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| Jessica Schaefer, Jeffrey Herzog |
The Avenue Z Network, launched in June by iCrossing founder Jeffrey Herzog, acquires Bevel, a communications consultancy for tech and venture capital. Bevel founder and CEO Jessica Schaefer will join the board of Avenue Z and serve as chief commercial officer. She will also remain CEO of Bevel for the next year. Bevel has worked with such clients as Acorns, Better.com, BlockTower Capital, RX3 Ventures (a consumer-focused investment fund backed by Aaron Rodgers) and the Sundance Film Festival. It says the new capabilities from the Avenue Z acquisition, will enable it to offer greater influence through search and social media. “By leveraging technology and data, we’ll drive brand visibility, build stakeholder engagement and provide clients with measured ROI,” said Herzog.
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PAN Communications, which works with B2B technology and healthcare brands, announces new services in conjunction with the firm's brand-to-demand marketing strategy and approach. The agency says that the services fuse brand awareness with demand creation by building and activating one narrative and strategy across the full customer journey. "We have seen over and again that without brand recognition and trust, B2B buyers are much less likely to respond to demand gen tactics," says PAN chief of integrated marketing and strategy Megan Kessler. "By leading with awareness and building a cohesive, timely narrative that threads a clear message and value proposition throughout the customer journey, we are able to help our clients build brand affinity and motivate action simultaneously."
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ICR releases its July 2023 SPAC Market Update & Outlook report, which shows a slowdown in SPAC activity during Q2 2023. Six SPAC IPOs raised just over $1 billion, down from 11 in the first quarter and the slowest quarter by deal count since the first quarter of 2017. However, SPAC IPO proceeds rose with the six SPAC IPOs completed raising an average of $186 million, up from an average IPO size of $82 million in Q1. The number of completed SPAC mergers also tool a slide, with just 10 companies completing mergers in Q2, down from 28 in Q1—the slowest quarter for closed SPAC mergers in nearly three years. But the report sees the slowdown as likely to be temporary. “Sponsors are still looking for deals, with 40 companies announcing SPAC mergers in Q2 and a backlog of over 150 pending mergers at quarter-end that should keep the SPAC market active in 2023,” said ICR Capital managing director Niren Nazareth.
Precision Strategies, an integrated strategy and marketing agency with offices in Washington and New York, acquires Firehouse Strategies, a DC-based public affairs firm... AVENIR GLOBAL acquires London-based Thinks Insight & Strategy... Good Company, which bills itself as a “cultural engineering firm,” is launched by DJ Hardy, a veteran of Johannesburg-based communications consultancy arxna and M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment and Casey Stickles, who has worked at 5WPR, Rubenstein and MWW.
PSC (Princeton Strategic Communications) acquires Nonprofit Partners... CG Life launches 24/364, a cultural brand platform intended to drive awareness, connection and action aimed at keeping rare disease at the forefront of the health and social conversation... Interluxe Group, which focuses on brand experiences and in-person activations; Quinn, a strategic communications agency; and media and digital agency North & Warren are uniting under the Interluxe Group banner.
KITH, which provides corporate reputation and crisis preparation services, is now owned by CEO Stephanie Craig, who has been with the firm since 2021... The Marketing Cloud, a part of Stagwell, introduces several expansions to Agent Cloud, the platform it launched in October 2025 to simplify access to its AI tools and marketing assistants.... Notified launches its AI Press Release Optimizer.
V2 Communications launches its AI Visibility Solution and Earned Media at Scale, two service offerings designed to help companies increase visibility and credibility in generative search... The Public Relations Global Network brings on Greenough Communications as its Boston member agency... DBC is relaunching The DBC Industry Calendar as a free site to help communicators more easily discover relevant events and awards in the cluttered event landscape driven by the growth of webinars and online events. 
PAN releases new original research showing that a significant share of B2B citations surfaced by ChatGPT are inaccurate, misattributed or entirely fabricated, introducing a new credibility risk for brands... REQ, which has offices in DC and San Diego, opens in Phoenix... Notified introduces Market Intelligence, an addition to its all-in-one IR Hub, which gives IR teams a more streamlined way to prepare for earnings calls.
