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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.
Avoq offers government relations, PA, strategic communications, media relations, digital, website, app development, research, data analysis and advertising services.
It begins life with 14 partners and former Subject Matter CEO Nicole Cornish at the helm.
She said members of the leadership group “will foster and inspire the one-team culture of collaboration and excellence that sets us apart.”
Joining Cornish in the executive suite are COO Molly Scherrman, CFO Dave Metzger, and managing partners Eric Sedler, Steve Elmendorf, Jimmy Ryan, Dan Sallick and Paul Frick.
Coral Tree Partners, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, owns Avoq.
Kivvit took the No. 18 slot in O’Dwyer’s 2023 rankings of independent PR firms with fee income of $39.5M. It was Chicago’s fourth largest firm with fees of $13.1M.
Subject Matter did not rank.
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.
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.
Thomas Isen and Alex Yudelson, veterans of Joe Biden’s White House, have launched Second Floor Advisors strategic communications and impact engagement shop.
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