Tag: maxine winer

PRSA Chicago PR Agency Leaders

   

I’m looking forward to moderating a panel of the Public Relations industry’s top agency leaders. These top industry executives will address current PR challenges and opportunities in a wide-ranging roundtable discussion. Our leadership forum is one of the most popular PRSA Chicago Chapter events held each year and is back by popular demand!

Issues to be discussed and debated include social, political, economic, and cultural trends affecting the practice of PR in agencies and companies including: 

• The Communications role within the marketplace and current economy
• Issues that are critical to all in the C-suite, especially in driving economic growth
• New insights and innovations that agencies should provide clients
• How do forward-thinking agency leaders stay in front of clients’ needs?
• Predictions for the rest of 2012 and 2013!


Our panelists for the program are: 



Rick Murray, President, Edelman


Patti Temple Rocks, Managing Director, GolinHarris

Bill Zucker, Midwest Director, Ketchum

Susan Howe, President, Weber Shandwick

Maxine Winer, Senior Partner and General Manager, Fleishman-Hillard

Erica Swerdlow, Midwest Market Leader / Managing Director at Burson Marsteller

Claire Koeneman, Executive Vice President, Hill+Knowlton Strategies


Moderated by Jack Monson, Vice President, Engage121

 

Register now for this September 18 PRSA event in Chicago!

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Public Relations Agency Leaders Roundtable

 

PRSA Chicago

I’m looking forward to moderating a panel of the Public Relations industry’s top agency leaders. We will address current PR challenges and opportunities in a wide-ranging roundtable discussion. This leadership forum is one of the most popular Chicago Chapter events held each year and is back by popular demand!

Issues to be discussed and debated include social, political, economic, and cultural trends affecting the practice of PR in agencies and companies including:

• Predictions for 2012

• The Communications role within the marketplace and current economy

• Issues that are critical to all in the C-suite, especially in driving economic growth

• New insights, solutions, and strategies under the label of innovation that agencies provide clients

• How do forward-thinking agency leaders stay in front of clients’ needs?


Our panelists for the program are: 



• Susan Howe, President – Chicago, Weber Shandwick


• Bill Zucker, Midwest Director, Ketchum 


• Rick Murray, President, Edelman
 Chicago

• Maxine Winer, Senior Partner & GM, Fleishman-Hillard

 • Moderated by Jack Monson, Vice President, Engage121, Inc.

Register Now

Does PR Own Social Media?

PRSA Chicago 

The Chicago Chapter of PRSA once again wrapped up a year of programs with the city’s agency leaders discussing this year’s trends and next year’s industry forecast. 
 
Northwestern professor Clarke Caywood moderated panelists Bill Zucker, Midwest Director at Ketchum, Maxine Winer, Senior Partner and General Manager at Fleishman-Hillard, Maril MacDonald, CEO of Gagen MacDonald, and Gary Rudnick, EVP and Managing Director at GolinHarris.

 
What are agency leaders asked about first? That’s right…Social Media. The discussion quickly turned to the looming question of WHO owns Social Media:  PR? Marketing? Advertising?

 

The panel made a good case that PR pros should lead Social Media efforts due to a history of (and skills sets that include) relationship-building, content creation, and garnering attention

 

Bill Zucker cautioned that no one really “owns” social media, but all disciplines should participate. Gary Rudnick added that owning SM is like the outdated thinking that advertising owns TV and PR owns newspapers. 
 
Maxine Winer sees PR beginning to make a difference when it intersects with customer service. The integration of CRM tools with SM platforms enables companies to engage with their customers faster and more directly. 

It was refreshing to hear Maril MacDonald advise the crowd to align SM engagements to your clients’ or company’s most important business metrics (sales, traffic, etc.) instead of communications metrics. 
 
I agree! Too often, PR conferences are infiltrated by “Social Media measurement mavens” (the most horrible term in the industry) and their silly equations that make CEOs’ eyes glaze over. In order for PR to participate in bottom-line business discussions, we need to speak the language.

 

While these PR industry leaders make a good case for PR to lead Social Media, I question if that is really happening currently. Many companies with whom I speak daily have Social Media engagement sitting squarely with Marketing with no contribution from the PR team or outside PR agency.

  
 

Please share your thoughts via comment section –

Should SM engagement be led by PR, Marketing, Advertising, or Customer Service? And…WHY?