<![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller EMEA]]> <![CDATA[New way to measure brand risk from NGO campaigns]]> Brussels, 15 June, 2010 - Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, has launched a new evidence-based tool to measure and track brands’ exposure and vulnerability to issues-based attacks from campaigning NGOs. The tool was launched at the first edition of the Burson-Marsteller EMEA Energy & Environment Forum held in Brussels on 10 June, 2010.

Developed in conjunction with strategic partner SIGWatch, a specialist NGO monitoring and analysis company operating globally, the Brand Vulnerability Index (BVI) helps companies quantify brand risk; identify emerging risks, allowing pre-emptive engagement and mediation; and assess comparative risk against competitor brands.

“NGOs have demonstrated considerable power to impact brand reputation and mobilise consumer action based on perceived inconsistencies between brand promise and business performance,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

The Brand Vulnerability Index provides a disciplined way to measure, quantify and evaluate the genuine risk that a brand faces from issues-based campaigning, and to support decisions to mitigate this exposure.

As many companies have experienced over recent years, digital NGO campaigns can emerge literally overnight, spread virally to activists and consumers globally in a matter of days, and cause considerable damage to both corporate reputation and brand revenues.

The BVI will allow companies to track and monitor their brand risk real-time, but also to understand when engagement and changes in corporate behaviour or policy are critical to avoid a damaging public campaign,” he continued.

The BVI draws on SIGWatch’s extensive tracking database of more than 3,000 NGOs to:

• assess brand risk based on seven variables, including sectoral exposure and cultural and political risk

• examine NGO force, the collective weight of NGOs active on the issue, weighted for size and influence; and

• evaluate NGO pressure, the level and trend of current NGO campaigning and likely trajectory and tactics.

The weighted sum of these factors provides a raw BVI measure, which is then adjusted based on an assessment of brand ‘insurance’ - any mitigation activities such as supply chain certification, social investment programmes, NGO alliances and other measures to address concerns and promote sustainability.

The BVI is presently offered in three separate applications:

• a comparative rating (scorecard) for up to five competitor brands in a single sector

• 360 degrees brand diagnosis, examining in detail the embedded risks along the entire value chain of a brand, from sourcing to ingredients to manufacturing, distribution, marketing and end-of-product-life stewardship

• Geographic risk scoping, which assesses relative risks on a country by country basis, recognising that many brand issues in the developing world are locally based and vary considerably.

“No company is fully immune to the risk of an opportunistic campaign by a highly motivated NGO,” commented Bill Royce, Chair of the Energy, Environment & Climate Change practice in EMEA.

Ironically, the bigger and more successful the brand, the larger a target it becomes if campaigning groups see a gap between promise and performance.

NGOs view the brand simply as the pinnacle of a commercial ecosystem that extends from R&D to end-use. Potentially a brand will be held accountable for any perceived failing in its value chain, such as a rogue supplier acting in breach of agreed ethical sourcing rules.

The BVI will give better data not only to assess risk and critically understand the merit of current mitigation efforts, but also to identify the mandatory actions needed to remove the potential risk,” he said.

The BVI is the latest in a series of products that show Burson-Marsteller’s commitment to Evidence-Based Communications.

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For Social Media Release click here

About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com) established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 70 wholly-owned offices and 60 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

About SIGWatch
SIGWatch (www.sigwatch.com) specialises in tracking and understanding NGOs to help business manage global NGO risk. Many of the world’s leading multinationals are its clients. Founded in 1997, it is headquartered in Freiburg, Germany.SIGWatch enables businesses to calibrate both direct threats - such as NGOs attacking its brands - and issue threats - when NGOs raise the temperature of an issue or introduce new issues that increase businesses’ operating costs.SIGWatch provides three basic services: real-time information about NGO campaigns and intentions, insight into NGO strategies to help manage issues and predict emerging problems, and counselling and training to better understand NGO psychology and motivation, and to develop productive relationships with NGOs.

For media information please contact:

Bill Royce
+44 20 7300 6310
+44 7951 227 802
Bill.Royce@bm.com

]]> <![CDATA[Business leaders at Burson-Marsteller UK event have their own say on potential PMs for new government]]> 41% say they would prefer Conservative government at an exclusive event which took place at the London Stock Exchange

London, 30 April 2010 – Burson-Marsteller UK (B-M UK) held an exclusive event to coincide with the third UK election debate, in which more than 150 CEOs and UK business chiefs had a chance to have their say on the UK election.

In a text poll 41% said they believed the Conservative party would be best to serve business interests and 53% believed Cameron had won the third election debate.

The event brought together UK business leaders with leading political strategists including

• Mark Penn, Former Adviser to Tony Blair, President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton
• John Hutton, Former Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform
• Andrew MacKay, Former Conservative MP and former aide to David Cameron
• Lord Richard Newby, Former Chief of Staff to Charles Kennedy
• Sky News’ Jeff Randall broadcast live from the event.

B-M UK CEO Matt Carter said: “The economy has been in many ways the forgotten issue in this campaign, but for our future business success it’s key that the new government listens to the views of business leaders. Although the result is still uncertain, this election provides business leaders with an opportunity to make sure their voice is heard with the new administration”.

Results of text poll:

Which party do you think offers the best set of policies for your business and the UK economy as a whole? Labour 37%, Lib Dems 22%, Conservatives 41%

Which party leader do you believe won tonight’s debate? Brown 29%, Cameron 53%, Clegg 18%

See Burson-Marsteller's election perspectives

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For more information contact Annabel Jaram (annabel.jaram@bm.com) on +44 20 7300 6247.

About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com and www.burson-marsteller.eu), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. Using a data-drive approach called Evidence-Based Communications, it provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and digital media services. The firm’s worldwide network consists of 69 offices and 67 affiliate offices, together operating in 92 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

]]> <![CDATA[Björn Edlund becomes Senior Adviser to Burson-Marsteller ]]> Björn Edlund, former Executive Vice President and Head of Group Communications at Royal Dutch Shell, becomes Senior Adviser to Burson-Marsteller

Brussels, 22 April 2010 – Björn Edlund, former Executive Vice President and Head of Group Communications at Royal Dutch Shell, is to become a Senior Adviser to Burson-Marsteller, the global public relations and communications firm.

Edlund retired from Royal Dutch Shell earlier this year after nearly five years in charge of internal and external reputation management. He led the development of an integrated communications programme at Shell, realigning the global function for proactive business support through more focused messaging and enhanced stakeholder interaction.

“I am delighted that Björn Edlund is joining our growing group of senior advisers at Burson-Marsteller EMEA. He brings vast experience of dealing with some of the toughest communications challenges faced by a wide variety of sectors. Securing Björn as an adviser is a real coup for us and our clients," said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller EMEA.

“I am pleased to join one of the world’s leading strategic communications consultancies. I have worked with many of the global agencies but Burson-Marsteller and its evidence-based approach to communications and its grounding in firm values and professionalism was the one that stood out for me," said Björn Edlund.

As a Senior Visiting Fellow at Henley Business School, Edlund teaches on its executive MBA and advanced management programmes. Last year, he was one of the first recipients in Europe of The Holmes Group’s individual SABRE Awards, which recognises public relations practitioners who have demonstrated peerless counseling and management capabilities.

Edlund began his international career in news agency journalism in 1977, and has worked in business communications since 1989. After four years as head of corporate communications at Sandoz, he set up his own communications consultancy in 1996, with clients including Novartis, Schering pharmaceuticals as well as the ABB Group. Prior to joining Shell in 2005, Edlund spent seven years as head of communications at ABB. During the company’s turnaround years, he also drove the integration of corporate responsibility and other sustainability aspects into business planning and practices.

About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. Using a data-drive approach called Evidence-Based Communications, it provides clients with strategic thinking and programme execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and digital media services. The firm’s worldwide network consists of 69 offices and 67 affiliate offices, together operating in 92 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

Notes to editors:
Other senior advisers to Burson-Marsteller in the EMEA region include Jim Currie, former European Commission Director-General for Environment, David Harley former Deputy Secretary-General of the European Parliament, and Carl Hagen, former vice president of the Norwegian Parliament and former leader of the Progressive Party.

Contact:
Katarina Wallin Bureau | Managing Director, EMEA Strategy | Burson-Marsteller
Tel: +32 473421141 | Email: katarina.wallinbureau@bm.com  

]]> <![CDATA[Survey of journalists across EMEA reveals depth of crisis in media sector ]]> Brussels, 6 April 2010 – The traditional media industry in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is in unprecedented danger, battered by the exponential growth and use of new, highly competitive and „disruptive‟ digital media formats as well as a worldwide economic crisis that is applying the coup de grace to what were already outdated and failing business models, according to a wide-ranging survey of senior journalists carried out by the global communications firm Burson-Marsteller.

Burson-Marsteller media experts interviewed 115 senior journalists from 27 countries throughout the region to get an inside view of how they perceived the state of their industry in their countries. In particular, the aim was to understand how the economic crisis was affecting the industry; the effects of the digital revolution; and how PR and media relations professionals can best adapt to the rapidly transforming media landscape.

Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller EMEA, said: “From the responses of the journalists interviewed, it is clear that the essential skills and best practices of media relations have not changed despite the transformation of the industry itself. Indeed, if anything, they have become even more important than they were before.”

In the survey, a strikingly common response was that enormous numbers of journalists were being put out of work. All across EMEA, media organisations are significantly downsizing their editorial teams. Even for journalists lucky enough still to remain in full-time employment, there was little to cheer, with job uncertainty, vastly increased workloads, demands for multi-platform content, less editorial space to put that content into and (often) moves to „dumb down‟ the content and editorial agendas in general.

There was broad agreement among the journalists interviewed that the quality and standards of their trade were being diminished, both as an inevitable result of the austerity measures, as well as a direct effect of the new media explosion.


There was no consensus, however, about whether the digital revolution taking place in their industry was a positive or negative development. Most agreed that new digital tools had given them unprecedented access to information, all at the touch of their fingertips. However, the increased competition – as well as the de-professionalisation of their trade through citizen journalism – were all cited as serious causes for concern.


As one senior French journalist commented: “The internet makes it much more difficult to distinguish news from noise.”

The majority of journalists surveyed said that PR agencies played an increasingly vital role in their work, either as sources of relevant information, leads for stories, or as conduits to relevant sources. In today‟s harsh working environment, the overwhelming majority also said that they trusted PR professionals the same or more than they did before.

Dennis Landsbert-Noon, Chairman of the EMEA Media Practice, said: “As the media industry undergoes these tremendous changes, there is both an onus on us to ensure that our standards remain exemplary, as well as an opportunity for us to use new and exciting digital tools to communicate with traditional journalists as well as a whole new digital and social media landscape.”

Notes to editors:

1. Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com and www.burson-marsteller.eu), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and programme execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm‟s seamless worldwide network consists of 70 offices and 60 affiliate offices, together operating in 85 countries
across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP, one of the world‟s leading communications services networks.

2. The Burson-Marsteller EMEA Media Practice is a network of highly experienced media experts, based in our offices around Europe, the Middle East and Africa, many of whom are former senior journalists. Operating in more than 20 languages, the practice offers Burson-Marsteller‟s clients access to all the key influential media in every European country, as well as the latest and most effective tools and practices for working with both traditional and new media.

Burson-Marsteller Social Media Release  

Burson-Marsteller Media Survey

Burson-Marsteller EMEA Media Practice

For more information, contact:
Dennis Landsbert-Noon
Chairman, Burson-Marsteller EMEA Media Practice
dennis.landsbertnoon@bm.com

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller further cements successful partnership in Poland with Solski Burson-Marsteller]]> Warsaw, 1 April 2010 - Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, today announced it has acquired a 30% equity stake in Solski Burson-Marsteller Sp.z.o.o., its affiliated partner in Poland since 2008. The original affiliation agreement that was established between Burson-Marsteller and Solski PR in April 2008 marked Burson-Marsteller’s return to the Polish market after an absence of seven years. Since then, the Solski Burson-Marsteller team has grown quickly to a team of 18 consultants and has been successful in winning a number of high-profile clients.

“Burson-Marsteller’s decision to take this stake in the business underlines the importance of the Polish market and the significant opportunities for growth that it presents. This move also demonstrates our commitment to the strategic markets of Central and Eastern Europe,” said Mark Penn, global CEO of Burson-Marsteller.

“I am very proud to take the cooperation between Burson-Marsteller and Solski Burson-Marsteller to the next level,” said Ryszard Solski, President and CEO of Solski Burson-Marsteller. “I am delighted to be able to continue offering our clients in the Polish market the best in evidence-based strategic, integrated communications counsel as part of Burson-Marsteller. This will enhance our offer and ability to service both local and international Burson-Marsteller clients.”

Solski Burson-Marsteller is a full range communications services provider in the Polish market. Their clients include a number of major Polish and international blue chip firms and brands, as well as non-governmental organisations and government agencies. Solski Burson-Marsteller is ranked by its peers as one of the most admired PR firms in the country and has won a number of trade awards.

“Solski-Burson Marsteller has experienced tremendous success in the last two years. We are delighted to build on our existing partnership with the team at Solski-Burson Marsteller led by Ryszard Solski, one of Poland’s most respected PR professionals. Under Ryszard’s leadership, Solski Burson-Marsteller attained 150% revenue growth in 2009, developed an enviable client base from scratch and has become fully integrated in our global network,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa.



About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (http://www.burson-marsteller.com and www.burson-marsteller.eu), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and programme execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 70 offices and 60 affiliate offices, together operating in 85 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

About Solski Burson-Marsteller
Solski Burson-Marsteller (http://www.solskibm.pl/) provides a full range of communications services including the development of communications strategies, management of crisis communications and media relations management. It was established in April 2008 as the result of an affiliation agreement between Burson-Marsteller and Solski PR. In both 2009 and 2010, Solski Burson-Marsteller was voted by Poland’s PR community as one of the three most admired PR firms [annual Impactor competition].




]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller EMEA launches Location!]]> ‘location relations’ programme for clients based in its Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Location! offers a strategic and tactical framework as well as tools to support clients’ efforts to secure planning approvals and community consent for major local development projects. The ultimate goal of location is to maintain strong stakeholder relationships over the life of the project.

“Many businesses face resistance to local investment and development plans, not only in heavy industry and infrastructure but increasingly in retail, energy, manufacturing and coastal tourism. Location!, offers a strategic and tactical (stakeholder engagement) programme covering the full lifecycle of major projects,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Location! integrates multi-disciplinary learnings from: public affairs, stakeholder engagement, issues and crisis management, corporate reputation, corporate communications, media relations and digital outreach with clients across a range of industries.

The programme includes 15 specialised communication initiatives relating to site and project communication, which are underpinned by general skills and tools.

The foundation is Burson-Marsteller’s proprietary and award-winning Community Needs Assessment process, which provides management information tools to help clients prioritise and systematically address local needs and concerns. This has been applied to help clients worldwide in many countries develop the right approach to engage local stakeholders.

Location! recognises that local communities have legitimate interests in local development in their neighbourhood, and can be vocal and powerful opponents if trust is not established in the early planning stages.

For companies planning major projects, Location! provides an all-in-one approach covering the entire lifecycle of a site – from early scoping and site selection, through approval and consultation, to construction and operations, and to decommissioning, divestment or land reparation and reclamation.

The diagnostic and community engagement elements have proven equally effective in greenfields sites and in facilitating remedial programmes to resolve failed relationships or following major site incidents.

“The approach embodied in Location! is as much about project governance and behaviour as it is about communication,” commented Bill Royce, Chair of the Energy, Environment & Climate Change practice in EMEA.

“Location! helps clients see their proposed development through the eyes of their neighbours and constructively engage to listen, learn, adapt and contribute positively to the community.

“Even the most challenged projects will rarely encounter united opposition. Location! helps identify the allies, potential supporters, and key local influencers and information channels.

“It also helps companies identify supply chain linkages to strengthen their contribution to local business value,” he said.

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About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (http://www.burson-marsteller.com and www.burson-marsteller.eu), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and programme execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 70 offices and 60 affiliate offices, together operating in 85 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

For media information please contact
Bill Royce
+44 20 7300 6310
+44 7951 227 802
Bill.Royce@bm.com  







]]> <![CDATA[Matt Carter becomes new CEO of Burson-Marsteller UK ]]> London, 12 January, 2010 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, today announced the appointment of Matt Carter as the new CEO of its UK operations. He succeeds Jonathan Jordan who is leaving Burson-Marsteller at the end of February, having decided to establish his own communications consulting business.

Matt Carter co-founded Penn Schoen & Berland Associates (PSB), the strategic research company, in the UK at the beginning of 2006 and is currently Managing Director of the EMEA region for PSB. Moving forward he will retain a strong relationship with PSB serving as Chairman, EMEA. He previously worked for Prime Minister Tony Blair as General Secretary of the British Labour Party where he was responsible for running the successful 2005 general election campaign. Current joint Managing Director of PSB EMEA, Joel Levy, becomes the CEO of PSB EMEA.

“I am delighted that Matt is joining Burson-Marsteller and taking over the leadership of our UK operation, which is the largest in the EMEA region and has offices in London and Manchester. He will further develop our Evidence-Based approach as a key Burson-Marsteller differentiator across the many practice areas of our UK business as well as ensure even closer integration with PSB. Under Matt’s leadership PSB EMEA has been one of the fastest growing WPP companies world-wide in recent years. I am convinced his leadership skills and experience of working with the boards of leading international companies will allow him to replicate this success for Burson-Marsteller UK,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East & Africa.

“I really look forward to the challenge of leading Burson-Marsteller in the UK, building on the success of the past few years and taking it to the next level. Burson-Marsteller UK has had a fantastic story to tell in recent years and has a great team in place which I know firsthand from my work with them. Going forward, I want to see Burson-Marsteller even better placed to help meet the complex challenges our clients face today. I look forward to working with Jonathan Jordan to ensure a smooth transition,” said Matt Carter.

“Jonathan Jordan has successfully led Burson-Marsteller in the UK for the past 3 years and has spent nearly seven years with the company. I would like to thank Jonathan for all that he has done as CEO of the UK operation, during which he has grown the business, attracted a strong team, strengthened our brand in the market-place and won significant global assignments. I wish him well with his business,” said Jeremy Galbraith.

About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (http://www.burson-marsteller.com and www.burson-marsteller.eu), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and programme execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 72 offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP, one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

About Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates (PSB)
Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates (www.psbresearch.com), a member of the WPP group and part of Burson-Marsteller, is a global research-based consultancy that specialises in messaging and communications strategy for blue-chip political, corporate and entertainment clients. PSB has over 30 years of experience specialising in bringing the lessons from the political campaign trail into the corporate boardroom to give clients the strategic insights they need to beat the competition. PSB has worked on nearly 200 political campaigns and has been personal political and strategic advisor to more than 30 heads of state or prime ministers.

Media contact:

Katarina Wallin Bureau
Burson-Marsteller EMEA
Katarina.wallinbureau@bm.com  
+32 (0)473421141

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller Makes Commitment to “Evidence-Based Communications” ]]> New York, December 14, 2009 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, announced today it has adopted a new, research-focused approach to communications called “Evidenced-Based Communications.” During 2009, Burson-Marsteller internally rolled out a new firm-wide methodology for developing, monitoring and measuring communications programs. The approach was developed by the firm's most experienced client leaders around the globe.

“The media and communications landscape is changing and so have the needs of our clients.” said Burson-Marsteller CEO Mark Penn. “In a world of citizen journalism, social media and instant information about events happening around the globe, we are investing in a more diligent and scientific approach to developing and delivering key messages.”

The Evidence-Based approach rests on Burson-Marsteller’s tradition of thought leadership and research-driven programs. The firm also plans to work closely on developing Evidence-Based programs with its sister research firm Penn Schoen Berland, which was co-founded by Mr. Penn. The Evidence-Based approach is designed to ensure that all client programs are rooted in data. The approach also monitors progress throughout the program to make certain that clients achieve their original objectives. Results are measured to confirm the return on investment (ROI).

The firm launched Evidence-Based Communications internally with training, seminars and workshops designed to help staff integrate the approach into their client engagements and new business proposals. As part of the effort, each Burson-Marsteller practice will continuously develop Evidence-Based Tools to better drive strategy and messages with data and measure the final ROI for clients.
The key benefits of Burson-Marsteller’s commitment to the Evidence-Based approach are:

• Evidence-Based Communications ends the guess work. All communications strategies are based in evidence, not speculation.

• It delivers better ROI. By using Evidence-Based Communications to develop programs, the Firm is ensuring that each client’s communications dollars are spent on tactics and messages that will deliver results.

• It is measurable. By using Evidence-Based tools for benchmarking at the beginning of a program and measuring effectiveness at the end, clients can demonstrate a positive communications ROI.

• The programs are nimble. Because Burson-Marsteller measures the impact of a program’s tactics at the beginning, middle and end of program, there is an opportunity to modify tactics in the middle of a campaign.

• It is a holistic approach to communications. The Evidence-Based approach is a complete methodology. The approach ensures a thorough use of data and tools designed specifically to insert science into the process where appropriate.

• It provides proof of PR value to the organization’s C-Suite. By using an Evidence-Based approach, communications professionals can demonstrate the value that PR brings to their organization at large.


About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 72 offices and 65 affiliate offices, together operating in 90 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller launches survey on crisis preparedness in business]]> New survey shows that only half of European firms have a crisis plan in place in spite of the significant financial and reputational benefits of crisis preparedness.

London, 5 November, 2009 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, today launched a survey on crisis preparedness in business. Although 60% of the business decision makers polled have experienced a crisis and more than half of these have experienced one in the past year, only 53 percent currently have a crisis plan in place, the survey found.

The survey also found widespread agreement among business leaders that the uncontrollable and uncertain nature of a crisis means it poses significant threats to a company’s reputation. A business which is well prepared can save nearly one third of the average cost of overcoming a crisis compared to a business which is not prepared, partly because the average recovery time is two months shorter (an average of seven as opposed to nine months).

“This new study shows that crisis preparedness directly affects a company’s bottom line. We work with our clients on many different levels to help them relate to and communicate with multiple stakeholders when a crisis hits and on how to implement an evidence-based approach to crisis communications, said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

“In an age of uncertainty, with increasingly complex stakeholder arenas for corporations and the speed of events driven by digitalisation and globalisation, crisis preparedness is more important than ever. Risk assessment, planning and training crisis teams helps companies manage risks, protect trust capital in relation to key stakeholders and to limit negative impact on the bottom line”, commented Anders Bylund, Head of the EMEA Crisis Practice at Burson-Marsteller.

One of the findings of the survey were that businesses without a crisis plan can expect to be harder hit in terms of loss of revenue and layoffs than companies that are well prepared. Other consequences of crises can include falling share prices, loss of corporate reputation, loss of media and/or public trust and law suits by individuals or groups. Examples of companies who have suffered from a crisis over the last year in Europe are British Airways with the Terminal 5 disaster and a wide range of financial institutions, which have been even worse affected by the financial meltdown due to poor crisis preparedness and bad crisis communications.

The survey was presented at a meeting of crisis communications professionals hosted by Burson-Marsteller in London on 4 November where 60 senior communications executives from large international corporations across EMEA and crisis experts met to share insights and experiences on crisis and risk management. Key note speaker at the event was Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, and Chairman & Managing Principal of the Chertoff Group, a security and risk management advisory firm.
"The most costly miscalculation that a business can make today is neglecting to invest in its own preparedness," said Secretary Chertoff. "Some crises are unavoidable, but thoughtful planning and preparation can significantly minimise the potentially debilitating business fall out. Companies that make the investment to prepare in advance of a crisis will ultimately be positioned to respond and recover faster than their competitors."

Social Media Release

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About this study
As part of a survey designed to evaluate the consequences of crises for businesses in Europe, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates conducted a total of 200 online quantitative interviews among business decision makers across Europe. These surveys were undertaken in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain from 2 to 6 October 2009. Business decision-makers were defined as aged over 25, employed full time or self employed business owners with significant influence or final decision making power in their business.

About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com and www.burson-marsteller.eu), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and programme execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 72 offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP, one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

About Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates (PSB)
Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates (www.psbresearch.com), a member of the WPP group and part of Burson-Marsteller, is a global research-based consultancy that specialises in messaging and communications strategy for blue-chip political, corporate and entertainment clients. PSB has over 30 years of experience specialising in bringing the lessons from the political campaign trail into the corporate boardroom to give clients the strategic insights they need to beat the competition. PSB has worked on nearly 200 political campaigns and has been personal political and strategic advisor to more than 30 heads of state or prime ministers.
Media Contact: Sabine van Deursen
Phone: +44 207 300 6181
Email: sabine.van.deursen@bm.com

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller is the leading PR consultancy in Spain, new market research finds]]> Madrid, 19 October, 2009 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, ranks first among PR firms in Spain according to the findings of the first market research on the sector developed by Grupo Consultores, the leading specialist consulting firm in the marketing communications and media industries. The research included interviews with 215 heads of communications.

Burson-Marsteller ranks first in 7 out of the 9 attributes highlighted by PR clients. “Those attributes are recognised as great strengths, and this is the reason why Burson-Marsteller is first in the global ranking market assessment”, said Grupo Consultores. The 7 attributes led by Burson-Marsteller are: strategic consulting, digital communication, marketing communication, crisis management, service quality, integrated services and international network. In the other 2 attributes analysed - media relations and price - it ranks second and third respectively.

"For Burson-Marsteller, maintaining our leadership almost thirty years after entering the Spanish market, in a highly competitive professional sector with low entry barriers, is the best reward for our passion for professional excellence”, said Carmen Valera, CEO Burson-Marsteller Spain, commenting on the research.

“I am particularly pleased that our leadership in digital communications has been recognised,” added Carmen Valera.

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About the Study
The Report on Image of the Communication and Public Relations Consulting Companies, “PrScope 2009” is the most complete market research of the PR sector in Spain. This study will deeply examine every year the public relations market, the services offered by consulting companies as well as the relationship and assessment between consulting companies and their major clients.

About Grupo Consultores
Grupo Consultores is the leading specialist consulting firm in the marketing communications and media industries. Its strategic advice is always research based. Grupo Consultores provides services internationally for advertisers, agencies, consulting companies and media. It has branches in Brazil, China, India, Singapore, Portugal and Mexico.


About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com and www.burson-marsteller.eu), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and programme execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 72 offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP, one of the world’s leading communications services networks.


Contact:
Carmen Valera
CEO Burson-Marsteller Spain
Tel: +34 91 384 6700
Email: carmen.valera@bm.com
www.bursonmarsteller.es

]]> <![CDATA[Transparency high on political agenda, new lobbying survey shows]]> Brussels, 12 October, 2009 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, today released a survey on attitudes of European political and policy elites across 15 European countries and the Brussels policy community towards lobbying. The study found wide variations in different countries in the way European political elites view and accept lobbying as a part of the governmental decision-making process.

Across Europe 48% of political elites believe that lobbying makes a positive contribution to the democratic process. This percentage was considerably higher in countries like Hungary and Italy where 67% of respondents felt that lobbying has a positive. However, in Poland just 3% of elites feel that lobbying has a positive impact on democracy.

“The tremendous variation in the way the political class of different European countries view lobbying has clear implications for the way lobbyists need to operate in these countries,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller EMEA, at the launch of the report today in Brussels. “This survey increases our knowledge of effective lobbying techniques and provides a useful guide to the perceptions of politicians and officials in Europe. The report also underscores the need for lobbyists to be transparent.”

Participating in the launch of the survey, Vice-President Siim Kallas, European Commissioner for Administration, Audit and Anti-Fraud, stated that “This report gives lobbyists an insight into what techniques and channels are most effective: it shows that public officials are more likely to listen to transparent lobbyists with a targeted message in their field of interest. That reassures me, and should reassure the public." Commissioner Kallas contributed the foreword to the survey.

This is the fourth Burson-Marsteller survey to focus on lobbying, however this report expands coverage to 15 national European countries and Brussels from the EU-institutional focus in the three previous reports. This survey is based on over 500 interviews carried out by Penn, Schoen & Berland (PSB) on behalf of Burson-Marsteller and our partners in six of the European countries surveyed, during the period February to July 2009. The interviews involved a basic series of 18 questions to identify perceptions among policy elites about lobbying and lobbyists. They were conducted either online, by phone or face-to-face with politicians (both Members of national Parliaments (MPs) and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)) and senior officials from national governments and the European institutions.

Transparency is also a major theme of the survey. Sixty-four percent of all respondents across Europe believe that lobbyists must clearly identify themselves and their interest in any lobby group (industry or NGO) is a pre-requisite by a majority of national and EU-level regulators a declaration of interest to meet with the lobby. However, there was again differing results from country-to-country.
In Spain only 26% of respondents thought transparency a pre-requisite compared to 83% in Greece.

The findings also point to a much greater effectiveness on the part of industry when compared to NGO lobbying in all industry sectors with the exception of consumer goods, food & drink where both are equally effective. Trade associations come out as the most effective lobbying group, followed by trade unions and companies. NGOS follow in fourth place just ahead of public affairs consultancies.


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About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com and www.burson-marsteller.eu), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and programme execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 72 offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP, one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

About Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates (PSB)
Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates (www.psbresearch.com), a member of the WPP group and part of Burson-Marsteller, is a global research-based consultancy that specialises in messaging and communications strategy for blue-chip political, corporate and entertainmentclients. PSB has over 30 years of experience specialising in bringing the lessons from the political campaign trail into the corporate boardroom to give clients the strategic insights they need to beat the competition. PSB has worked on nearly 200 political campaigns and has been personal political and strategic advisor to more than 30 heads of state or prime ministers.

Contact:
Lawrie McLaren
Chairman of the European Public AffairsBurson-Marsteller
Tel: +32 (0)2 743 66 00
Email: lawrie.mclaren@bm.com
www.burson-marsteller.eu

For social media release please click here]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller enters exclusive partnership with three leading agencies in the Baltics ]]> Zurich, 11 August 2009 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, announced today that it has established a significant presence in the Baltic region through entering exclusive affiliate agreements with three leading agencies in the Baltic region. The three agencies are: BVRG in Lithuania, Hamburg & Partners in Estonia and Mediju tilts in Latvia.

“The agreements with our three new partners BVRG, Hamburg & Partners and Mediju tilts represent another significant addition to our EMEA network that many of our current and future clients will benefit from. With the highest growth rates in Europe between 2000 and 2006, the Baltic States are an increasingly important and demanded region and we are very pleased to enter partnerships with these companies that are all leading agencies in their country thanks to their comprehensive market knowledge and communications expertise,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Europe, Middle East & Africa.

BVRG is an experienced player in the Lithuanian PR market having implemented hundreds of public relations projects for Lithuanian and international companies and organisations. The agency has particular experience in the area of Public Institutions. “The new partnership with Burson-Marsteller enables us to provide our clients with the full range of services in every area as well as essentially expand our client portfolio,” said Jonas Blinstrubas, founder and CEO of BVRG.

Hamburg & Partner has a strong senior team with broad communications consulting experience in both the state and private sector. The company was established in 2005 and has since become the fastest growing agency in Estonia. “We are very pleased to be partnering with Burson-Marsteller and to be able to offer our clients the best in international strategic communications counsel,” said Indrek Raudjalg, Managing Partner of Hamburg & Partner.

Mediju tilts was founded as a political consultancy and is today one of the oldest PR agencies with the largest team in Latvia. Their professionalism and loyalty is reflected in the many longstanding relationships with their clients. “It is a good signal to the Baltic region that companies like Burson-Marsteller decide to establish partnerships here. We look forward to working together to build our respective businesses,” said Laura Minskere, Co-founder and Chairwoman of Mediju tilts.

“Due to the economic growth of the “Baltic Tigers” we have seen more and more requests for agency representation in this region. We evaluated a number of agencies in our search for partners and are certain that BVRG, Hamburg & Partners and Mediju tilts are the right choice because of their professional approach to communications and their well established networks in the region. All three are full-service communications agencies with the same commitment to their clients as Burson-Marsteller,” commented Roman Geiser, Managing Director, Affiliates & Acquisitions EMEA at Burson-Marsteller.

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About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 72 offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

About BVRG (Lithuania)
BVRG (www.bvrg.lt) is a full-service public relations company which was established in 1998. It employs 17 public relations consultants and is a Top4 PR Agency in Lithuania, according to the Verslo zinios, a financial daily, (January 2008) . The company’s key expertise areas are Corporate Communications, Institutional Communication & Public Affairs, Brand Communication, Event Management and Crisis Communication. BVRG’s clients include the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, the Ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs, Education, Social Security and Labor; Apple, Carlsberg Group, Eurovaistinė, Mepha, Lietuvos draudimas, Lietuvos Energija and Tall Ships Races Baltic 2009.

About Hamburg & Partners (Estonia)
Hamburg & Partners (www.hamburg.ee) is an independent full service communications consultancy located in Tallinn, Estonia. The company has been established in 2005 and has become since then the fastest growing agency in Estonia. Hamburg & Partners is privately owned by two partners and has currently 10 employees, most of which are senior consultants with more than 10 years of experience in communications, PR, advertising or journalism. The company has a wide network in the areas of business, public affairs, media and PR. Clients include more than 20 local and international clients, including Tallink, Renault, Pernod Ricard, NCC, K-rauta. According to the leading business daily Äripäev, Hamburg & Partners is the No. 1 PR company in Estonia.

About Mediju tilts (Latvia)
PR agency Mediju tilts (www.medijutilts.lv) is a full-service PR agency and was founded in 1996 as one of the first political consultancies of the country. Mediju tilts reputation is based on its entrepreneurial approach, loyalty and longstanding client relationships. The agency provides highly effective PR and communications services to clients such as Accenture, Cisco Systems, Panasonic, Roche, JTI, University of Latvia, Baltkom TV, Low office Raidla, Lejiņš & Norcous, Latvia Post, Riga municipality and Riga city Transportation Company. According to a survey conducted by Dienas bizness, Latvia’s largest business daily, Mediju tilts has been the No. 1 agency in Latvia for the past five years (2004-2008).

Contacts:

For Burson-Marsteller
Katarina Wallin Bureau
Managing Director, EMEA Strategy
Burson-Marsteller
Tel: +32 473421141
Email: katarina.wallinbureau@bm.com

For BVRG (Lithuania)
Jonas Blinstrubas
CEO
BVRG
Mesiniu st. 5/2, LT-01133 Vilnius, Lithuania
Phone: +370-5 2153377
E-mail: jonas@bvrg.lt

For Hamburg & Partners (Estonia)
Indrek Raudjalg
Managing Partner
Hamburg Büroo Llc.
Roosikrantsi 2, Tallinn 10119, Estonia
Phone: +372-6 110 105
E-mail: info@hamburg.ee

For Mediju tilts (Latvia)
Laura Minskere
Co-founder and chairwoman
PR agency Mediju tilts
Dzirnavu str. 43 – 4, Riga, LV 1010, Latvia
Phone: +371 67282816
E-mail: Laura.Minskere@medijutilts.lv

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller and Mikhailov & Partners launch strategic partnership]]> Moscow, 24 June, 2009 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy and Mikhailov & Partners today announced a strategic partnership for Russia and the CIS countries.

Mikhailov & Partners is a leading strategic communications consultancy covering Russia and other CIS markets. Their clients include leading Russian and international companies, financial groups, non-governmental organisations, charity foundations, government agencies and public associations. Mikhailov & Partners hold leading positions in some of the most prestigious ratings in the fields of PR, IR and communications consulting.
“This partnership is an important strategic move for Burson-Marsteller and lays the foundation for a long-term relationship and future expansion,” commented Mark Penn, Worldwide President & CEO Burson-Marsteller. “Russia represents a growing and strategically important market for communications services and one where we are committed to growing. We have already been working there for many years and look forward to building on this with the outstanding team from Mikhailov & Partners.”

“I am very pleased to be able to announce the partnership between Mikhailov & Partners and Burson-Marsteller while many experts are talking about transformations on the strategic communications market,” said Juliana Slaschova, President of Mikhailov & Partners. “The strategic partnership with Burson-Marsteller enables us to provide our clients with the full range of services in every area as well as essentially expand our client portfolio.”

“Burson-Marsteller has been looking for the right partner for several years. Our team carried out the review of potential partners and the market has matured rapidly and significantly since we left in 1998,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East & Africa. “Mikhailov has full-service strategic communications capabilities and the same commitment to client service as Burson-Marsteller. This is an extremely significant addition to our EMEA network. Our partnership also distinguishes itself from other agreements between Russian and international agencies in that we will truly cooperate as partners.”


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About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 72 offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.


About Mikhailov & Partners (www.m-p.ru)
Mikhailov & Partners. Strategic Communications Management is a leading Russian provider of strategic communications services. Founded in 1993, the company has a close-knit team of over 100 professionals specialising in financial, corporate, internal and social communications. They have conducted over a thousand communications campaigns for clients including BMW, Barclays Bank, The Coca-Cola Company, Gazprombank, DTEK, Rossiya Bank, Organising Committee Sochi 2014, ING, Interpipe, Ilim, Onexim Group, Total, National Media Group, PPF Investments, System Capital Management, VTB, Wintershall and other major Russian and international companies, investment banks, industrial groups and associations.

Contacts:

For Burson-Marsteller

Katarina Wallin Bureau
Managing Director, EMEA Strategy
Burson-Marsteller
Tel: +32 473421141
Email: katarina.wallinbureau@bm.com

For Mikhailov & Partners

Anastasia Taratina
Director, Business Development
Mikhailov & Partners
Tel : +7 495 956 3972
Email: Taratina@m-p.ru

]]> <![CDATA[Final European Election Prediction: EPP to win and centre-right to retain power]]>  

Brussels, 4 June 2009 –The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) is expected to remain the largest group in the next European Parliament with 262 seats, according to the final update of www.predict09.eu before the election results are announced on 7 June. This is a slight decrease in percentage terms from their size in the current Parliament (35% instead of 37%1).

The Socialist group (PSE) is now forecast to be considerably smaller than the EPP, down to approximately 194 seats (which is 26% of the seats, compared to their current 27%).

As a whole the new Parliament will be more fragmented, with more seats for most of the smaller parties. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), forecast to secure 85 seats, will be the third largest group, according to the researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science and Trinity College Dublin who carried out the research. A new European Conservative group, composed of the British Conservatives and their allies, if constituted, would be the
fourth largest group with 53 seats, according to the final predictions. The forecast also predicts that there will be approximately 50 anti-European and Extreme Right MEPs in the new Parliament.

“The combined forces of the centre-right are expected to be larger in the new Parliament than the combined forces of the centre-left, with about 43% and 39% of the seats each, compared to 42% for centre-right and 38% for the centre-left in the current Parliament.” said Professor Simon Hix.

The analysis is based on a statistical model of the performance of national parties in European Parliament elections since 1979, developed by two leading political scientists: Professor Simon Hix and Professor Michael Marsh (Trinity College Dublin), assisted by Nick Vivyan (London School of Economics and Political Science). For an explanation of their methodology, see www.predict09.eu. The forecast was commissioned by Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy.

There is some cheer for the Socialists: by last night, out of the 4678 visitors to predict09.eu who had taken part in a poll to decide who should be the next European Commission President, 50% voted for Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the former Danish Prime Minister who is currently the President of the Party of European Socialists. Monica Frassoni and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, for the Greens, are second with 22%; the 'Liberals’ Guy Verhofstadt is on 9% and outgoing Commission President Barroso comes fourth, at just 8%. 11% of visitors voted ‘none of the above’.

Press contacts:
Professor Simon Hix, LSE, Tel: +44 20 7955 7657, Email: s.hix@lse.ac.uk
Robert Mack, Burson-Marsteller Brussels, tel: +32 2 743 66 11, Email: robert.mack@bm.com


1 The total number of MEPs will fall from 785 in the current European Parliament to 736 in the new European Parliament

On line media partner:      

See the twitter conversation and statistics on the European elections at www.TweetElect09.eu

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller enters exclusive affiliate agreement with Zarakol]]> Istanbul, 2 June, 2009 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, on Friday 29 May announced an exclusive affiliate agreement with Zarakol in Turkey.

“Turkey is a growing and important market with an increasing number of international companies looking to invest here. The partnership with Zarakol represents a significant addition to our EMEA network that many of our current and future clients will benefit from and we are delighted to partner with the leading communications agency in the country. When I met with Necla Zarakol and her team earlier this year it was immediately obvious we had found the right partner” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Zarakol was established in 1992 by Necla Zarakol and has grown to become one of the leading communications service providers in Turkey. “We have been looking to partner with an international network for some time and we are delighted that we have come to an agreement with the leader in global strategic communications. This will no doubt lead to an increase in the number of international companies who use Zarakol for PR services in Turkey and allow access to our clients, many of whom who have interests around the world, to Burson-Marsteller. I am also convinced that our partnership will offer many opportunities for our employees both in terms of training and exciting client assignments,” said Necla Zarakol, founder and CEO of Zarakol.

Roman Geiser, Managing Director Affiliates & Acquisitions, Burson-Marsteller EMEA commented: “I evaluated a number of agencies in our search for a new partner in Turkey and Zarakol were the obvious fit with their strategic approach to communications. Burson-Marsteller had a longstanding and successful partnership with Capitol PR. We are very grateful that Capitol PR was the ambassador for our brand in Turkey over so many years and has been a true partner to Burson-Marsteller. However, the integration of Capitol PR into another international advertising network meant that we needed to look for a new partner in Turkey market which was independent from other agency networks and which had the same commitment to client service as Burson-Marsteller. In Zarakol we have found such a partner. We are very much looking forward to collaborating closely with our new partner agency in Turkey”. 


ENDS
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About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 72 offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.


About Zarakol
Zarakol Communication Services was established in early 1993 by Necla Zarakol as a boutique agency, to meet the communication needs of the non-governmental organizations. The company expanded in time and by 2001, it became the primary communication consultant for leading companies in Turkey. Especially known for its creative and reliable social responsibility projects, issue and crises management skills the company operates in all PR disciplines from corporate publications to marketing communications.


Contact:
Katarina Wallin Bureau
Managing Director, EMEA Strategy
Burson-Marsteller
Tel: +32 473421141
Email: katarina.wallinbureau@bm.com

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller EMEA launches TweetElect09.EU]]>

20 May, 2009 - Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, today launched www.tweetelect09.eu,a website that tracks and analyses discussions about the upcoming European Elections on the micro-blogging site ‘Twitter’ in 14 languages.

TweetElect09 builds on www.predict09.eu, a forecast by researchers from the London School of Economics and Trinity College and sponsored by Burson-Marsteller on the outcome of the June 2009 European Parliament elections.

“Politicians are increasingly using social media to communicate their ideas to voters and this platform brings together every “tweet” referring to the European Elections. This is the first time Twitter is being used during European Parliament elections and it is too early to say what impact this - or other social media - will have on voter interest or turnout long term. What is certain, however, is that social media is here to stay in elections and will become an ever more important way for politicians to communicate with - and segment - large sections of their electorate,” commented Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle-East and Africa.

TweetElect09 feeds all tweets referring to the European elections into the website almost as soon as they are twitted, meaning the platform is always up-to-date. Statistics are displayed on the number of “tweets” exchanged, the most talked about candidates per party and the most active countries. The website gives the visitor the option to filter the tweets by country to see what people are saying about the elections in the different Member States.

Burson-Marsteller has partnered with France 24, the non-stop international news channel, to provide video coverage of the elections alongside the Twitter conversation. Leading up to election day TweetElect09 will be screening various video clips about the European Elections made available by France 24. On 7 June, polling day in most countries, viewers will be able to follow live coverage of events as well as conversations unfolding on Twitter simultaneously starting at 9pm CET.

Anyone can join the discussion and have tweets appear on TweetElect09 by using the « #eu09 » hashtag when tweeting.

“TweetElect09 is a one stop shop to what is being said real-time about the European elections. It is the ultimate form of political campaigning and voter engagement in the digital age and it will be very interesting to see which countries in Europe are leading that trend. They are also likely to be the leaders in social media for future national elections,” said Stephanie Bonnet, Managing Director Burson Digital EMEA.

For Social Media Release please go here: http://www.oursocialmedia.com/brussels/bursonmarsteller-brussels/burson-marsteller-emea-launches-tweetelect09/



About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 72 offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 84 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

Contact:

Stéphanie Bonnet
Managing Director, Burson Digital EMEA
Burson-Marsteller
Tel: + 44 207 300 6139
Email: stephanie.bonnet@bm.com
Twitter account: http://twitter.com/monaco77


Tags : Burson-Marsteller, European Elections, European Parliament, Twitter

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller Appoints New CEO of Norway]]>
“Sigurd is one of the leading communications advisers in Norway. He has brought exceptional political experience and communications insight to Burson-Marsteller and to our clients, which include leading international corporations as well as some of Norway’s leading companies. During his time with us he has significantly grown our Public Affairs business. I am confident that his leadership, focus, drive and entrepreneurship will lead to us strengthening our position as the No 1 PR agency in Norway,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Grytten joined Burson-Marsteller in 2003 and is Managing Director and Head of Public Affairs Burson-Marsteller Oslo and Deputy Practice Leader, EMEA Public Affairs Practice. He is a former Member of Parliament in Norway for the Labour Party, President of the Norwegian European Movement and leader of the Labour Party in Bergen.

“I am excited to be taking over as CEO of the Norwegian business and to join the EMEA leadership team of one of the world’s leading international strategic communications firms. We have a senior and highly experienced team in Norway and a leading position in the Norwegian market. I look forward to building on this and further developing the strategic communications services we offer to the Norwegian market” said Sigurd Grytten.

Grytten takes over from Rune Mørck Wergeland, who has led the Norwegian office since the beginning of 2006. Rune will be leaving Burson-Marsteller.

“I am grateful to Rune for his many contributions to Burson-Marsteller during his time with us, in particular all he has done to ensure the growth of Burson-Marsteller Oslo into the No 1 PR agency in Norway,” said Jeremy Galbraith.

# # #

About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (http://burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 72 offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

Contact:

Katarina Wallin Bureau
Managing Director, EMEA Strategy
Burson-Marsteller
Tel: +32 473421141
Email: katarina.wallinbureau@bm.com
]]> <![CDATA[EPP to remain largest group in next European Parliament]]> Brussels 7 April 2009 – The centre-right European People’s Party is set to remain the largest group following the June European elections with approximately 249 seats , but with its share of seats down, from 37% to 33% of MEPs, according to an exclusive forecast by researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science and Trinity College, Dublin - released online today by Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy.


The forecast also predicts that the Socialist PSE group will win approximately 209 seats, which represents a slight increase in percentage terms, from 27% to 29% of MEPs. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) will secure approximately 88 seats, according to the researchers. A new European Conservative group, composed of the British Conservatives and their allies, are predicted to be the fourth largest group, with about 58 seats. The forecast predicts that there will be approximately the same number of anti-European and Extreme Right MEPs (about 45 in total) in the new Parliament as in the current Parliament.

“Whereas in the current European Parliament the combined forces of the centre-right are larger than the combined forces of the centre-left, in the new Parliament the centre-left and the centre-right will be evenly balanced, with about 41% of the seats each, compared to 38% for the centre-left and 40% for centre-right in the current Parliament.” said Professor Simon Hix.

“The even split between centre-right and centre-left forces in the next European Parliament will create a more complex environment for EU policy making and those seeking to influence its outcome. Burson-Marsteller and our EU public affairs network is uniquely placed to help our clients understand and operate in this new environment,” commented Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The analysis is based on a statistical model of the performance of national parties in European Parliament elections since 1979, developed by two leading political scientists : Professor Simon Hix and Professor Michael Marsh (Trinity College Dublin), assisted by Nick Vivyan (London School of Economics and Political Science) . The forecast has been commissioned by Burson-Marsteller.

The predictions will be updated each week online at www.predict09.eu until the elections on 4-7 June. Visitors to the site can also vote for their choice of next President of the European Commission.

Press contacts:
Professor Simon Hix, LSE, tel: +44 7917 864 893, Email: s.hix@lse.ac.uk
Robert Mack, Burson-Marsteller Brussels, tel: +32 2 743 66 11, Email: robert.mack@bm.com

The total number of MEPs will fall from 785 in the current European Parliament to 736 in the new European Parliament elected in June
The methodology behind this prediction of the outcome in the June 2009 elections is based on vote-shares each national party received in all the previous European Parliament elections since 1979 in all 27 member states as well as on opinion polls, modified with information about the vote-share a party received at the previous national election, whether a party is in government, whether a national party is an anti-European party, and whether the European election was held within a year of a previous national election. For more detail about the methodology, please go to www.predict09.eu



]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller appoints Petra von Rohr new CEO of Sweden]]> Stockholm, 31 March, 2009 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, today announced it has appointed Petra von Rohr as CEO of its operations in Sweden, effective 14 April. Petra takes over from Anders Bylund who will become Chairman and leader of the company’s EMEA Crisis practice.

“I am delighted that Petra has decided to join Burson-Marsteller to lead our Swedish office and become part of the EMEA leadership team. She brings a winning combination of business and communications experience, and I am confident that her leadership qualities combined with her enthusiasm and drive will have a major impact on the continued growth of Burson-Marsteller in Sweden. I would also like to thank Anders Bylund for his great work as CEO over the past six years and for taking on the leadership of one of our most important practices in EMEA - crisis communications,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Petra von Rohr was until September 2008 CEO of Remium, the leading investment bank focusing on small cap companies in Sweden. She has previously held leadership positions at the PR-agency Patriksson Communication and the advertising agency Graceland Stockholm, where she grew both businesses and counted a large number of leading Swedish and international companies as her clients. Petra began her career as a financial analyst initially within the equity research team of Cazenove & Co in London and subsequently at UBS in Stockholm where she was rated by Reuters as the third best analyst in Europe covering the retail sector. In 2007 a leading Swedish business weekly, Affärsvärlden, listed her as one of the top 30 business people under 40 in Sweden.

“I am very excited about joining the world’s leading strategic communications consultancy. There is a very strong team in the Stockholm office with a track record of delivering concrete business results for clients. I have ambitious plans to grow the business over the coming years. I want to expand the number of strategic communications services we provide, in particular recognising the services that companies look for in times of economic uncertainty, such as change communications” said Petra von Rohr.

“I look forward to working with Petra and am confident that our strengthened leadership team will be a huge asset in driving the business forward. At the same time I will be focusing on maintaining Burson-Marsteller’s leading position in crisis communications across the region,” said Anders Bylund.

About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 71 offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller named EMEA Region Consultancy of the Year by the Holmes Report]]> Brussels, 15 December 2008 – Burson-Marsteller has been awarded the prestigious title of ‘Consultancy of the Year’ in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region by the Holmes Report.

The Holmes Report awarded Burson-Marsteller this title for its achievements over the past 12 months. The growth the consultancy has seen over the past 12 months has been fuelled by what EMEA Chief Executive Jeremy Galbraith calls the ‘One EMEA strategy’, a strategy to integrate offices, practices, and products across the region.

In 2008 Burson-Marsteller extended its regional reach beyond Europe and into the Middle East and Africa, with the acquisition via parent company WPP of Asda’a (now Asda’a Burson-Marsteller) the leading agency in the Middle East ASDA’A and affiliate relationship with South African firm Arcay Communications, which runs a truly indigenous pan-African network.

Jeremy Galbraith said: “Being recognised as EMEA Region Consultancy of the Year is a result of the fantastic work done by our team in EMEA and the trust that our clients place in us. 2008 has been a year of tremendous growth, with significant new business, some of the best talent in our industry coming to work for us and helping our clients on a wide range of campaigns that integrate our digital expertise and span different practices. The momentum we have built with our One EMEA strategy means that we are in a strong position for 2009.”

The announcement of the award came as part of the Holmes Report’s fifth annual EMEA Report Card. The firms honoured will be presented with their trophies at the annual SABRE (Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation) Awards dinner in Stockholm next May.


About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 71 wholly-owned offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

]]> <![CDATA[Arab youth optimism about future surpasses that of Western peers]]> Arab youth optimism about future surpasses that of Western peers, according to first
ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller survey

•  Saudi, Jordanian and Emirati youth most optimistic in region
•  Economic insecurity dominates concerns among Arab and Western youth; two sides divided
   over importance of religion and traditional values
•  Survey based on 1,800 interviews in Middle East and West; compares youth attitudes in both
   regions
•  Results presented in Dubai by Burson-Marsteller Global CEO; followed by high-profile panel
   debate of survey findings
•  Marks relaunch of ASDA’A within global Burson-Marsteller network

Dubai, November 11, 2008: Arab youth are considerably more optimistic about the future than are their Western peers, according to the first ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey commissioned by ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, the leading public relations consultancy in the Middle East. Just 34% of Western youth feel their country is heading in the right direction, according to the survey. In contrast, Arab youth are considerably more optimistic, with 52% arguing their country is on the right course.

Among the Middle East states surveyed, 65% of Saudi youth, 60% of Jordanian youth and 57% of Emirati youth feel their country is heading in the right direction.

The survey of 1,800 young people between the ages of 18-24 was carried out in six Middle East states and three Western nations, and was unveiled today by ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, which has been formally relaunched within the global Burson-Marsteller network.

The rising cost of living and overall economic outlook is the overriding concern for both groups, including 43% of Western youth and 30% of their peers in the Arab world. Within the Middle East, Jordanian youth expressed the greatest level of fear for their financial security, with 42% highlighting this area. By comparison, just 23% of Qatari youth cited the rising cost of living and overall economic outlook as a central challenge.

While the survey shows that young people in the Middle East and the West share similar concerns – about the economy, their ability to live in a good area and stay in touch with their family – nowhere is the contrast between Arab and Western youth more pronounced than when examining the importance of religious belief. Some 68% of Middle East youth say that religion defines them as a person, compared to just 16% in the West.

“Today’s generation of young people, born as the Cold War was winding to a close and coming of age in a geopolitical landscape defined by the events of September 11th and its aftermath, are the first to be raised in a truly globalised environment,” said Burson-Marsteller Global CEO Mark Penn, former advisor to US President Bill Clinton and author of the recent bestseller Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes, who presented the findings today in Dubai. “This important study of the hopes, fears and aspirations of Arab and Western youth demonstrates how both groups are adapting to the forces of change – and how their values are evolving over time.”

Following the presentation in Dubai, ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller hosted the same evening a high-profile roundtable discussion, chaired by Mark Penn, examining the challenges and opportunities facing the youth of this dynamic region. Additional participants in the discussion included: Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman, Emaar Properties; Hassan Fattah, Deputy Editor, The National; Saudi Arabian academic and playwright Dr. Maisah Sobaihi; and Mohammed Saeed Harib, Managing Director of Lammtara Productions and creator and producer of the animated sitcom Freej.

“This fascinating study shows that Arab youth are generally more conservative than their Western peers. They are also far more idealistic and optimistic about the future,” said Joseph Ghossoub, President & CEO of The Holding Group.

“The strategic realignment between ASDA’A and Burson-Marsteller creates a winning combination of unmatched local experience and truly global reach,” said Jeremy Galbraith, Chief Executive Officer, Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa. “This landmark study, which examines trends in the West and Arab world, is indicative of the standard of best practice consultancy we provide to clients here in the Middle East and across the world.”

“Sixteen years after our agency first opened its doors in Dubai, we are very pleased to mark our relaunch by sharing these critical insights with the regional and international community,” said Sunil John, Chief Executive Officer, ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller. “Here in the Middle East, where one in five people is between the ages of 15-24, understanding this vital demographic is more important than ever. Comparing and contrasting these findings with the survey results from the West provides additional powerful insights.”

In September 2008, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, Inc. (PSB) and The Nielsen Company conducted some 1,800 interviews with respondents between the ages of 18-24 in six Middle East nations (Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) and three Western countries (Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States). The results have a margin of error of +/5.66% in the Middle East and +/5.7% in Western nations.

Piyush Mathur, Nielsen’s Regional Managing Director – Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, said: “The Arab Youth Survey is one of the largest studies of youth to have been conducted in the region, in terms of scope and respondent numbers. By comparing attitudes in the region and the West, the study also provides unique insights for a variety of audiences, especially marketers and the communications industry.”

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Editor’s Notes

About the ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey:
The ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey is a landmark research study into the hopes, fears and aspirations of the Arab world’s largest demographic: its youth population. Commissioned by ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, this proprietary research study contains 44 open and closed-ended questions on subjects ranging from optimism about the future and issues surrounding globalisation to questions of culture and values, and lifestyle and technology. Additional findings from the survey, which will provide useful insights for government, policymakers, NGOs, business and industry, will be released throughout the coming year.

About ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller:
Established in 1992, ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller (www.asdaa.com) is the region's leading public relations consultancy, with over 160 communications professionals in 11 fully-owned offices across the region. The agency provides services to governments, multinational businesses and regional corporate clients through its six practices in the sectors of Technology, Corporate, Finance, Healthcare, Consumer Marketing and Public Affairs. Its services include reputation management, media training, crisis & issues management, media relations, media monitoring and analysis and event management.

About Burson-Marsteller:
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 71 wholly-owned offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.


For further information, please contact:
Katarina Wallin Bureau
Burson-Marsteller EMEA
Tel: +32 2 7436608
Mob: +32473421141
e-mail: katarina.wallinbureau@bm.com

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller EMEA launches ‘Media Intelligence Suite’]]> Clients benefit from cutting-edge services to analyse business-critical media coverage

Frankfurt, 29. October, 2008 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, today launched a state-of-the-art Media Intelligence Suite for clients based in its Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

The Media Intelligence Suite contains a range of services giving clients real-time information and in-depth analysis of their presence in traditional and digital media. At its core is a web-based media monitoring and analysis tool, which integrates all relevant news content – from sources including online, print, broadcast, databases, newswires – onto one central website accessible to the client.

Because the articles are fed into the website almost simultaneously with their publication, the news platform is always up-to-date. A team of experienced Burson-Marsteller editors and consultants then assess and evaluate the articles according to their relevance to the client.

The client can also access the analytical reports and clippings at any time and monitor the editorial process – plus, in just a couple of clicks, create their own individual reports based on specific issues or business-critical key words.

Using the platform, Burson-Marsteller can create up-to-date statements on the company’s positioning in the media landscape.

“The Media Intelligence Suite allows our clients to measure coverage of their brand versus their competitors’ and track the evolution of opinion on issues critical to their business on an hourly, daily, weekly and monthly basis. This means they are better equipped to communicate proactively about their company, products, and key issues. It also means that, in times of crisis, they have instant access to the evaluated media coverage as it appears,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East & Africa.

In addition to the central news platform, the Media Intelligence Suite also includes:

- A global email newscast, sent to Board Executives and selected employees (tailored to a variety of end-user devices) every 24 hours together with a summary as well as the corresponding clippings.
- Media Portal, which offers a comprehensive daily news service on the client’s intranet. Advanced users of the media portal benefit from additional services such as search and archive functions for up to seven days, and RSS feeds separated by categories.

The suite also includes a “PR dashboard”, news alerts and tickers, trend and issue reports, as well as social media analysis.

Following its initial test phase in 2007, the media intelligence suite has been rolled out with leading companies from various industries such as consumer, lifestyle, banking, IT and telecoms.

With the digital age, the demand for professional media monitoring has changed fundamentally. Formerly, articles used to be manually collected and compiled into press reviews. But with today’s huge volume of information (generated by blogs, for example) in addition to traditional online and print media, within a few hours, compiling a press report for more than 20 European countries represents a budget and time commitment which is beyond most companies’ comfort zone.

Nikolaus Zumbusch, head of the technology and digital communications practice at Burson-Marsteller in Germany, which developed the Media Intelligence Suite, said: “Today, our customers want more than traditional media monitoring. What they need is a service that gathers worldwide business-critical news about them and their competitors on one platform, evaluates it and provides a basis for digital reports. This is what our Media Intelligence Suite can do for them.”

For more information and multi-media content, see our Social Media Release

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About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 71 wholly-owned offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.


]]> <![CDATA[Theo Zijdenbos moves from economiesuisse to the Executive Board of Burson-Marsteller Switzerland]]>
Theo Zijdenbos is currently working as Manager of Parliamentary Business/Public Affairs at Berne-based economiesuisse, which is the umbrella organisation representing the Swiss economy. From November he will be contributing his longstanding expertise in Public Affairs, Campaigning, Issue Management, Lobbying and Policy Affairs as Managing Director at Burson-Marsteller. At the same time, Zijdenbos will take up a position on the Executive Board and thus help determine development strategy at Burson-Marsteller.

In his current position, Zijdenbos is responsible for establishing and fostering contacts with the Swiss parliament and administration and also for the formulation of policies for economiesuisse members. Zijdenbos is a longstanding member of the Executive Board of economiesuisse and its precursor organisation “wf”, and headed the Brussels office of economiesuisse for several years. Zijdenbos grew up in Germany, Tunisia, Singapore, Australia and Switzerland, studied economics and constitutional law in Berne, and graduated from the University of Lugano as an Executive Master of Science in Communications Management (MScom).

“With his well-founded expertise in the area of Public Affairs and his years of experience at the interface between economics and politics, Zijdenbos represents a huge enrichment for Burson-Marsteller”, says Roman Geiser, Chairman of the Board at Burson-Marsteller Switzerland. “I look forward to my future involvement on the agency side, and also the chance to bring my political experience in a national and international consultancy environment to Burson-Marsteller”, is how Zijdenbos sees the move.

Contact :
Roman Geiser, Chairman of the Board at Burson-Marsteller Switzerland
T +41 (0)44 455 84 00
roman.geiser@bm.com

Theo Zijdenbos
T +41 (0)79 231 21 08

Please contact our website for more information: www.b-m.ch.


###


About Burson-Marsteller Switzerland
Burson-Marsteller Switzerland (www.b-m.ch) is one of the leading agencies for public relations and communications advisory services in Switzerland, with offices in Zurich, Berne and Genvea and an affiliated partner in Ticino. 51 communications experts provide services in the fields of business and financial communications, public affairs, healthcare and scientific communications, digital communications, media relations and crossmedia.

About Burson-Marsteller International
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and public affairs firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 58 wholly-owned offices and 67 affiliate offices, together operating in 79 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP Group plc, one of the world’s leading communications services networks.]]> <![CDATA[Thomas Werder joins the Executive Board of Burson-Marsteller, Switzerland]]> Zurich, 28 October 2008 – Burson-Marsteller Switzerland, a leading PR and communications agency with offices in Berne, Zurich and Geneva, is strengthening its consultancy and leadership skills. In mid-November 2008, Thomas Werder will take over management of the Corporate & Financial Communications business unit, and will also deputize as the CEO of Burson-Marsteller Switzerland.

Thomas Werder, formerly Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations at the SIG Group and also a Member of the Group Management Board, will be bringing his extensive experience in Corporate Communications and Investor Relations to Burson-Marsteller from November onwards. Before working at SIG, Thomas Werder was a member of the Group Management Board at Swisslog and a Member of the Executive Board at Day Software. In both these positions he was in charge of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. Further waypoints in Thomas Werder’s career were leading communications roles with Roger Federer Management and Radio DRS as well as a position as Senior Consultant with Trimedia.

“With his well-founded expertise in corporate and financial communications, Thomas Werder represents a huge enrichment for Burson-Marsteller", says Roman Geiser, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Switzerland. “With the addition of Thomas Werder we are taking a deliberate step to strengthen the areas of Financial and Capital Market Communications and Strategic Reputation Management ”, continues Roman Geiser. Thomas Werder: “At Burson-Marsteller, I look forward to working with a highly motivated and extremely capable interdisciplinary team. With its expertise in strategic consulting, its pronounced international slant and the extent of its offering, the company has exceptional prospects for growth.”

Under Thomas Werder’s management, the Corporate & Financial Communications business unit will be offering national and international clients a comprehensive range of services in corporate and financial communications with the focus on Corporate Reputation and Issue Management, Change & Organizational Performance, Corporate Responsibility, Financial and Transaction Advisory Services, and Crisis Communications. In addition to his management duties, Thomas Werder will also deputize for the CEO of Burson-Marsteller Switzerland.

Next to Thomas Werder on the Executive Board are Marie-Louise Baumann, Theo Zijdenbos (Public Affairs), Dr. Toula Stoffel (Healthcare), Martin Hofer (Media Relations & Training), Joanna Corsaro (Geneva office) and Roland Oberhauser (CFO). Burson-Marsteller Switzerland is headed by Roman Geiser.


Contact:
Roman Geiser, CEO Burson-Marsteller Switzerland
T +41 (0)44 455 84 00
roman.geiser@bm.com

For more information go to www.b-m.ch.

Contact:
Thomas Werder
T +41 (0)79 263 58 11
thomas.werder@sunrise.ch


###


About Burson-Marsteller Switzerland
Burson-Marsteller (www.b-m.ch) is a leading company for Public Relations and Communications Advice in Switzerland, with offices in Zurich, Berne and Geneva. With more than 50 employees, Burson-Marsteller Switzerland offers services in Corporate Communications, Financial Communications, Public Affairs, Health Care und Science Communications, Media Relations & Training, Communications in Energy & Environment, and Crossmedia Communications. The company is headed by Roman Geiser.

About Burson-Marsteller International
Burson-Marsteller (www.bm.com) was founded in the USA in 1953 and is one of the world’s leading Public Relations and Public Affairs agencies. B-M offers strategic advice and the implementation of communications plans in Public Relations, Public Affairs, advertising and web offerings. The global network comprises 58 local branches and 67 affiliated offices, which are active jointly in 79 countries on all continents. Burson-Marsteller is part of the Young & Rubicam network of agencies, a subsidiary of the WPP Group (NASDQ: WPPGY), one of the leading providers of communications services.

]]> <![CDATA[Study finds that a company’s ‘purpose’ can sustain itsperformance through tough economic times]]> Milan, 1 October, 2008 – A company’s ‘purpose’ can be its guiding star to sustaining financial performance through tough economic times, according to a corporate reputation study by Burson-Marsteller, the leading global public relations and communications consultancy. However, the study finds that there is an in-built tension between the two objectives, and that CEOs must find a way to strike the right balance.

“It is in a company’s interest to ensure that both CEOs and shareholders are aware of the symbiotic relationship between purpose and performance – and that one is not a trade-off for the other,” said Eric Gerritsen, Chair of the Burson-Marsteller Corporate Practice in EMEA. “A company’s Purpose statement includes corporate vision, mission and values, and is crucial for companies to establish long-term goals and expectations to attract and retain talent, to play a social role in the community and to provide a “raison d’être” beyond mere profit-making.”

“When tough economic times hit, the temptation is for companies to only focus on maintaining profits and margins. The challenge, however, is that by doing so they emerge with no clear purpose and an uncertain performance,” said Joanna Corsaro, Vice Chair, Burson-Marsteller EMEA Corporate Practice. “If a company has a clear purpose, this can support and guide top managers as they make strategic decisions to lead their organisations through the tough times. A well developed and communicated Purpose contributes to good performance and can deflect criticism, enabling companies to reward investors, be an attractive employer, support the social context, and thus create a long-term sustainable business cycle.”

The key findings of the Burson-Marsteller Purpose & Performance study are based on in-depth interviews conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland, the strategic research firm, with 200 leading corporate executives and opinion-makers — CEOs and presidents, government officials, journalists, NGOs, corporate communications professionals and academics – in 11 countries across Europe including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

• The vast majority believe that Purpose is more important today than it was five years ago. 90% agree that there is a much greater level of scrutiny of the purpose, vision and values aspects of a company now than five years ago.
• There is a tension between Purpose & Performance. Striking a balance between Purpose & Performance is one of the main corporate challenges today and in the future. Nearly three in five see a tension in focusing on both Purpose & Performance.
• Companies that deliver on both Purpose & Performance are viewed as role models and even deflect criticism. 69% believe companies that are effective at balancing Purpose & Performance are seen as role models in business for other companies to follow. 61% believe it is a company to partner with, and 58% would recommend the company as a good employer. 43% strongly agree they would believe in a company if it comes under public pressure.
• One company out of three does not verify employee’s understanding of the company’s Purpose. These companies do not measure how well their employees understand the company’s mission, vision and values.
• Most agree that CEOs need to drive a broader sense of Purpose with employees. There is agreement that it is important for a CEO to develop a sense of Purpose, not just Performance, amongst employees.
• There is a high level of consensus that no business survives without considering its impact on the wider world. The vast majority – 81% – see business is no longer defined by the short-term.
• Business reputation is driven mainly by Performance, but Purpose is gaining ground. Respondents cited that 59% of a company’s reputation is based on performance, and 41% is driven by Purpose.
• Apart from delivering growth, managing corporate reputation is most important to a CEO’s own standing. 67% rated growth as the most important factor to determine a CEO’s good reputation followed by managing corporate reputation (62%) and mission (56%). 48% believe corporate responsibility is very important.
• Balanced Purpose & Performance is important. More than half of respondents believe that Purpose & Performance is important, yet there is still a significant number who feel Performance is the ultimate measure.

###
About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 71 wholly-owned offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

Media Contacts

For Burson-Marsteller:

Eric Gerritsen
Chair, EMEA Corporate Practice
Burson-Marsteller
Tel: +39 06 688 9631

Joanna Corsaro
Vice Chair, EMEA Corporate Practice
Burson-Marsteller
Tel: +41 22 593 6921
Email: joanna.corsaro@bm.com
www.burson-marsteller.eu



-End-

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller launches website benchmarking product]]> Burson-Marsteller Website Benchmarking is one component of the broader “Digital Check-up” that Burson-Marsteller offers clients

London, 17 September 2008 - Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm today announced it is launching a new service which will offer a website benchmarking capability to clients. As part of its wide range of digital products, Burson-Marsteller adds a new perspective on analysing brand and corporate sites in an increasingly competitive web-context.

Burson-Marsteller has developed a website benchmarking methodology that shows how a website compares to the sites of direct competitors as well as other businesses in an industry or other organisations within a given field. The assessment provides recommendations on strategic improvements with a special focus on corporate communications and behavioural criteria that go beyond technological features.

The product, Burson-Marsteller Website Benchmarking, provides a tailored team of analysts for every client based on who their key stakeholders are. Analysts review the website and assess its performance based on their own individual perspectives. The analysis considers every single aspect of the site in comparison with competitors - from design, accessibility and usability to content and messaging.

Dialogue and engagement potential are key elements, in particular interactive features such as blogs, widgets, tag clouds, community pages with user-generated content, games and quizzes and RSS feeds.

“Every organisation has a broad spectrum of stakeholders ranging from customers, suppliers and employees to regulators and the media. How they perceive and respond to the organisation and its products or services depends on the range of "touch points" they are exposed to. In most cases, it is now the internet that is the primary point of contact for stakeholders, and the key differentiator of the Burson-Marsteller Website Benchmarking is that these groups are part of the review process. This provides a unique perspective on how well a website is responding to its stakeholders needs. These insights are crucial since there is never a second chance to make a first impression,” says Stéphanie Bonnet, Digital Practice Leader at Burson-Marsteller EMEA.

The Website Benchmarking report summarises the findings of the analysis and provides clients with a report card and plan of action to improve their positioning, perception and communications performance in the digital world.

The report includes charts that show how a site performs against the sites of competitors and peers for each of the criteria examined. Clients can quickly identify areas for improvement and best practices for their websites.

Clients are also provided with a set of actionable recommendations so that the research can trigger a programme of updates and changes that will create better interaction with stakeholders.

See brochure

Beyond Website Benchmarking
Burson-Marsteller Website Benchmarking is just one component of a broader assessment that Burson-Marsteller offers to clients as part of its “Digital Check-up”. This assessment is designed to help organisations determine their overall online health and positioning. The Digital Check-up provides clients with the essential information they need to integrate digital communications strategically into their marketing and communications mix, stay ahead of competitors and protect their corporate and brand reputation.

In addition to the Website Benchmarking, the Digital Check-up includes monitoring of blogs, discussion forums and chat rooms (CGM –Consumer Generated Media), mapping of blog influences, assessment of search engine performance, optimization and strategy, and review of social networks and opportunities for development.


About Burson-Marsteller Digital
Burson-Marsteller Digital develops communications strategies around social media/community, online reputation management, interactive experience design, digital business management, and mobile marketing on behalf of corporations, consumer brands, government agencies and other large organisations.

For multimedia content please click here

###

About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 71 wholly-owned offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.


For more information, please contact:

Stéphanie Bonnet: + 44 207 300 6139 stephanie.bonnet@bm.com
Desirée Collier: +44 207 300 6388 desiree.collier@bm.com

###

Appendix

Example of a report card



]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller and Smithfield enter Strategic Partnership Agreement]]> London, 10 September, 2008 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, and Smithfield, a leading UK based financial communications consultancy, today announced they are entering a strategic partnership to provide financial communications services.

“The combined strengths of Smithfield and Burson-Marsteller will give our clients access to a leading financial PR agency in the UK and Smithfield’s clients access to our global network and to our broad range of communications services. It will allow us to offer clients seeking financial communications services a seamless service and will build a strong transaction axis between key financial markets including the Middle East where we recently grew our presence and where we are seeing particular interest in London,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Smithfield is among the UK’s top financial PR consultancies and specialises in the areas of financial PR, mergers, acquisitions and divestments, share offer marketing, investor relations and strategic communications advice for financial service companies. It has worked successfully with some of Europe’s largest companies and won the award for “PR Firm of the Year” at the UK Pensions Awards 2008. It also won “Best Financial Media Relations Campaign of the Year” at CorpComms Magazine’s Awards Dinner in November 2007.

As a result of the agreement, Burson-Marsteller’s financial practices in New York, Frankfurt, Zurich, Milan, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore and the Middle East will now partner with one of the UK’s leading financial PR agencies.

“We are delighted to announce our partnership with Burson-Marsteller,” said John Antcliffe, CEO of Smithfield. “The global Burson-Marsteller brand, together with our strong position in financial communications in the UK, will create a winning partnership and means we can offer a wider range of communications services to our clients, building on our international track-record over the past 10 years.”

“In recent years, London’s claim to being the world’s financial centre has gone from strength to strength. Increasingly, clients from all parts of the globe are looking to target London’s investment community and our partnership with Smithfield greatly enhances our communications offering,” said Jonathan Jordan, CEO Burson-Marsteller UK.

###

About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (http://burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 71 wholly-owned offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s leading communications services networks.


About Smithfield
Smithfield (http://smithfieldgroup.com) is a leading financial communications consultancy that combines extensive experience with innovative thinking and a cross-border capability. Established in 1998, Smithfield has successfully worked with some of Europe’s largest companies. Recent projects include advising:
• Scottish & Newcastle on its £7.8 billion acquisition by Carlsberg/Heineken
• AkzoNobel on its £8.0 billion acquisition of ICI
• Greensands on its £4.2 billion acquisition of Southern Water
• Henkel on its £420 million acquisition of Right Guard
• Red Football on its £790 million acquisition of Manchester United


Media contacts

For Burson-Marsteller:
Katarina Wallin Bureau
Managing Director, EMEA Strategy
Burson-Marsteller
Tel: +32 2 7436608
Email: katarina.wallinbureau@bm.com
www.burson-marsteller.eu

For Smithfield:
John Antcliffe, Chief Executive
Tel : 44 20 7903 0665
Email : jantcliffe@smithfieldgroup.com
John Kiely, Managing Director
Tel: 44 20 7903 0667
Email: jkiely@smithfieldgroup.com
www.smithfieldgroup.com

]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller Appoints New CEO of the Netherlands]]> Amsterdam, 1 September, 2008 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, today announced it has appointed Kees Boef as CEO of the firm’s Netherlands operations, effective 1 November 2008. He succeeds Aafke Huininga, who took over in early 2007 as the Dutch Market Leader. Huininga will retire as planned in mid-2009.

“I am delighted that we were able to attract someone of Kees’ calibre, with significant experience in business, media and politics, including as a special adviser to the then Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok. Kees Boef is a seasoned professional and we look forward to welcoming him to our team. I also want to thank Aafke for her great work at Burson-Marsteller for nearly two decades,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA).

Boef is currently Group Director for Public Affairs at TNT, the global postal and express group, where he is responsible for national and European lobbying in close cooperation with strategic and media communications. He recently worked with TNT CEO Peter Bakker to develop a government-commissioned report on reform of the Dutch labour market. At TNT he previously served as Group Director Postal Alliances and as Director of Public Affairs for TNT Post. Prior to that, he was a project manager at the public health ministry, where he was in charge of a major efficiency savings operation, and special adviser to Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok. Boef is a Dutch native and studied public administration (specialising in economics and internal organisation and management) at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

“I am excited to be joining one of the leading international strategic communications firms. I am attracted by the large number of great brands Burson-Marsteller advises in the Netherlands as well as its excellent reputation for crisis and corporate communications. I look forward to building on this experience, in particular in strengthening and expanding Burson-Marsteller's Dutch Public Affairs practice. I am also delighted to be working together with a great team of people and to work with them to take Burson-Marsteller’s Dutch business to the next level”, said Kees Boef.

“Over the past 18 months, we have produced excellent client work and have seen solid business growth in the Netherlands. I am looking forward to working with Kees over the next year and introducing him to the Burson-Marsteller global network”, said Aafke Huininga.
]]> <![CDATA[BURSON-MARSTELLER LAUNCHES THE FIRST EUROPEAN SOCIAL MEDIA RELEASE PLATFORM]]> New digital news distribution service rolled out

Brussels, 31 July, 2008 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, today announced the launch of its proprietary Social Media Release – a service that will enable clients to author and publish news content in a format optimised for distribution to social media outlets. The service is based on the open source blogging software, Wordpress, and customised to meet the specific requirements of bloggers and online publications.

The service has been under development to reflect feedback from a survey of bloggers and journalists across Europe. A report based on the results of the survey will be released in September.

Engaging with more than 100 bloggers from eight European countries over the past three months, Burson-Marsteller’s EMEA Technology practice asked how bloggers usually receive information from companies and which format they would prefer. Their comments and suggestions have been incorporated into a platform for social media releases with specific features that enable multimedia content, limit heavy e-mails, open up discussion and allow for the sharing of information on the most important social networks.

A key benefit of the service is that clients and Burson-Marsteller client teams can use the tool with minimal training and it is possible to build and publish a social media release within minutes. The releases will be stored and classified so users will be able to sort them by date and company.

All text and visual content related to the announcement is linked and downloadable from a single web page. The tool allows users to upload multimedia content to the web page, including: PDF files, links to other websites, video files, podcasts and high resolution photography. The tool also allows users to optimise the press release for search engines through bookmarks and the hyper-linking of key words.

The Social Media Release tool has already been adopted by some of Burson-Marsteller’s key clients in Europe including Adobe and Symantec. Commenting on the tool, Elena Bersani, PR Manager Southern EMEA at Adobe Systems said:

“Burson-Marsteller offered us a great tool which was a first step to developing a structured blogger relations program. We already had the content to be shared with bloggers, but the social media release developed by Burson-Marsteller helped us gather and distribute it in a way that was suitable and interesting for user generated media.”

Commenting on the new service, the Head of the Burson-Marsteller EMEA Technology practice, Tommaso Valle, said: “As a tool for corporate information distribution, the traditional news release has been in decline for many years. However, at the same time, the Web offers a tremendous opportunity for our clients to publish content directly to a far wider audience. We have built this tool in a way that will allow our clients to publish news content rapidly, at minimal cost and in a format that works for new social media outlets.”

For more information, please visit the homepage here: www.oursocialmedia.com]]> <![CDATA[B-M appoints Chris Cartwright to new role as head of Corporate, Issues and Technology Practice]]>
The CIT practice was formed last year to provide clients with an extensive range of integratedservices and its sub practices include Energy & Environment, Corporate Responsibility, Issues and Crisis Management, Internal Communications, Media Strategy, Executive Thought Leadership and Information and Communications Technology.

In his new role, he will be responsible for team of approximately 35 consultants with a range of clients that include Bacardi, De Beers, Royal Dutch Shell, Alcatel-Lucent, Accenture, HSBC, Hewlett Packard, Sony Ericsson, SAP and Vestas.

CIT is one of the fastest growing practices within Burson-Marsteller and Cartwright’s role will be to formulate and deliver a vision for continued growth, identify new business opportunities and take a leadership role in exploiting them. The practice has been run on an interim basis by the previous incumbent, UK CEO, Jonathan Jordan and a team of five directors.

“Chris has an excellent track record and a proven ability to retain clients and grow business. His leadership attributes are first rate and he will make a great addition to the team that is driving Burson-Marsteller to new levels of success,” said Jonathan Jordan.

Chris Cartwright commented,” I am thrilled to have this opportunity to lead a very exciting growth area for Burson-Marsteller. The position ticks all the boxes for me - smart people, stimulating work, great clients, at an agency with a genuine global footprint - and I am looking forward to joining Jonathan's management team at an exciting time for B-M in the UK."

Cartwright joined Harvard PR two years ago as MD – and under his watch the agency won clients such as Cisco, Adobe, RightNow, and Stonesoft as well as re-pitching and retaining the coveted Vodafone business.

Previously he was a director at Brands2Life and ran its European Services offering as well as leading the Cisco and PeopleSoft accounts. He spent seven years at Bite’ - latterly as its corporate practice head, where he brought on board clients such as DHL, the BBC, Cornwall Enterprise and Deutsche Post.
]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller enters exclusive partnership with Lift Consulting in Portugal]]> Lisbon, 8 July 2008 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, today announced an exclusive affiliate partnership with Lift Consulting, a leading Portuguese communications consultancy specialising in reputation management, public relations and public affairs.

“The partnership with Lift Consulting will add to our strategic reach in southern Europe and the Iberian peninsula where we are committed to growing,” commented Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East & Africa.

The agreement replaces Burson-Marsteller’s previous non-exclusive affiliate partnership with C&C –Consultores de Comunicação, Lda. Lift Consulting established its reputation as one of the most respected communications consultancies in Portugal through a strong track record of high media impact communications activities and from having managed the communications of some of the most respected national and international companies operating in Portugal.

“I am very pleased to be able to announce the partnership between Lift Consulting and Burson-Marsteller,” said Salvador da Cunha, Managing Director of Lift Consulting. “I am delighted that I will be responsible for the Burson-Marsteller brand in Portugal. We will be able to offer our clients the best in strategic, integrated communications counsel and effective implementation, based on Burson-Marsteller’s knowledge, insights, research and innovation, and my communications experience in Portugal.”
 
“I carried out the review of potential partners in Portugal which is a growing market for our services,” said Roman Geiser, Managing Director Affiliate Relations and Acquisitions EMEA at Burson-Marsteller. “Salvador da Cunha is one of Portugal’s most respected PR professionals, with great international experience, who has done impressive client work in the past. We were searching for an affiliate that could offer us an exclusive partnership and are very pleased to have Lift Consulting onboard as a partner and as part of our EMEA network”.]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller Enters Exclusive Pan-African Affiliate Partnership with Arcay Communications]]> Brussels/Johannesburg, 3 June, 2008 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, today announced an exclusive affiliate partnership with Arcay, a leading South African consultancy with headquarters in Johannesburg and an extensive affiliate network throughout the African continent.

Arcay Communications offers clients a comprehensive range of communications services, including corporate and financial communications, public affairs and marketing communications. Arcay also offers clients seamless execution combined with local market expertise in more than 40 countries through its unrivalled affiliate network Arcay Communications Africa – the agreement with Burson-Marsteller covers operations in countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Botswana, Morocco, Rwanda and Burundi, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, Mauritius and Tunisia, with operations extending to the countries around them.

“Arcay is the leading consultancy in the region and this agreement gives us pan-African reach. Together with our new partner in the Middle East announced May 29th, it creates an even more outstanding Burson-Marsteller EMEA network,” said Mark Penn, worldwide CEO of Burson-Marsteller.

“Experience has taught us that it is the ‘home grown’ communications solution - the combination of local insight, understanding and in-country implementation with regional co-ordination, reporting and strategy direction - which multinational organisations doing business in the growing and lucrative African markets seek,” commented Robyn de Villiers, Chairman, Arcay Communications. “It is our tailored for Africa service offering and our reach which give Arcay Communications the edge.”

“This deal offers us and our clients the ability to undertake communications campaigns across the whole continent of Africa and this is something we have seen increasing client demand for,” commented Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA). “We are committed to growing in Africa and delighted to partner with Arcay who have a long and distinguished history there, having been established in Johannesburg for over 18 years.”

]]> <![CDATA[Asda’a Burson-Marsteller merger creates pan-regional network in the Middle East]]> Brussels, 29 May, 2008: Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, and Asda’a, the leading public relations company in the Middle East region, have created a merged regional network covering all major markets in the Middle East.

The move follows WPPs Group plc’s majority investment in Middle East communications leader The Holding Group (THG). WPP Group is one of the world’s leading communications services networks and is the parent company of Burson-Marsteller through WPP subsidiary Young & Rubicam Brands. Asda’a is part of THG. The merged business will be renamed Asda’a Burson-Marsteller and will be fully integrated into Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa.

“I am proud that Burson-Marsteller continues to expand our network into even more places around the globe,” commented Mark Penn, worldwide CEO of Burson-Marsteller.

Joseph Ghossoub, THG President and CEO, said the combined strengths of Burson-Marsteller’s global network and best practices and Asdaa’s successful strategic communications delivery across the diverse Middle East market brings unparalleled reach and resources to clients across the region.

“This is a logical and positive step that will create significant opportunities for growth and development for employees and clients,” said Mr. Ghossoub.

Sunil John, Managing Director of Asda’a Public Relations, said: “We are delighted to be able to announce our partnership with Burson-Marsteller. The global Burson-Marsteller brand together with our leading position in the Middle East is a winning combination. We look forward to sharing knowledge and best practice and for our employees, across our 11 fully-owned office network in the region, to benefit from some of the opportunities that Burson-Marsteller has to offer such as access to their practices and products, training and on-line resources.”

“We are extremely pleased to be integrating Asda’a into Burson-Marsteller EMEA and to be able to welcome 160 new professionals into our network. I look forward to working closely together and to developing our joint strategy for the Middle East region,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA).

]]> <![CDATA[Karen Winterhalter joins Burson-Marsteller as Lead]]> London, 30 April, 2008 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and public affairs firm, today announced that Karen Winterhalter has been appointed Leader of the European Healthcare Practice. She will be based in Burson-Marsteller’s London office and will assume her new role on 6 May.

Karen brings extensive healthcare communications experience to the role of European Practice Leader, having owned and managed Onyx Health Ltd., a boutique healthcare communications firm which she established four and half years ago. Prior to establishing Onyx, Karen held the position of European Director of Healthcare with Weber Shandwick. Karen writes her own blog and brings significant insight into on-line healthcare communications.

“This is a really exciting opportunity, especially given the serious investment that Burson-Marsteller is making in the healthcare sector on a global basis, as evidenced by the recent appointment of a Global Practice Chair, Gail Cohen. My focus will be to grow Burson-Marsteller’s pan-European network capabilities as well as strengthen the existing business in key markets across Europe,” said Karen.

“We are extremely pleased to have Karen leading one of our core European practices. She brings numerous strengths to the job, having both a medical background and having founded and grown her own healthcare business, Onyx Health. Karen has also been in a similar pan-European role before and, importantly for Burson-Marsteller, has a strong digital focus in her work. Her appointment is part of our commitment to investing in our thirteen European practices,” commented Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Europe, Middle East and Africa.]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller enters exclusive partnership]]> Warsaw, 22 April, 2008 – Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and public affairs company, today announced an exclusive affiliate partnership with Solski PR and the creation of Solski Burson-Marsteller. This marks the return of the Burson-Marsteller brand to Poland after seven years.

“Re-entering Poland is an important strategic move for Burson-Marsteller. The partnership with Ryszard Solski is intended to be a long-term relationship and Solski Burson-Marsteller will be our exclusive representative for public relations activities in Poland,” commented Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East & Africa. “We are committed to growing in the strategic markets of Central and Eastern Europe and obviously Poland is a key market in this region.”

“We carried out an extensive review of the Polish market and met a number of potential partners. During this process Ryszard Solski indicated to us that he was going to establish his own agency and this presented us with a unique opportunity to help shape and support a new PR agency in Poland and importantly gave us the ability to gradually acquire the company over a period of years. In the agreement we finalised and signed yesterday we have an option to take a 30% stake in Solski Burson-Marsteller after 12 months,” Jeremy Galbraith continued.

“I carried out the review of potential partners in Poland and the market has clearly matured quickly and significantly,” said Roman Geiser, Managing Director Affiliate Relations and Acquisitions EMEA of Burson-Marsteller. “We met many very professional agencies but it turned out that the timing was right for both Burson-Marsteller and Solski PR. Ryszard Solski is one of Poland’s most respected PR professionals, with great international experience, who has done very impressive client work in the past.”

“I am very pleased to be able to announce the partnership between Solski PR and Burson-Marsteller,” said Ryszard Solski, founder and owner of Solski PR. “I was disappointed when Burson-Marsteller left Poland, but am even more delighted that I will be responsible for their brand in the market now they have taken the decision to come back. We will be able to offer our clients the best in strategic, integrated communications counsel and effective implementation, based on Burson-Marsteller’s knowledge, ideas, insights, research and innovation, and my communications experience in Poland.”
 
Burson-Marsteller will continue to work with CEC Government Relations for Public Affairs support in Poland. Solski Burson-Marsteller and CEC Government Relations will work closely together.

In October 2007 Burson-Marsteller announced an exclusive affiliate partnership with Austrian Hochegger group, covering nine Central and East European countries. They include Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.]]> <![CDATA[Burson-Marsteller Europe is awarded Agency]]> London, 14 December, 2007 – Burson-Marsteller Europe last night won the European Excellence Award for Agency of the Year in a ceremony held at the Ritz Carlton in Berlin, from a shortlist that included Hill & Knowlton, Weber Shandwick, MMD and Shire Communications.

400 guests attended the launch event of the European Excellence Awards, hosted and organised by Communication Director, the magazine for corporate communications and public relations in Europe. The jury included leading in-house and agency communications professionals from across Europe. http://www.excellence-awards.eu/

“Being recognised as Agency of the Year is a result of the fantastic work done by our team in Europe and the trust that our clients place in us. 2007 has been a year of growth, with significant new business including three new global clients led by Europe, some of the best talent in our industry coming to work for us and helping our clients on a wide range of campaigns that integrate our digital expertise and span different practices. The momentum we have built suggests that 2008 could be even better,” commented Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe.

Burson-Marsteller also won awards in the categories Technologies (Advocate/Burson-Marsteller Greece) and Financial Communication (Burson-Marsteller Italy).

Burson-Marsteller was shortlisted in 6 additional categories from a field of 600 applications:
Food & Beverage (Burson-Marsteller Spain and Burson-Marsteller Germany), National and Regional Campaigns (Burson-Marsteller Spain), Financial Communication (Burson-Marsteller Norway), Best Relaunch (Burson-Marsteller Denmark), Public Affairs (Donath Burson-Marsteller) and Issues & Reputation Management (Burson-Marsteller Norway).]]>