- Geoff Livingston sold his social communications firm, Livingston Communications, to Richmond-based PR and marketing company CRT/tanaka. Financial terms were not disclosed. Livingston will stay on as senior vice president, and he and his three-person staff will become CRT/tanaka’s DC office.
- Hill & Knowlton adds a number of new accounts: American Natural Gas Alliance, Prince William Health System and the State of Georgia Recycling and Litter Campaigns.
- Hirshorn Zuckerman Design Group has been tapped by Volkswagen of America to help drive Jetta and Passat owners back to dealers for service, parts and accessories, reports the Washington Business Journal. HZDK will provide marketing strategy and messaging, graphic design, and some interactive services supporting the auto maker’s after-sales marketing initiatives.
- Arnold DC launched a Bahamas Ministry of Tourism online promotion and Daydreamers’ Paradise sweepstakes - an all-expense-paid vacation in the Bahamas for two lucky winners among fans of the Scrubs TV show. To coincide with the Wednesday, April 8, airdate of a Scrubs episode filmed last July in Abaco, the Bahamas, this national campaign is promoted via ABC.com, Bahamas.com, and an e-mail blast to the Bahamas visitor database. The sweepstakes – with the ultimate goal of increasing awareness of the Bahamas as a vacation destination of choice - targets beach goers and Scrubs fans.
- Ogilvy Government Relations will be working with the “payday loan” business against congressional charges of "predatory pricing" surrounding the practice of making short-term loans that could burden low-income borrowers with a 391 percent annual interest rate, reports O’Dwyer’s. The agency is working on behalf of Cash America International, pawn shop operator in more than 20 states that also offers "payday advances," and Community Financial Services of America, which has membership running half the nation’s 24,000 advance loan outfits.
- IMRE adds NAVA, the Association for Insured Retirement Solutions. IMRE will provide a mix of creative strategy, public relations, media planning, and digital services to increase awareness for NAVA, an association that provides information and tools related to insured retirement solutions, such as annuities.
- RMR & Associates has been named PR agency of record for iCore, an Enhanced VoIP provider. The agency will spearhead a campaign that will include media relations, industry analyst relations, marketing communications and branding initiatives. Additionally, the firm will help guide the communication strategy surrounding iCore's "Going Green" campaign.
- Exemplar Strategic Communications adds three clients: The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation, and Stanford University. The firm also added Laura Cinnamon as a senior account executive. Most recently, she was an account executive with Lipman Hearne.