially concentrate on four practice areas, which will be focused globally: Healthcare, under the direction of David Catlett, who has been director of the U.S. practice; Consumer Brand Marketing, which will be run by Marianne Friese, director of Ketchum Munich; Food and Nutrition, which will be headed by Betsy Gullickson, director of Ketchum San Francisco; and the Corporate Practice, which will be led by Bob Amen, currently director of the U.S. corporate practice. (Ketchum, 212/448-4211)
Capitoline Public Affairs Inc. and Manning, Selvage & Lee Inc. have restructured their Washington, D.C., partnership, Capitoline/MS&L G.P. Under the new terms, Capitoline increases its majority interest in the partnership. Also, Joe Gleason, will become managing director of MS&L/Washington, a newly formed unit of Manning, Selvage & Lee. The unit will be based at 1615 L Street, NW, where Capitoline is headquartered. (Capitoline/MS&L, 202/467-3900)
D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles Communications merged May 8 its Toronto office with Bensimon-Byrne to create Bensimon-Byrne/DMB&B. Jack Bensimon is president and Peter Byrne is chief creative officer. Combined revenues in '97 are expected to exceed $12 million. (DMB&B, 212/468-3083)
West Glen Communications, a New York City-based video production/distribution company, has opened a Denver office at 2220 South Arbutus Court, Lakewood, Colo. 80228. Joan Winkler, formerly account manager at Denver-based Reece & Co. Advertising, will head the new office as account director. (West Glen, 212/921-2800)
Capitol Hill Software, creator of PROffice, struck a deal May 8 with U.S. Newswire to launch a software package that couples the media relations database with direct distribution channels through U.S. Newswire's wire, broadcast fax, e-mail and Internet services. The agreement allows PROffice clients to send news releases, advisories, press statements and other documents directly to U.S. Newswire for immediate distribution to newsrooms. (U.S. Newswire, 202/347-2770)
A picture's worth a thousand words: MicroPatent, East Haven, Conn., has added images to its Trademark Checker Web database, http://www.marksearch.com. The database has more than 2 million U.S. federal trademark records, with nearly 750,000 now including images as part of the registered mark. Users can search designs and design codes. (MicroPatent, 203/466-5055)
Globalization Here To Stay
PR NEWS was told by an unnamed source that Reuters is moving its Asian headquarters from Japan to Singapore, one of the key international growth pockets for PR.
Also, some insiders speculate that Shanghai will become a major international hub after Hong Kong, one of the leading PR regions for both U.S. and foreign corporations, returns to Chinese rule in July.
The total annual fee income for Worldcom, the largest network of independent PR agencies, rose to $141.2 million, a 22 percent jump over last year. Broken down, the Americas accounted for $86 million; the Europe/Africa region for $43.1 million; and the Asia Pacific area for $11.9 million. (Worldcom, 716/256-8050)
Wirthlin Worldwide's Spring Executive Viewpoint, which focuses on globalization, shows that 73 percent of major U.S. corporations with sales over $500 million have operations overseas.
But the study also shows that nine out of 10 manufacturing companies have operations in foreign markets, while only 59 percent of service-based companies do. So where does communications factor in? According to the report, corporations in the service industries "rely heavily" on interpersonal and business-to-business communication to support client and customer relationships. (Wirthlin, 703, 556-0001)
Carole Stewart, a PR consultant in London, has been commissioned by Butterworth-Heinemann to write an international PR case study book to showcase 30 of the industry's best recent campaigns.
Stewart, who can be reached at 0171-386-7400, is looking for materials for the book.
