BurrellesLuce, the leading media monitoring firm in North America, acquired the U.S. print monitoring operations of Cision. Robert Waggoner, CEO, said, “Our U.S. based production is perfectly positioned to deliver comprehensive and timely service to the Cision print monitoring clients. The PR community has made it clear that the image of the article is very important in showing ROI on their initiatives, which text alone doesn’t provide.”

KB Concepts P.R. has joined A Billion + Change, a national campaign to mobilize billions of dollars of pro bono and skills-based volunteer services from corporate America to build nonprofit capacity. In less than a year, 200 companies have pledged an estimated $1.8 billion worth of skills-based services to nonprofits, keeping the campaign on track to inspire 500 companies to create or expand a skills-based volunteer program in their workplace by 2013.

WTOP 103.5 FM announced that Program Director Laurie Cantillo was named as one of the “Most Influential Female Programmers in Radio” ... Joan Melner has been appointed director of marketing at The Endocrine Society ... and, MGH adds six employees

MRB Films joined with Porter Novelli in DC to create an awareness campaign for the Alzheimer's Association with revealing portraits of caregivers that are intimate, emotional and at times, funny. Director Bryan Elsom did preliminary interviews with potential participants, collaborated on a working "script" and then spent hours filming each caregiver, eliciting their story and shaping it into a short web film.

Wal-Mart and a PR firm with a DC office have parted ways after an employee of the firm posed as a reporter at a Los Angeles event staged by the store's critics, reports The Huffington Post. The Huff Post piece stated that the move comes after it was revealed by employee group Warehouse Workers United that Stephanie Harnett, an associate at Mercury, showed up at one of their news conferences posing as a reporter.

Ruder Finn is working with the American Urological Association Foundation on a campaign to elevate awareness of Overactive Bladder ... Lane Bailey and A.J. Donelson launched Advocom Group ... Crosby Marketing Communications adds Tim Staines and Alexx Weincek ... and, Environics adds Shakirah Holley Read More »

DC Ad Club is offering three events in advance of the July 4th week.

First is Ad 2 DC’s Water Cooler Wednesday, a free event where you can relax, exchange ideas and hang out with talented young professionals. At this social at Beacon Bar & Grill, 1615 Rhode Island Ave., NW, learn more about opportunities to serve on or lead their award-winning club next term. Then, Thursday evening

 WTOP Radio’s traffic TV ads have won an EMMY from the National Capital & Chesapeake Chapter of NATAS for best commercial campaign.  The campaign, which has been airing in the DC area since last fall, consists of two :15 second spots that air as bookends in a commercial break: "The Path to School" depicts a morning commute, while "The Path Home From Work" is about a commute in the evening. 

White+Partners tapped branding guru Rob Martin as its new brand planning director with an aim to broaden the agency’s portfolio. Based in Richmond, VA, Martin led the brand-planning firm BrandSync for the past decade which he co-founded with his father, David Martin, and is one of the co-founders of the acclaimed Martin Agency, which recently was named Ad Agency of the Year.

MGH added three new clients - Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Preston Scheffenacker Properties and State Department Federal Credit Union - and retained TEDCO after a competitive review.

Jason Young, who heads the DC office of ASGK is joining HHS as deputy assistant secretary for public affairs. He will be succeeded by ASGK’s Eileen Marcus ... GYMR Public Relations announced several new hires and promotions ... Bendure Communications named Shaun May as VP/client relations ... and, Digital agency Social Driver was named DC Small Business Champion of 2012 by the DC Chamber of Commerce.

WPP is acquiring AKQA, which has a DC office. According to an Ad Age report, AKQA was among the last big digital agencies not yet public or owned by a holding company. The San Francisco-based agency had gross assets of $282 million to close the year; and forecasts $230 million in revenue for this year, up from $189 million in 2011, according to WPP.

The merger of two international networks of PR agencies concluded with the announcement of the formation of PR World Alliance (PRWA). The new network comprises 17 members in 13 countries. Members are independent, owner-led firms, including one based in Washington, DC.

CBS's new all-news WNEW-FM “surges” to a 20th place morning-drive time with long-time newser WTOP in the Baltimore radio ratings for the "first week" of June, age 12+ demo, reports DCRTV. WNEW is up from 31st place in the morning-time slot in three weeks, continued the DCRTV report. In the full-day weekly numbers, WNEW placed 33rd to WTOP's 26th in Baltimore.  

Join members of the DC Ad Club on Friday, June 29, for their annual golf tournament at Worthington Manor Golf Club. According to the DC Ad Club, the tournament is a time for you to enjoy 18 holes of golf on a U.S. Open qualifying course “as you slice, hack and have fun with fellow members of the Washington area advertising community.”  This annual event, said DC Ad Club,

An employee of Walmart's PR firm in Los Angeles, Mercury Public Affairs, has been fired for pretending to be a news reporter at an event staged by a labor union trying to organize the retail giant's warehouse workers, reports The Huffington Post. According to the Huff Post piece, Stephanie Harnett, 26, showed up at a June 6 Warehouse Workers United press conference claiming to be a journalism student at the University of Southern California. She signed in as "Zoe Mitchell," records show, and interviewed attendees about labor conditions at Walmart's warehouses.

Economic development authorities for Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson counties in West Virginia are partnering together to launch a marketing initiative targeting the D.C. area, reports The State Journal in Charleston, WV.  The Western Potomac Economic Partnership, or WestPEP, announced June 14 that the marketing effort will consist of several elements all with the same goal of wooing business and industry to the state, continued the press report.

LinkedIn has confirmed that some passwords have been compromised in a major security breach, reports PCWorld. Vicente Silveira, Director at LinkedIn, confirmed the hack on the company's blog  and outlined steps that LinkedIn is taking to deal with the situation. He wrote that those with compromised passwords will notice that their LinkedIn account password is no longer valid, continued the PCWorld report.

By Karen Addis

“There is no deadline,” according to NBC4 political reporter Tom Sherwood. “The deadline is dead.” Sherwood was referring to the immediacy of information sent out via Twitter. “Every second of the day is now a deadline for reporters,” he said.  Sherwood — along with Dave Weigel, Slate.com political reporter; Ylan Mui, Washington Post retail reporter; and Mark Hamrick, AP Radio business editor — spoke at the June 12 PRSA-NCC professional development workshop on Media Relations in the Age of Twitter at the U.S. Navy Memorial & Heritage Center.

A delegation from the DC Ad Club attended the American Advertising Federation National Conference in Austin, TX, this month: DC Ad Club president Sherri Anne Green, DC Ad Club Board member and Ad 2 DC Chair Sarah Lieberman, Ad 2 DC Public Service Chair Kathleen Barry, Ad 2 DC Immediate Past Chair Whitney Jarrell< Read More »

First Virginia Community Bank, a state-chartered bank headquartered in Fairfax, VA, hired LM&O Advertising of Arlington, Va. as its first agency of record, to define the bank’s brand and launch a regional campaign ... KCI Technologies, a multi-disciplined design, consulting and construction company, hired Environics Communications to assist with PR ... Baltimore-based IMRE reports it added a number of clients ... and, Robert Anderson joins Sapling Pictures as chief development officer.

Sherri Anne Green, president of the DC Ad Club and director of business development at LM&O Advertising, was elected to the American Advertising Federation (AAF) National Board of Directors at the AAF’s annual conference, ADMERICA!, in Austin, Texas.  As a board director, beginning July 1, Green will represent the federation’s Division 1 chapters, those with 500 or more members.
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DPR Group announced that NDX Group selected the firm for strategic PR and marketing services ... Gibraltar Associates adds Kari Hudnell as a manager ... and, Donna Vincent Roa won a finalist award in the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards – Self-Help Category for her book, "The Ultimate To Do List When Your Loved One Dies: Before & After the Funeral".

The Hispanic Public Relations Association National Capital Chapter held a rooftop gathering on May 31 at Edelman PR in DC to announce its upcoming formal launch and to share with potential members the organization's mission of bringing professional development opportunities, networking and other social events to the growing community

Design Army was honored with three National ADDY® Awards at the American Advertising Federation (AAF) National Conference, held in Austin, Texas, this week. Local area agencies that won Gold or Silver ADDY® Awards were eligible to compete in the District Two 2012 ADDY® Awards. Winners from that competition were then eligible to compete for National ADDY® Awards.

June 15 is the deadline for the Public Relations Society of America’s National Capital Chapter (PRSA-NCC)  annual Thoth award competition to recognize and reward outstanding achievement in public relations and to encourage continued excellence in the field. Finalists in each category

The early-bird deadline for IABC/DC Metro’s Silver Inkwell Awards is June 15, with the final deadline set for July 20.  According to IABC/DC Metro, “The Silver Inkwell Awards program is an opportunity for professional growth and acknowledgement. The program recognizes

iStrategyLabs needs your help to secure a $250,000 grant. According to iStrategyLabs, a digital agency, “When we saw LivingSocial and Chase Bank’s “Mission: Small Business” grant program we took the rare step of applying for a grant of $250,000. We don’t typically go after these kinds of things, but we felt that at this time, with exciting projects and a growing festival, this cash would be great to put to work in order to further invest in the future of our business.

WYPR Radio in Baltimore is working with Storyfarm New Media to produce video content for its website, www.WYPR.org. WYPR has worked with Legg Mason Investment Counsel (LMIC) for years as a corporate sponsor and, said Storyfarm, “It made perfect sense when creating a landing page for LMIC on WYPR's site to have compelling video content."

Washington Women in Public Relations is looking for outstanding young women in the D.C. metro area who have excelled in public relations and related fields for nomination for WWPR’s Emerging Leaders Awards.