"Answering business questions is key," says Raquel Krouse, the newly minted Senior-Vice President, Director at Prophesee, the social media division of IPG (NYSE: IPG) agency Initiative.

"There are a lot of tools out there that run reports. But what does that mean to your business? Our analysts provide that. They enable you to make sense of the data," says Krouse, when asked how Prophesee is different from other social media-centric agencies.

Previously Vice-President, Practice Lead, Social Media at IPG's Emerging Media Lab, Krouse recommended various IPG agencies to current and potential clients. She has always been impressed by Prophesee in part because they will not settle on one tool when it comes to social media monitoring. "They don't believe there is one tool that will answer every business question," she says.

Krouse will dive in with Initiative clients including Hyundai/Kia, Vivio and Best Western.

We asked her about PepsiCo Global Director of Digital and Social Media Bonin Bough's recent comments, that the strategy of using a TV spot and then making that spot into an online or Facebook strategy "does not exist anymore."

"I disagree, social media is a way to extend the reach of other campaigns, but it has to be dimensional-ized and changed," she said, adding that she "loves" the work Bonin and PepsiCo have done.

"I think he is saying that one-way communication doesn't translate into a two-way space. The way it is, he's right, but if you ad interactive elements to it, there is way to expand the story."

In our last PRNewser poll, we asked the following question:

Agencies: what do you do when a potential client wants a "free tactical plan" before making a decision to hire you?

PR professionals: what do you do when in the interview process the hiring manager asks you the same question?

• 55% said they would work up a plan, but keep it somewhat generic.

• 30% said they would politely decline, point the person to past case studies or client references, but let them know they don't consult for free.

• Only 16% responded that they would work up the best plan they could.

Which brings us to this week's poll:

New Jersey-based agency Beckerman Group announced the opening of its Washington, D.C. office today.

Senior Vice President for Crisis, Litigation and Legal Services Naomi Decter will lead the new office. Decter was previously a partner in the D.C. office of Brunswick Group.

"Beckerman has been working with DC clients and media for years...as our firm continues to expand, we are focused on attracting the best talent in the marketplace to lead our expansion efforts," said founder and CEO Michael Beckerman in a statement.

RELATED: Beckerman Acquires Wise PR

One half of PRNewser hit the panel desk, and the Jersey airwaves last week to discuss MTV's "Jersey Shore" and its impact on the state's reputation. The clips aren't embeddable but you get the idea from the screenshots below. Both News 12 and NJN News were on hand at Seton Hall to cover the PRSA event:

Account wins in this edition of Spin the Agencies of Record include small delicious cheeses, a new non-profit dedicated to after school and camp programs, a conference looking at new energy options, audio products, and bidding site that merges live broadcast home shopping and penny auctions:

Porter Novelli spreads on the digital for Bel Brands USA cheese products

Northern Kentucky Youth Foundation selects Eisen PR to get the word out about their after school and summer camp programs for junior high, and high school students

Largemouth Communications shines a light on Global New Energy Summit

Transmedia Group wins the PR auction for CrazyBidNow.com

Ogilvy PR to amplify Dolby's message in China

Cohn & Wolfe announced today that MaryEllen O'Donohue is joining the firm from MS&L to focus on healthcare. Her title at the WPP-owned shop (Nasdaq: WPPGY) will be Executive Vice President, Strategy and Client Service. She was at MS&L for 24 years, where she launched the first healthcare media relations practice. At Cohn, O'Donohue she will also contribute to consumer, technology and corporate work.

A rep inside the firm tells us that healthcare has always been Cohn & Wolfe's biggest practice, and with the changes going on in the sector, "we're committed to providing as much talent and expertise as possible".

From our perch, there's no doubt there's a war for talent in healthcare and related fields, and that connections to global brands will be critical in luring and maintaining clients. For example, O'Donohue has client experience with Roche, and C&W's head of healthcare public affairs Linda Dyson joined the firm last fall from Roche.

Cohn & Wolfe also recently hired Mike Kan to head up global healthcare, and Wendy Lund as their new CEO for the GCI Health division.

RELATED: Healthcare PR Execs Play Musical Chairs

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda addressed media for the first time this past Friday since the company announced massive recalls. "Please believe me, [putting the] customer first is [our] first priority," he said.

The press conference comes with news of yet another Toyota recall, this time more than 300,000 Prius' set to begin as early as this Tuesday.

In other damaging news for the brand, ABC News reports that Toyota dealers in five southeast states have pulled all of their ads from ABC local affiliates in protest of "excessive stories on the Toyota issues."

Fenton Communications promoted agency vet Lisa Witter to Chief Strategy Officer. Witter is the first Fenton employee to hold the title of CSO.

In addition Parker Blackman was promoted to COO of the agency, talking Witter's place. He has served as Managing Director of the agency's San Francisco office since 2003.

"We are so fortunate to have the 'dream team' of Witter and Blackman to take us into the new era. Witter will lead the transformation of our products and services, while Blackman takes on operating management and staff development," said CEO and founder David Fenton in a statement.

RELATED: Interview with Rob Anderson, Managing Director, Fenton Communications

[Image via Huffington Post]

Regardless of where one may stand on the political spectrum, we imagine PR pros would rather have their client read talking points off a teleprompter, or even better, memorize them in advance, as opposed to reading them off their hand.

Such was the case with former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Speaking at the "Tea Party" convention this weekend, Palin was caught with some talking points written on her hand.

As The Huffington Post reports, the words "tax," "energy" and "Lift American spirits" are clearly visible in the picture above.

Sharan Magnuson is leaving the television PR business because of health reasons, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Magnuson has been with Warner Bros. TV for the past 12 years. Her current title is senior vp worldwide publicity.

"Sharan's leadership, talents and relationships working with creative talent, executives and the press are matched only by her character, selflessness and extraordinary work ethic," WBTV president Peter Roth told THR.

[Coke teams up with The Simpsons for their Super Bowl ad.]

This is more AgencySpy's territory, but PRNewser wanted to provide a quick recap of who "won" and who "lost" in last night's Super Bowl marketing bonanza.

Winners:

Pepsi Refresh

Although the jury is still out on Pepsi's decision to skip the Super Bowl in favor of a cause based social marketing campaign, Advertising Age reports that "pass or fail," the campaign will be a "case for marketing textbooks."

"It is surprising how much emotion is tied to the Super Bowl in terms of the industry and general public," Chief Engagement Officer Frank Cooper told PRNewser last week in reference to how much press the brand has received for its choice not to buy an ad int the big game.

Bonin Bough, Global Director of Digital and Social Media for PepsiCo told AdAge that the strategy of using a TV spot and then making that spot into an online or Facebook strategy "does not exist anymore. That is not relevant whatsoever."

Indeed, very few brands used their commercials as a vehicle to drive traffic to social sites. Did you notice that hardly any commercials promoted Facebook, Twitter or Youtube links?

AdAge reports that agencies Huge, Firstborn, Tribal DDB and VML have all picked up Pespi business in the last few months. Add that to the list of agencies PRNewser has confirmed to be working on the campaign -- TBWA, R/GA, Epiphany/Porter Novelli, Edelman and Weber Shandwick -- and that brings the total to ten PR and advertising agencies.

Google

Google's simple ad seemed to have the highest emotional connection with views.

"We didn't set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search. Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But we liked this video so much, and it's had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience," wrote Google CEO Eric Schmidt in a blog post. Just the fact that Google advertised in the Super Bowl will get the company a slew of press.

The Late Show with David Letterman

The ad featuring Jay Leno, Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman is getting lots of buzz, for obvious reasons.

Focus on The Family

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, the group's ad garnered a ton of media attention. "By setting up an expectation that it was going to do something controversial, Focus made it easy to come off as moderate and inclusive by comparison" writes Jeff Bercovici at Daily Finance.

Losers:

GoDaddy

The domain seller's ads were predictable, yet not memorable. What does GoDaddy do again?

The U.S. Census Bureau

2.5 million of our tax dollars for that? The Bureau had to issue a press release defending itself against criticism.

Additional notes:

• The New York Times' Stuart Elliott live-blogged the ads.

• Agency Mullen and monitoring vendor Radian6 also hosted "BrandBowl" which examined 98,656 tweets from ad and marketing types. These Tweets, "provided an overall ranking of the brands advertising on the game based on a composite score that takes into consideration both volume of tweets and sentiment (both positive and negative)."

• AgencySpy will have more commentary today as well.

Leave your take on who "won" and "lost" in the comments.

Washington Post Media Notes: White House press corps feels bypassed by Obama in favor of TV shows, YouTube

Webnewser: Toyota Looks to Digg Its Way Out of Trouble

NYTimes Media Decoder: How the Letterman-Oprah-Leno Super Bowl Ad Came Together

Marketing Shindig: How to Respond to the Most Overused Objections in Using Social Media

journalism.co.uk: Mashable: Slideshow on 'the future journalist'--what will they need?