It’s just a few weeks into the new year, but the media M&A field is starting to percolate already. There were two deals in early January alone. Highwire PR, one of the fastest growing tech independent firms, acquired Inner Circle Labs and merged the two San Francisco-based agencies, while the Association of National Advertisers (ANA)…
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Tag: Millennials
Empathy at Heart of Co-Mentoring Programs
Several years ago I worked at an online media production company whose aspirations unfortunately exceeded its budget. Nonetheless, I was eager to get more experience producing online video content. I was assigned to work with Susan (her name has been changed), a millennial. She seemed to be a real whiz with video equipment and knew…
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VIDEO: Millennial PR Firm Owners Carve New Niche
We were chatting with a top PR executive recently when we mentioned the proliferating number of PR firms owned by millennials, or people born between the early 1980s and 2000. The executive—a real pro—expressed skepticism. That’s fine, we said. But we also stressed to this executive to keep a close eye on the space. While…
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What Millennials Want From Non-Millennials—And Vice Versa
Madison Avenue’s fixation on youth is an old story. It’s been the default position among brand managers for decades: Older consumers are set in their ways and couldn’t possibly be persuaded to try (and buy) new products, so better to cater entirely to younger consumers. However, a new survey splashes cold water on the theory,…
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Millennial PR Firm Owners Destined to Shake Up Industry
(This article originally ran on odwyerpr.com.) Millennial communicators can’t catch a break. As they occupy a growing part of the PR field, this demographic bears the brunt of withering criticism from some of their elders regarding their work ethic and general attitude. We frequently hear from older PR firm owners about the challenges of both…
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Common Ground with Millennial PR Pros?
Oh, that pesky generation gap. It never fails to rear its complicated head. Take a recent survey revealing sharp differences between millennial communicators and the baby boomer/Gen X PR executives who manage them regarding a slew of workplace issues, including the willingness to take risks, grooming for management and leadership. The online survey, which was…
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What’s Fueling ‘Radical’ Change in PR?
In the annals of the PR profession, it wasn’t that long ago—say, five or ten years—that PR firms competed with other PR firms for mergers and acquisitions. It was a fairly limited market, but also fairly easy to predict. But that was then and this is now. “The PR market is changing radically,” said Rick…
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Grooming Millennials for Senior Management
I’m often met with shock when I tell people that I’ve owned two PR agencies. Sure, I’m a millennial, but I started my PR career at a relatively young age. When I ran Urbane Imagery from 2004-2012 I hired two millennials in part-time senior roles, and when I was in charge at duGard Ellis Public…
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Demos: Gen Z Vs. Millennials
PR agency owners and managers can be forgiven if they think that Gen Z, or people born starting in the mid-to-late 1990s through the 2010s, share some of the digital characteristics of millennials, or folks born between the early 1980s and 2000s. Sure, Gen Z members cherish their hand-held devices, adore their social networks and…
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PR and Ad Agencies Need to Find Their Inner Uber
Although there have been a spate of challenges to Uber by government and cab companies alleging that Uber’s use of drivers who are not licensed to drive taxicabs is unsafe and illegal, the transportation network company continues to roll right along. The service, which launched in 2009, is now available in 58 countries and 300…
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