News about Gold Lions, Facebook marketing, MDC Partners, and Noel Biderman
19 Gold Lions For PR Awarded in Cannes This Year
There were 19 Gold Lions, 30 Silver Lions, and 34 Bronze Lions awarded for public relations this year at Cannes. Weber Shandwick’s Prime Sweden office won three – one of each color – representing two campaigns – The House of Clicks for Hemnet, a property search website, and one for a Don’t Drink and Drive effort for Trygg-Hansa, an insurance firm. Edelman received a bronze and their sister company, Zeno Group (Chicago office) also won a bronze. Beyond that, most of the Lions ended up in the hands of marketing, advertising, and digital agencies.
But, as far as award counts go, the U.S. received 15, Sweden – 9, Colombia – 6, and four each for France, Australia, Romania, Belgium, and the U.K. The Grand Prix winner was for a Swedish campaign called The Organic Effect representing Coop, an organic food market. The campaign increased sales at the grocery chain, as well as for other distributors of organic foods. King Street PR in Stockholm along with OMD (media agency) and Acne Production are those involved in creating the campaign.
Facebook is Marketer’s Top Choice
According to a recent poll done for Hotwire by Vanson Bourne, a global marketing research company, nearly one-quarter of 1,000 decision makers prefer using Facebook when it comes to B2B marketing. The study was done as a challenge to the commonly held belief that LinkedIn and Twitter would be the top of that list. Instead, Twitter received six percent, and LinkedIn got 17 percent. It is notable though that despite these numbers, 30 percent of marketers are not planning to use Facebook to do B2B marketing.
John Brown, Hotwire’s group head of engagement, said, “B2B businesses who ignore channels because they view them as only being for consumers are in for a rude shock when they realize no one cares about the channels they’ve lovingly invested in.”
Finally, a full 87 percent of the decision makers say they believe traditional media and social media are equally important sources and references when making purchasing choices.
Dan Goldberg Made Independent Director at MDC Partners
As of July, Dan Goldberg, CEO and President of Telesat, a global satellite operator, becomes a member of the independent board of directors for MDC Partners. Also, new to the board as of March, are Anne-Marie O’Donovan and Larry Kramer.
Noel Biderman Doing His Best to Erase Ashley Madison Connections
Noel Biderman was the former CEO of the cheater’s website that was hacked last summer spilling a lot of people’s secrets to the public. In less than a year, Biderman has done his best to erase every reference to his connection with AshleyMadison.com. He has no less than four personal websites … all of them starting with www.noelbiderman and ending with .com, .org, .net, and .ca. None of them have any direct reference to Ashley Madison, though his bio says he was a CEO, COO, and CMO of companies. That company name, or its parent – Avid Life Media, are notably absent. Also missing is any reference to his book, “Cheaters Prosper: How Infidelity Will Save the Modern Marriage.”
He’s making a big effort, changes have been made to his Wikipedia reference page, his websites, his social media accounts, and he’s done his best to flood the internet with pictures of a kinder, gentler, and more wholesome fellow. Unfortunately, for almost everyone, even those spending large amounts of cash to wipe their slate clean – what happens on the internet, stays on the internet. It’s a solid reminder. Be careful what you put out for public consumption.
