In PR’s fast-paced world one thing remains constant – there’s always something happening. Here are a few noteworthy happenings.
50 on Fire: Chicago’s Hottest Nominees for the Marketing and Advertising Sector.
Chicago Inno recently announced 150 nominees for their Chicago Inno winter event. The nominees represent professionals and firms making strides in Chicago’s tech scene. Chicago Inno then highlighted each sector, their most recently added sector of marketing and advertising included these impressive nominees for this category.
- Finn Partners. In three years, this PR firm saw exponential growth in size and profitability. The company has dozens of offices around the world. Their success even attracted the attention of the prestigious Holmes Report. The agency founded in 2011 already employs 450 people.
- Spring Rewards. This company developed a loyalty program rewarding customers with cash back. It also includes a marketing program tracking customer spending habits. Spring Rewards helps small businesses by giving them a marketing solution serving the full process of company marketing and branding, not just engaging and acquiring customers.
- Josh Inglis. Inglis is the founder of Propllr. Most companies focus on attracting A-list clients, but not his. Propllr’s target clientele includes start-ups needing help building worldwide credibility and brand familiarity. Inglis also gives back to the Chicago community by doing pro bono PR work. Some of his clients include Jellyvision, Whittl, Reverb, Moneythink, and mentoring at 1871 and SXSW.
CEO Believes Shorter Meetings are Key to Company’s Success
Gauray Sinha, Chief Executive of a branding agency specializing in hospitality and travel, Insignia Worldwide. He and his wife, Lucy, founded the company 12 years ago, and since then the company honed its focus to branding, advertising, PR, and interior design. And they must be doing something right, because the company saw a 10 percent growth year after year, despite the recession.
What sets Mr. Sinha apart from other CEOs is his opinion on meetings. While many companies have long meetings often accomplishing little more than eating up company time, Mr. Sinha believes it’s better to keep meetings brief and actually get work done. In fact, he attributes much of his company’s success to the short, 20-minute meetings common throughout his company. Why does he stick to the 20-minute window for meetings? It’s simple. The average person usually thinks in blocks of 30 or 60 minutes. Keeping meetings around the 20-minute mark allows Mr. Sinha and his co-workers to have two meaningful meetings in one hour.
His goal is to eventually have an efficient enough staff that knows what they’re doing so he can pursue more passionate projects.
General Motors Prepares to Review PR Strategy
General Motors recently announced its plan to review its PR representation. The company insists its PR firms performed well over the years. Even so, the use of several PR agencies to represent each brand became too complicated of a process to maintain. Tony Cervone, Senior VP of Global Communications for GM announced the review process begins in 2016. The only exception to this review schedule is Cadillac. GM will review the luxury brand’s PR representation before years’ end.
For some time, General Motors ranked as one of the top ad spenders in the U.S. Yet, it, along with several other automakers decided not to advertise during the Superbowl this year. This caused some speculation. Many believe the decision to trim PR agency representation per brand is for cost effective reasons. Cervone has not disclosed the budgets but said there will not be any cuts. He wants to build a more streamlined communications team. This creates a clear and consistent message for their brands around the world. He maintains a clear message becomes increasingly important in today’s car buying market.