Silent Treatment
SBC Hush-Hush About Slashing Corp. Comm. Staff
Execs at SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, have resorted to the "no comment" tactic in response to PR NEWS queries about it reducing San Francisco-based Pacific Bell's corporate communications from 60 to 6 after its recent merger with the Pacific Telesis Group. Pac Bell was a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis and one of its strongest industry brands.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, dozens of employees who handle employee communications and media relations were given pink slips in June and told they would be offered a chance at new positions within the company.
SBC spokesman Larry Solomon faxed a statement to PR NEWS about how the company will handle Pacific Bell's communications in the future that read: "As part of its merger with Pacific Telesis, SBC Communications has restructured its corporate communications function. Pacific Telesis' internal communications staff is being reorganized and will be supplemented with outside sources."
Solomon wouldn't answer questions about the reorganization and didn't confirm or deny rumors that the company plans to turn to Fleishman-Hillard to outsource its PR. (SBC, 210/351-3990)
The New Hong Kong
Harold Burson Attends Handover Ceremony
PR at the Executive Global Table Too? Harold Burson, chairman of Burson-Marsteller, attended the Hong Kong handover ceremony to the People's Republic of China (June 30-July 1) as a personal guest of Hong Kong Chief Executive Designate Tung Chee-hwa. (BM, 212/614-5119)
Tools
If you're looking for ways to protect client or corporate information, consider this: Digimarc Corp., Portland, announced June 11 its first U.S. patent covering digital watermarking. A digital watermark carries a message that can be embedded within audio-visual content in a wide scope of applications, including rights management, copy prevention, electronic commerce and demographic monitoring. (Digimarc, 503/223-6015)
Paramax Productions Inc., Red Bank, N.J., makes the work a little easier for communications professionals handling investor relations through Optimax, a suite of interactive multimedia tools for IR professionals to raise awareness with shareholders and investors. (Paramax, 908/224-1048)
http://www.paperdirect.com, a newly launched Web site, offers advice from experts on how to design outstanding presentations and learn how to grow and market a small business through communications. (PaperDirect, 612/490-8534)
Business Changes
The Garfield Group, a Trenton, N.J.-based marcom agency specializing in communications for high-tech companies, has established Garfield Group PR to focus on online PR. (Garfield, 609/396-0946)
Lowe Bell Communications, New York, has partnered with Smart Communications Inc., New York, to offer crisis preparedness and disaster management communications programs on the World Wide Web. (Lowe Bell Communications, 212/593-7171)