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IPG Mediabrands says it will work to invest a minimum of five percent in Black-owned media channels in aggregate across all clients by 2023. The announcement follows the division’s first Equity Upfront, part of a long-term equity and equality strategic investment initiative designed to foster deeper exposure for and partnerships with Black-owned media partners. Nationally, Black-focused media spend in 2020 remained below two percent of total spend, according to Nielsen Ad Intel, despite Black consumers being more than 13 percent of the population. In addition to hosting monthly equity sessions that present the content and marketing capabilities of Black-owned media across media channels, Mediabrands and MAGNA, its global media investment and intelligence company, will host inside track sessions to provide learning and growth opportunities. Later this year, MAGNA will also host equity sessions for Asian American and Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and LGBTQI identifying media companies.
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| Abbi Whitaker |
The Abbi Agency, which has offices in Reno, Las Vegas, New York and the United Kingdom, has joined IPREX. Incorporated in 2008 by Abbi Whitaker, the agency provides services in marketing, public relations, public affairs, social media, web design, creative development, content marketing, data analysis, event promotion and coordination, and market research. The Abbi Agency vice president of client strategy Connie Anderson said the agency has already begun working with IPREX partners to pitch, win and serve client accounts across the business verticals it serves, including healthcare, government, technology and destination marketing around the globe. “Joining IPREX opens up new possibilities for collaboration with agency partners from around the world and, more importantly, allows each of us to benefit from one another’s unique perspectives and expertise,” said Anderson.
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| Allissa Richardson |
The Center for Public Interest Communications at the University of Florida has awarded University of Southern California assistant professor of Journalism Allissa Richardson its 2021 Research Prize in Public Interest Communication. Richardson was awarded $10,000 for a paper based on a series of interviews that reveal four women leaders’ takes on the textual and visual dismantling of Black respectability politics and how to carve out a new style of political communication. This year marked the eighth year of the prize, which recognizes work that contributes to the understanding of the public interest communication field as a unique discipline, offers insight that can improve the effectiveness of public interest communication practice, details a specific public interest communication campaign, explores evaluative measures, documents specific ways in which public interest communication differs from similar disciplines, or provides insight on how to communicate effectively.
Page launches the Polansky Future Leaders Fund, which was established through a gift from 2025 Page Hall of Fame inductee and former Weber Shandwick Global CEO Andy Polansky... Ruder Finn reintroduces its website, ruderfinn.com, which will now feature a large language model (LLM) as its primary user interface... Higher Plane Media is launched by former Sloane & Company CEO Darren Brandt.
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