PR News Today: Omnicom, Steinreich, W2O Group & More…
Omnicom reports 0.9% Revenue decline for 2016 Q1
Omnicom Group, a communications holding company, owning such PR firms as Porter Novelli, Ketchum, and FleishmanHillard, just reported Q1 2016 information, including organic PR revenues declined by 0.9%. During that time, their PR revenues totaled $318.8 million. But the company went through a major transition during the first quarter, moving Karen van Bergen, former Porter Novelli CEO to global leader for Omnicom.
FleishmanHillard, Omnicom’s largest PR agency, reported a minor decline in revenue, but followed up by saying, “we enjoyed significant operational improvement during the quarter.” FH also recently lost their CMO, Stephanie Marchesi.
Omnicom holds companies in four divisions, PR, advertising, CRM, and specialty communications. Their PR division is lagging the farthest behind, but Omnicom’s worldwide revenue including all divisions for the first quarter was $3.5 billion.
Steinreich Communications acquires North Carolina office
Steinreich Communications Group Inc., a New Jersey International PR firm acquired McNeill Communications, the sixth largest North Carolina PR firm this week. Both firms specialize in representing the home furnishings industry. Combined, they have 50+ clients in that industry.
CEO and founder of McNeill, Karen McNeill becomes a Sr. VP at Steinreich Communications and general manager at the High Point, NC office along with all the current members of her staff. Ellyn Small, Sr. VP remains general manager of Steinreich’s New Jersey office, overseeing the current home furnishings practice.
Some of the clients McNeill brings to the mix include Durham Furniture, Norwalk Furniture, American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame Foundation Inc., Fine Furniture Design, Bunakara and the High Point Convention & Visitors Bureau. Steinreich Communications was founded in 2003 and has offices in New York, New Jersey,Washington, Los Angeles, High Point, London, Frankfurt, and Tel Aviv.
W2O Group shows double-digit growth for the 14th year in a row
W2O Group, a San Francisco-based PR firm, founded in 2001 just reported their 2015 annual growth numbers, and they did it again. Every year since their inception, they’ve seen double-digit annual percentage growth. For 2015, it was 15 percent. For the past seven years, that’s translated to an average growth of $11 million per year.
Leaders in the group said, “Our continued progress as we enter our 15th year in business is a result of unwavering focus on becoming the best for our clients and developing innovative approaches that allow them to remain relevant in an increasingly distracted digital world.”
W2O is ranked by O’Dwyers and PR Week as one of the top five independent PR firms. They specialize in digital communications integrating proprietary analytics, they also work with clients primarily in the health care, entertainment, technology, and food and beverage sectors. Some of their clients include Visa, Lap-Band, HP, and Hershey’s.
Infinite Spada Buy-out by Diaferia
Early in 2015, U.S. legal PR specialists Infinite PR and London-based legal PR specialists Spada united to form Infinite Spada with offices in New York, San Francisco, and London. Jamie Diaferia founded Infinite in 2001, and Gavin Ingham Brooke founded Spada in the mid-1990s.
The firm recently announced that Brooke sold most of his ownership in the firm to Diaferia, making Diaferia the majority owner. Brooke will continue to consult for the agency as needed, saying, “I am really looking forward to collaborating with the team at Infinite Spada for many years to come – albeit in a slightly different incarnation. I know too that I will see the firm go from strength to strength.”
