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| Chris Goddard |
French|West|Vaughan has acquired CGPR, a public relations and consumer brand marketing agency specializing in the active lifestyle, outdoor, ski, fashion, technology and travel sectors. Chris Goddard, who founded CGPR in 1993, will continue to lead the agency, which will be known as CGPR, an FWV Agency. Former energy, conservation and urban recreation lobbyist, Goddard has also worked at Carl Byoir and Edelman. “Chris and her team at CGPR have built an exceptional reputation in strategic branding and marketing communications,” said Rick French, FWV Chairman & CEO. “They specialize in some of the consumer lifestyle categories in which FWV also has a wealth of experience, so our combined resources and collective expertise will be impressive.”
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| Justin Tobin |
Innovation guidance firm DDG, which was founded in 2009 by former American Express vice president, interactive strategy and transformation Justin Tobin, has rebranded as Gather. The rebranded firm will be organized under three service areas. Gather Strategy will identify and create growth opportunities for clients, such as revenue identification, product design, agile business process implementation and data analytics. Gather Talent aims to help clients develop and organize their teams through services such as leadership development, organizational strategy and design, women’s leadership, and training and skill development. Gather Content offers content services including editorial ecosystem building and management, social strategy and execution, video and podcast production, branding and website development. Gather clients include IBM, Forbes and TD Ameritrade.
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| Kate Riley |
InkHouse has opened InkHouse Seattle, which will offer technology, consumer and health care PR and digital marketing services in the Pacific Northwest. The new office joins InkHouse locations in Boston, New York and San Francisco. The agency says InkHouse Seattle will help support the growing number of startup companies and venture capital initiatives based in such markets as Seattle, Portland and Vancouver. It will be led by Kate Riley, who has joined InkHouse as executive vice president and general manager. Riley was previously a senior vice president at Edelman. InkHouse’s current client roster includes Aerion Supersonic, Eaze, Hyperproof, Neo4j, Nutanix, Okta, Sinch and Strava.
DJE Holdings, parent of Edelman and Zeno, launches RUTH as an independent shop named after Ruth Edelman, mental health advocate, wife and longtime business partner of Dan Edelman.
New York City PR firms make up the largest slice of O'Dwyer's 147 firm overall ranking with 33 of 40 in the New York/New Jersey area either calling Manhattan their home or having a presence there.
Subject Matter+Kivvit, which joined forces in May, has rebranded as Avoq, an integrated shop with more than 200 professionals in Washington, New York, Asbury Park (NJ), Miami and Chicago.
While PR pros stationed at in-house comms. teams and those working for agencies share many of the same objectives, they also have markedly different top priorities, according to a recent report.
Edelman is cutting 240 employees or about four percent of its workforce to cope with the cooling down of the PR sector, according to a memo from CEO Richard Edelman.
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