PR News From Omnicom, MWW PR, Sard Verbinnen & Weber Shandwick

Kelley Skolada Left Ketchum to Launch KS Consultancy & Capital

KS Consultancy and Capital will work primarily with women … that is finding angel investors for female entrepreneurs, brands focused on female consumers, and opening up various boards of directors to a more feminine perspective. The new office will open in August, and she’s giving herself the title of founder as well as “chief influenceHer” in the new Pittsburgh agency. Skolada left Ketchum in April after about 30 years with their firm becoming the partner and director for marketing to women working from their Midwest office. She’s already signed several clients, but she is not naming names just yet.

Omnicom PR’s Second Quarter Revenues Are Down by 0.3%

The PR holding group of the company has stayed fairly even for the first half of 2017 ending the second quarter only 0.3% down on their revenues. The PR section of Omnicom includes, among others, Porter Novelli, Ketchum, and FleishmanHillard. But the rest of Omnicom’s groups (advertising, specialty, and CRM) are all up so far for the year on a global revenue organic basis by 3.5%, even factoring in the PR results.

Omnicom PR went through a restructuring process in 2016 creating the separate group led by Karen van Bergen, who previously was the CEO for Porter Novelli. So far they’ve struggled trying to gain ground in their PR revenue efforts.

MWW PR’s Recent Study Shows ‘CorpSumers’ Are Largest US Target Audience

‘CorpSumers’ according to the MWW PR Study conducted by Wakefield Research make up about 100 million Americans who are deciding what to buy according to brand reputation. Essentially that’s one-third f Americans fall into this category. Sizably larger than any other consumer group being targeted such as mothers or Millennials. Their size is not the only defining characteristic … they are also able to sway the attitudes of others and markets, referred to in the report as the “influencer next door.”

Sard Verbinnen & Co Received Top Marks from Mergermarket’s Rankings

Mergermarket’s rankings of PR advisors to mergers and acquisitions deals listings show Sard Verbinnen & Co (SVC) hitting top marks in four to the categories covered by the group during the first half of 2017. Making it to the top spot for the US and globally in both the dollar value as well as the number of transactions. On the global list, they have 113 transactions, 27 more than the next in line, FTI Consulting. The rest of the top five are Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, Brunswick Group, and Kekst.

Mergermarket, an Acuris company, monitors 67 international locations looking at information regarding the mergers and acquisitions market. All deals that were measured were worth at least $5 million, but there are also other criteria such as if the deal is only for 30% of less of one of the entities, the value of the merger in total must exceed $100 million, or if there was no disclosed value, the target’s turnover must exceed $10 million.

CEO Activism on the Rise Per Recent Weber Shandwick Study

A 2017 study (CEO Activism in 2017: High Noon in the C-Suite) by Weber Shandwick (WS) regarding CEO Activism shows that 51% of Millennials want to invest in or buy from companies who have CEO Activists at their helms. When considering the same issue from the Gen Xer’s and Baby Boomers’ perspectives, they are both at 28%.

Min Tak becomes Romio’s new Managing Director of PR and Communications

Romio, a tech startup providing a local services platform run by trusted recommendations, has hired Min Tak to run their PR and communications efforts making the public more aware of their platform. Romio’s purpose is to change how consumers discover, search and use local services. Especially geared to assist those who are self-employed so they can identify and engage with new customers. Min Tak has worked in the past as SVP at Edelman NY, as well as positions with Coyne PR, DeVries Global, and Dentsu Inc.