MEDICARE TAPS QUINTET FOR PR
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has awarded multiyear, open-ended PR contracts to five agencies, following an eight-month RFP process.
Nine firms pitched for the lucrative pacts.
Fleishman-Hillard was chosen to join incumbents Ketchum, Ogilvy PR Worldwide, Porter Novelli and Weber Shandwick as the large division of the US Dept. of Health and Human Services’ go-to firms for PR work for up to seven years.
The CMS, as the agency is known, issued an RFP in December to review the roster, which previously included the four firms.
The process to select a group of firms from which to bid out or assign projects is known as IDIQ, or indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity.
The work is expected to include a range of national, local and regional campaigns incorporating PR, social media, advertising/PSAs and other outreach.
F-H, Ketchum and PN are part of Omnicom, while Ogilvy is a unit of WPP and WS is owned by Interpublic.
The federal agency last reviewed the accounts in 2006.
EDELMAN CREATES CTO POST
Edelman has named Claudia Patton, who joined the No. 1 independent PR firm after it acquired her shop The Headline Group in 2002, chief talent officer, a new post. She had been running Edelman's southeast region.
Patton |
Patton is to work with Edelman's human resources people on training/development, mobility, performance management, senior recruitment and career pathing, according to its release.
Richard Edelman says Patton is a “proven, results-driven executive, making her ideally suited for the role of chief talent officer.”
The firm says it added 500 new positions during the past 12 months as global revenue advanced 18 percent for fiscal 2011 ended June 30.
Patton's goal is to make Edelman "known as the firm where people can do their best work and make important contributions to society." |
