CTA Launches IR Cafe
Carl Thompson Associates has apparently rocked the PR industry by breaking tradition with some risky Internet moves. The company, through its new IR (Investor Relations) Caf, is turning some cyber heads by including on its "menu" of IR expertise the prices of services such as the Grilled Communications Audit (around $4,750) and the Old-Fashioned Peer Group Analysis (around $4,250).
CEO Carl Thompson said that since launching IR Caf, several weeks ago, the company has already secured three or four client deals and is taking orders for three or four more. "This is rather risky [advertising what you charge for PR services]," Thompson told us. "But if I were them [other PR companies] this would be very unsettling" - since the practice in PR has generally been to avoid quoting costs. (Carl Thompson, 303/494-5472)
Execs Quoted in the Post: Politically-Incorrect PR?
Three PR execs - Mike Doble of Fleishman-Hillard, Sue Lin Chong, a PR officer at Georgetown Medical Center and Vic Kamber of The Kamber Group - all got some play in The Washington Post June 30 when the paper published its first annual "In the Loop" Washington Rules Contest results about politics in the nation's capital.
We think the trio's words were good for boosting PR but Doble's comment definitely got our attention. His sage spin? "In Washington, it's not so important that you succeed, but that your friends fail."
Business Moves/Office Changes