Public Relations News from The Middle East & Hill & Knowlton
2016 Middle East PR Association Honors PR Agencies in the Region
There were lots of awards given, but a few agencies cashed in with the number of award recognitions they received at the recent Middle East PR Association event. Edelman Dabo, Cicero & Bernay, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Four Communications, Ogilvy PR, and Weber Shandwick all won more than two awards each at the ceremony. A total of 51 trophies were handed out to winners from among over 240 entries this year.
The evening also was a celebration as Ray Eglington, Four Communications group managing director, took over as chair of MEPRA, replacing Brian Lott, Executive Director for Group Communications at Mubadala.
Hill+Knowlton Strategies India Brings in New CEO and President, Chetan Mahajan
Chetan Mahajan joins H+K as President and CEO of their India Division beginning in 2017. He comes to them from MSLGROUP where he has been serving as a managing director. He replaces Radhika Shapoorjee after her resignation earlier in the year.
Mahajan spoke of his excitement to move to the new position, saying: “I am proud to take over the leadership of Hill+Knowlton Strategies, and I look forward to getting a deep understanding of our clients, our people, and our opportunities in order to build the business across geographies, sectors, and competencies, in particular strengthening content and creativity.”
TransMedia Group’s CyberSecuritySeal™, Meant to Ward off Hackers, Could Serve as an Invitation
Everything internet security experts have learned about hackers over the years should have steered TransMedia Group in a different direction than the upcoming launch of CyberSecuritySeal™, which is a registered mark they plan to put on websites as a warning to hackers and an assurance to customers of the protection provided by the site. The problem is, hackers seem to feel that the more difficult the hack, the more glory there is to be found. Placing a warning like this will most likely be viewed as an invitation to attack the system.
As everyone knows, building a hack-proof system has so far proven impossible. If it can be coded for security, it can be decoded for a hack. Even TMG Founder Tom Madden admits the system is risky, and it’s not really set up for hyper-security, but instead provides a better way to track the hackers. That only means hackers will have less time to sell or release information, not that they won’t get at it.
TransMedia Group: We think this is a dumb idea.
