Allison + Partners is acquiring Frause to bolster the San Francisco-based firm's presence in Seattle and expand to Portland.
Bob Frause, who founded the firm in 1998, will continue as counsel to his shop and work with Allison's management in exploring international opportunities.
His firm has a strong base in the economic development, tourism, digital, real estate and government categories.
Key Frause executives such as senior VPs Natalie Price, Laure Ware and Sue Gillespie, along with VPs Nathan Hambley and Lisa Smith, will remain onboard.
The Frause team will report to Allison/Seattle GM Richard Kendall, who was Frause's second hire. He said the cultures of both shops are "well aligned."
MDC Partners owns Allison.
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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