Worldcom PR Group counts with specific programs focused on young professionals, managed by the Worldcom Future Generation Group, giving them an opportunity to exchange experiences and lead initiatives related to 2.0 in their respective agencies.  Recently, Eszter Szalkai from the Hungarian agency PROBAKO has been working at HBI, German agency based in Munich, for two weeks. Eszter’s conclusions are the following: “The program is not only useful for learning from foreign PR specialists, getting an insight into the media landscape they are working in and exchanging ideas with them, but it is also a good opportunity for building a stronger connection with other member agencies”.

Brussels, Belgium. June 29 2010 – The Worldcom Public Relations Group, the world’s leading partnership of independently owned communications counseling firms, today announced results of a survey of its partner offices around the world that projects a rise in social media and research and a decline in media relations and advertising services over the next three years. More than 70 of Worldcom’s 104 offices responded to the survey.

“The results of this survey clearly demonstrate that public relations has moved multi-channel,” said Stefan Pollack, chair of the Worldcom Americas Region and president of The Pollack PR Marketing Group, a Los Angeles-based firm. “From a trend perspective, clients are looking for firms that can deliver immediate impact with sustainable value. These results provide insight to our partner firms about how to gear their client programming and to determine how best to continue to grow services and in what areas.”

According to the survey, the services respondents expect the decrease to include: media relations (19 percent), advertising (17 percent), and direct mail and marketing (11 percent). In general, the majority of firms are optimistic about business increasing in the next three to five years.

Moreover, an increase in multichannel services is a critical indicator for firms to move beyond media relations as a major source of revenue. For example, more than half of the respondents expected social media, interactive/web development and search engine optimization services to increase – 93 percent, 73 percent and 61 percent, respectively. Yet obstacles still remain for firms to determine how to increase revenue from these services; particularly search engine optimization – for example, no agency reported more than 10 percent of revenue from SEO.

In addition, one-third of the Worldcom Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region and Asia Pacific region firms expect the percentage of work from their home countries to decrease. This represents an opportunity for global firms to acquire clients from beyond their home countries. Additional key findings included investor relations and influencer/stakeholder relations as other significant areas of revenue, and 37 percent of firms in the Americas targeting specific cultural demographics. The most commonly cited was Latino/Hispanic, with 10 percent.

Methodology
The online survey was sent to 104 Worldcom firms regarding services provided by their firms. Seventy-four firms responded, a response rate of 71 percent. Padilla Speer Beardsley’s research practice facilitated the survey.

About the Worldcom Public Relations Group
Worldcom Public Relations Group is the world’s leading partnership of independently owned public relations counseling firms, with 104 offices in 91 cities worldwide. Established in 1988, it was formed so that the strongest, most capable independent public relations firms could serve national, international and multi-national clients while retaining the flexibility and client-service focus inherent in independent firms. Through The Worldcom Group, clients have on-demand access to in-depth communications expertise from professionals who understand the language, culture and customs of the geographic arenas in which they operate. Visit www.worldcomgroup.com for more information.

Worldcom EMEA currently comprises 34 agencies with strong expertise in consumer, healthcare, travel & tourism, technology, energy & environment, financial services, investor relations, public affairs and crisis & issues management. Clients include Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic, Sony Ericson, LG Electronics, the EU Anti-Tobacco Campaign, Verbatim and Palm. Visit www.worldcomprgroupemea.com for more information.

Press Information:

Press Office Worldcom PR Group EMEA:
LF Channel SL
Flor Calveiro
Tel: +34 93418 81 51
Email: fcalveiro@lfchannel.com
Twitter: @WorldcomEMEA
www.lfchannel.com

Worldcom PR Group Survey

NEW YORK – June 8, 2010 – The Worldcom Public Relations Group, the world’s leading partnership of independently owned public relations counseling firms, announces the appointment of its new officers, as well as three new partners elected during its recent international meeting in Shanghai, China, held on May 18-21. With a total of 104 partner offices in the Americas, Europe/Middle East/Africa and Asia regions, many of them added during 2009 and the first months of 2010, Worldcom partners cover a vast territory, serving national, international and multi-national clients.
“We have the most established, professionally run independent agency partnership in the field,” said newly installed Worldcom Chairman Matt Kucharski. “And we share a common goal to help clients use strategic communications to transform themselves with fast results and long-term value.”

Kucharski (Padilla Speer Beardsley, Minneapolis, Minn.) will lead the organization’s efforts during the 2010-2011 term as chairman, succeeding Diego Biasi (Business Press, Milan).  Melissa Sturges, (Sturges Word Communications, Kansas City, Mo.) will continue her role as secretary-treasurer.

Other board members for the 2010-2011 term are:  Stephanie Paul (Phillips Group, Sydney, Australia), strategic plan; Tom Van Blarcom (TQPR, Bangkok, Thailand), membership; Noemi Pollack (Pollack PR Marketing Group, Los Angeles), marketing; John Bliss (Bliss PR, New York), practice groups; Francie Israeli (John Adams Associates, Washington, D.C.), peer review; Mae Manekulpan (TQPR, Bangkok, Thailand), knowledge sharing; Douglas Wright (Wrights, Melbourne, Australia), Asia Pacific region chair; Corinna Voss (HBI, Munich, Germany), Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region chair; and Stefan Pollack (Pollack PR Marketing Group, Los Angeles), Americas region chair.

Worldcom also added three new partners this year.  The EMEA region added PR Partners based in Beirut, Lebanon and Rada Research and Public Relations Company based in Cairo, Egypt. The Americas region added RLF Communications, a Greensboro, N.C.-based communications firm.

About PR Leaders

PR Leaders is a public relations and communications firm headquartered in Lebanon with regional presence and reach across the Middle East and North Africa region, and offices in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, . The company’s expertise has grown to encompass telecommunications, green technologies, logistics, wooden frame housing, financial communications, consumer marketing, strategic business communications, and advisory. For more information, please visit: www.prleaders.com.

About Rada Research & Public Relations Company

Rada Research and Public Relations Company is a leading marketing research and public relations firm founded in 1982, distinguished by its broad range of local and international knowledge, proven accomplishments and a team of experienced professionals. It is a fully Egyptian independently owned company, and its aim is to create superior value for its local, national and global clients by offering a wide range of portfolio services, especially tailored to meet client needs and objectives. For more information, please visit: http://rada-rrpr.com.

About RLF Communications

RLF Communications is based in Greensboro, N.C., and offers a full range of public relations, marketing and communications services tailored to meet the needs of its clients, which include Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits and privately held corporations. For more information, please visit www.rlfcommunications.com.

About the Worldcom Public Relations Group

Worldcom Public Relations Group is the world’s leading partnership of independently owned public relations counseling firms, with 104 offices in 91 cities worldwide. Established in 1988, it was formed so that the strongest, most capable independent public relations firms could serve national, international and multi-national clients, while retaining the flexibility and client-service focus inherent in independent agencies. Through Worldcom Group, clients have on-demand access to in-depth communications expertise from professionals who understand the language, culture and customs of the geographic arenas in which they operate. For more information, please visit www.worldcomgroup.com.
# # #

Press Information:
Aileen Katcher 
KVBPR
615-248-8202
akatcher@kvbpr.com

Press Office Worldcom PR Group EMEA:
LF Channel SL
Flor Calveiro
Tel: +34 93418 81 51
Email: fcalveiro@lfchannel.com
Twitter: @WorldcomEMEA
www.lfchannel.com

2010 new partner release

With more than 20 years of experience in PR and Marketing, Corinna Voss is Managing Director of the renowned Munich-based agency HBI International PR & MarCom. Among her experience, she has worked for several clients from the IT sector, tourism and renewable energies. She studied Political Science/Anglistics and Psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and did her Magister Artium in Political Science.

The appointment was officially confirmed at Worldcom’s AGM (Annual General Meeting) held in Shanghai from 18 to 21st May, and has become effective immediately. With 34 partner agencies in the EMEA region, many of them added during 2009 and the first months of 2010, Worldcom  already covers a vast territory in Europe and the Middle East. In this context, Corinna has set up as an important objective the addition of new members in Africa. Besides, she will be working on the internal communication of the network at a regional level, in order to strengthen the relationship between members and ease the integration of the new partners.

“I’m looking forward to lead the consolidation of the network as a solid and experienced PR group”, Corinna said, after assuming her new position, and added: “We will continue investing and developing web 2.0 initiatives and also in creating synergies between agencies that allow us to deliver added value proposals for our clients in the vast variety of areas covered by our partners in EMEA”.

About Worldcom PR Group
Worldcom Public Relations Group is the world’s leading partnership of independently owned public relations counseling firms, with some 109 offices in 95 cities worldwide. Established in 1988, it was formed so that the strongest, most capable independent public relations firms could serve national, international and multi-national clients while retaining the flexibility and client-service focus inherent in independent agencies. Through The Worldcom Group, clients have on-demand access to in-depth communications expertise from professionals who understand the language, culture and customs of the geographic arenas in which they operate. Visit www.worldcomgroup.com for more information.

Worldcom EMEA currently comprises 34 agencies with strong expertise in consumer, healthcare, travel & tourism, technology, energy & environment, financial services, investor relations, public affairs and crisis & issues management. Clients include Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic, Sony Ericson, LG Electronics, the EU Anti-Tobacco Campaign, Verbatim and Palm. Visit www.worldcomprgroupemea.com for more information.

Press Information:

Press Office Worldcom PR Group EMEA:
LF Channel SL
Flor Calveiro
Tel: +34 93418 81 51
Email: fcalveiro@lfchannel.com
Twitter: @WorldcomEMEA
www.lfchannel.com

Corinna Voss_New Worldcom EMEA Chair

PRAM also begins work for OpenOne, an IT company with focus on consultancy services and implementation of their own solutions for customers department or call centers.

“Both companies were looking for a professional agency with long time experiences in ICT business and through referrals from this sector we were chosen by them“, says Patrik Schober, Managing Partner of PRAM Consulting. “We believe that together we can strengthen the awareness about Intergraph and OpenOne and their services. “

About PRAM Consulting

PRAM Consulting was established in 2001 as a private Czech company specializing in providing public relations services. Right from the start, the first customers were multinational corporations, which had a mid to high level of representation in the Czech Republic and needed to team up with a creative and flexible firm that would handle media communication, organize social events, and provide other marketing services. The company’s current customers have essentially the same needs. The main specialty of PRAM Consulting is giving advice in the area of strategic communication, with a focus on media, customers, investors, human resources, public administration, and other population segments. In addition, we provide event management and other marketing services. More information in: http://www.pram.cz/

About Worldcom PR Group

Worldcom Public Relations Group is the world’s leading partnership of independently owned public relations counseling firms, with some 109 offices in 95 cities worldwide. Established in 1988, it was formed so that the strongest, most capable independent public relations firms could serve national, international and multi-national clients while retaining the flexibility and client-service focus inherent in independent agencies. Through The Worldcom Group, clients have on-demand access to in-depth communications expertise from professionals who understand the language, culture and customs of the geographic arenas in which they operate. Visit www.worldcomgroup.com for more information.

Worldcom EMEA currently comprises 34 agencies with strong expertise in consumer, healthcare, travel & tourism, technology, energy & environment, financial services, investor relations, public affairs and crisis & issues management. Clients include Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic, Sony Ericson, LG Electronics, the EU Anti-Tobacco Campaign, Verbatim and Palm. Visit www.worldcomprgroupemea.com for more information.

Press Information:

Press Office Worldcom PR Group EMEA:
LF Channel SL
Flor Calveiro
Tel: +34 93418 81 51
Email: fcalveiro@lfchannel.com
Twitter: @WorldcomEMEA
www.lfchannel.com

PRAM to Provide PR and Marketing Services to Intergraph and OpenOne

Munich, 7^th of May, 2010 – HBI and their partners from the WORLDCOM PR Group EMEA cleared the first hurdle on their way to SABRE Awards: They are nominated for the SABRE Awards 2009. YuuWaa is Gemalto’s unique solution combining a flash drive with online services. It enables users to access, store, backup and share their files anytime, anywhere.

HBI collaborated with their partners Yucatan in Paris and Kaizo in London to launch YuuWaa into European core markets in 2009. Besides the thorough conception and the intensive market research, the campaign excels with the European approach as well as the combination of classical PR tools with diverse social media tools. The campaign was conducted in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, and France. Besides magazines and websites, blogs and platforms as youtube, twitter, and facebook were used to familiarize consumers with YuuWaa.

Corinna Voss, Managing Director of HBI, comments on HBI conceptioning and coordinating the European campaign: “We are proud being shortlisted for this year’s SABRE Awards. The  YuuWaa campaign was a prominent example of European PR work, and as a result we’re short listed with names as Samsung, Microsoft, and Philips. This nomination emphazises our expertise in social media relations and in launching lifestyle IT products. We are very optimistic and are looking forward to hearing the results of the SABRE Awards which will be announced at the end of May 2010.”

HBI Helga Bailey GmbH
HBI was founded in 1983 as a full service agency. Since its founding in 1983, HBI has particularly made its aim to establish new technologies and new companies in the German speaking market. However leading worldwide companies with renowned production lines, for example, Haier Electronics, Nuance, Renesas, Rockwell Automation, RSA and many more industry leaders are fully assisted by the agency. HBI GmbH is a member of the WorldCom Public Relations Group, the largest worldwide network of independent PR agencies, and co-operates with a number of top agencies worldwide www.hbi.de.

About Worldcom PR Group
Worldcom Public Relations Group is the world’s leading partnership of independently owned public relations counseling firms, with some 109 offices in 95 cities worldwide. Established in 1988, it was formed so that the strongest, most capable independent public relations firms could serve national, international and multi-national clients while retaining the flexibility and client-service focus inherent in independent agencies. Through The Worldcom Group, clients have on-demand access to in-depth communications expertise from professionals who understand the language, culture and customs of the geographic arenas in which they operate. Visit www.worldcomgroup.com for more information.

Worldcom EMEA currently comprises 34 agencies with strong expertise in consumer, healthcare, travel & tourism, technology, energy & environment, financial services, investor relations, public affairs and crisis & issues management. Clients include Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic, Sony Ericson, LG Electronics, the EU Anti-Tobacco Campaign, Verbatim and Palm. Visit www.worldcomprgroupemea.com for more information.

Press Information:
Press Office Worldcom PR Group EMEA:
LF Channel SL
Flor Calveiro
Tel: +34 93418 81 51
Email: fcalveiro@lfchannel.com
Twitter: @WorldcomEMEA
www.lfchannel.com

HBI and their partners from the WORLDCOM PR Group EMEA are nominated for the SABRE Awards 2009

Both Rada Research and Public Relations Company from Egypt, and PR Leaders from Lebanon, will enhance Worldcom EMEA’s offering with their expertise and significant capabilities.

“We are delighted to be part of such a distinguished group of professionals. This will provide a unique opportunity for interaction, exchange of ideas and sharing of views with our peers, which is invaluable to our profession”, said Loula Zaklama, President and Managing Director of Rada Research and Public Relations Co. “I know we will benefit from Worldcom’s combined expertise, markets knowledge, talent and business sharing”, she added.

“We are very enthusiastic about our new partners in Egypt and Lebanon. They enable us to extend the reach of our capabilities for clients”, said Crispin Manners, EMEA chair of the Worldcom Public Relations Group.

About PR Leaders

PR Leaders is a public relations and communications firm headquartered in Lebanon with regional presence and reach across the Middle East and North Africa region. The company’s expertise has grown to encompass telecommunications, green technologies, logistics, wooden frame housing, financial communications, consumer marketing, strategic business communications, and advisory. More information in www.prleaders.com

About Rada Research & Public Relations Company

Rada Research and Public Relations Company is a leading marketing research and public relations firm founded in 1982, distinguished by its broad range of local and international knowledge, proven accomplishments and a team of experienced professionals. It is a fully Egyptian independently owned company, and its aim is to create superior value for its local, national and global clients by offering a wide range of portfolio services, especially tailored to meet client needs and objectives. More information in http://rada-rrpr.com/

About Worldcom PR Group

Worldcom Public Relations Group is the world’s leading partnership of independently owned public relations counseling firms, with some 109 offices in 95 cities worldwide. Established in 1988, it was formed so that the strongest, most capable independent public relations firms could serve national, international and multi-national clients while retaining the flexibility and client-service focus inherent in independent agencies. Through The Worldcom Group, clients have on-demand access to in-depth communications expertise from professionals who understand the language, culture and customs of the geographic arenas in which they operate. Visit www.worldcomgroup.com for more information.

Worldcom EMEA currently comprises 34 agencies with strong expertise in consumer, healthcare, travel & tourism, technology, energy & environment, financial services, investor relations, public affairs and crisis & issues management. Clients include Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic, Sony Ericson, LG Electronics, the EU Anti-Tobacco Campaign, Verbatim and Palm. Visit www.worldcomprgroupemea.com for more information.

Press Information:

Press Office Worldcom PR Group EMEA:
LF Channel SL
Flor Calveiro
Tel: +34 93418 81 51
Email: fcalveiro@lfchannel.com
Twitter: @WorldcomEMEA
www.lfchannel.com

Worldcom EMEA welcomes PR Leaders and Rada Research and Public Relations Company

Henrik Kolga, CEO of Medial Kommunikation