PR Industry Leader Al Golin Dead at 87
Back in the early days of McDonald’s’ and Al Golin (1957), Mr. Golin pitched to Ray Kroc selling him on how much less expensive it was to get positive stories in the paper about his restaurants than to buy advertising. With that argument, Golin started bringing in $500 a month. Golin’s firm still represents the iconic chain, and others ones as well.
When he spoke in conferences and with his people, Al Golin talked about earning trust with the public, giving back to causes, especially children’s causes, and finding joy in life. He continued working up until his death early in April. One humorous story he told about being in a meeting with executives from a home appliances company. He was leaning back in his chair when it tipped over; he got up through doing a backward somersault. The group was so focused, that no one commented, checked to make sure he was okay or anything else. His take on it was that life should not be taken quite so seriously!
Porter Novelli Picks up Alicia Thompson for Atlanta Office
Alicia Thompson left her job with Edelman as GM at their Atlanta office to take the post as managing director at Porter Novelli Atlanta. She will focus on strategic growth and talent management while reporting to the North America president of the Omnicom agency, Jennifer Swing. While at Edelman, she was also an SVP for consumer practice dealing with clients such as Nestle/Gerber, Interface, Arby’s, and Teavana.
Leading Consumer and Healthcare Agency – SCOUT – Acquired by Stagwell Media
At the tail end of April, Stagwell Media announced their acquisition of SCOUT to increase their presence in both healthcare and consumer marketing. SCOUT’s expertise is in the rare disease and special pharma areas. SCOUT also has a deep influence in immunology, medical devices, and neurology sectors.
The Stagwell Group’s President and Managing Partner, Mark Penn, said: “Adding SCOUT to our growing portfolio gives Stagwell a core platform in the competitive healthcare sector around which we can add even more capabilities. In addition, SCOUT’s consumer group has a unique process for humanizing brands, and is strongly focused on the ‘mom’ consumer, who I believe are key to marketing success.”
Huge Brings in Jason Schlossberg to Lead PR Efforts
Digital agency that’s part of Interpublic, Huge, is adding to their PR offering with Jason Schlossberg taking charge of the unit. This is part of their effort to offer a more integrated approach to marketing. In the last couple of years, the agency has also added creative, tech, and media efforts to what they offer clients. Mr. Schlossberg left Kwittken (an MDC Partners agency) to take the new position.