Donelle Harder
Donelle Harder

Pinkston, a strategy and communications consultancy based in Falls Church, VA, acquires messaging and communications firm Pliris Strategies. Pliris founder and CEO Donelle Harder, who previously served as a senior advisor to Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt, will join Pinkston as a senior vice president. Pliris and its existing staff will remain based in downtown Oklahoma City, where the agency has offices. “Donelle has built an incredible practice during some of the hardest years to build a business in recent history,” said Pinkston founder and partner Christian Pinkston. “She and her team bring breadth and depth of perspective that will fuel our continued growth and help us make a bigger impact for and through our clients.”

DRAM

The DRAM Agency, which will provide digital marketing consulting and services to wine and spirits suppliers, is launched by beverage alcohol distributor Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits. DRAM (which stands for the Digital Revolution of Alcohol Marketing) has already been working with Southern Glazer’s suppliers to provide access to key platforms and equip them with the necessary tools and information to maximize media effectiveness. “With this new agency service, Southern Glazer’s can provide industry-leading data and analytics, as well as media buying power to increase the efficacy of suppliers’ digital strategies and improve share of shelf across digital platforms,” said Southern Glazer’s vice president, B2C eCommerce Nathan Mansperger.

PROI

PROI Worldwide creates the PROI Founders Award to recognize outstanding contributions to the organization. The first Founders Awards have been awarded to Allard and Valerie van Veen, and Claire Parsons. Allard van Veen, along with his wife Valerie, was the owner of a leading Canadian communications agency when he served as one of the founders of PROI. In the more than 50 years since, he served as global chair of the organization, and then was global managing director from 1994-2020. In the van Veens’ honor, PROI made a contribution to Doctors Without Borders. Clare Parsons, chair of longtime PROI partner Lansons, was the first woman to serve as global chair of PROI, during the 2018-2020 term. In Clare’s honor, PROI made a contribution to The Felix Project, a London-based organization that collects fresh, nutritious food that cannot be sold, and delivers this surplus food to charities and schools.