Edelman

We included the sad news in this morning’s Ticker: Tony Blankley, former press secretary for current GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich when he was leading the Republican charge in Congress during the 1990s, has died.

Blankley was also known for his appearances as a commentator on radio and television and as EVP of public affairs in Edelman’s D.C. office.

Rob Rehg, president of the firm’s D.C. office, sent us this comment via email:

Tony’s integrity, intellect and mastery of history and politics enriched our lives. He brightened our world with his colorful sartorial style, good humor and wonderful story telling. He was someone who truly fit the definition of a scholar and a gentleman. We were blessed to have had his wisdom, generous spirit and good company as part of our work family. We will miss him terribly.

Blankley was 63 years old. He died after a battle with stomach cancer.

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The relationship was only announced in September, but Twitter and Edelman have already decided that it isn’t going to work out.

Ad Age is reporting that the two have parted ways. “It wasn’t material for our [West Coast] operations, let alone Edelman. It would not have a been a large account for us or for anyone other than a very small boutique. It was less about the money than the opportunity to work with Twitter,” an Edelman exec tells the magazine.

Ad Age says executive changes may have played a role in the split. The story also says there are no seemingly no plans right now for a replacement.

It was only a few weeks ago that Weber Shandwick and Kellogg split after just a few weeks.

Edelman‘s 2011 Capital Staffers Index finds an increase in Twitter use and influence in policymaking here and overseas. According to the research, 53 percent of lawmakers are using Twitter, up from 38 percent last year. Sixty percent of staffers are using Twitter. All of this coincides with the increase in Twitter use among constituents.

The Internet at large is also playing a bigger role in the policy process, with 60 percent of staffers saying they learned about an issue online and one-third saying they’ve changed their minds based on what they’ve seen online.

Still, grassroots efforts are still important, with a failure in that area thought to be a big contributor to a failure of the larger campaign.

The research is based on interviews with 542 senior staffers across 11 countries. Click here for the press release about the study. And after the jump, we have an infographic.

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Zeno Group, sister firm to Edelman, will open a sixth office in Silicon Valley on December 1. The new office will serve as the firm’s HQ for its tech practice, which the firm says has grown over the past two years. Zeno Group already has office in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Toronto.

Todd Irwin, MD of technology, will run the new office. He’ll be joined by four VPs to lead the operation: Victoria Brown, Monica Walsh, Katie Wood Znameroski, and Mary Ellen Ynes. All of these execs were previously with Edelman in San Mateo, where Irwin was EVP and GM. The roster of Zeno clients includes VeriFone Systems, Life Technologies, Q-Cells, and The Churchill Club.

Maria Amundson will become EVP of Edelman’s San Mateo office, starting December 1.

Edelman has partnered with Chicago’s DePaul University’s College of Communication for a line of course work focused on healthcare communication. The graduate program, which includes a “capstone project,” will begin Winter 2012.

A couple of weeks ago, Ball State University’s graduate PR program became the first to have certification from the Public Relations Society of America. The certification was renewed for its undergrad program.

Census data and research from The Creative Group, a recruitment firm, recently showed that PR majors and those with PR careers are holding their own in this uncertain economy.

For its final act, the PRWeek NEXT conference gathered three firm heads — Edelman’s Richard Edelman, Ketchum’s Rob Flaherty, and Fred Cook of GolinHarris — to talk about what it means to not just have the “seat at the table,”* but to maximize it.

The consensus among the three can be summed up simply: “Be bold.” In fact, Cook used those words specifically. Flaherty used a quote, that we’ll quote in part here: “Try not to be the understudy in your own life… We have all the permission we need to step to center stage.”

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Edelman‘s market research firm StrategyOne has teamed with Crimson Hexagon, the social media monitoring and analysis company, to create Sunrise, a digital monitoring and analytics tool. It works across a variety of languages and users can select the data they’re most interested in taking a closer look at.

The 1.0 version is available now. Among its capabilities, it can track messaging and industry topics, monitor competitors, and track conversations across social media and message boards. Version 2.0 will be available early 2012.

Three of the stars of the ABC program 'Modern Family' Photo: ABC/PETER "HOPPER" STONE

No, not the show (although that would be pretty cool too), but the nature of families in the U.S. today. Teaming up with their research firm StrategyOne, Edelman surveyed more than 2,400 people, with an “oversample” of multicultural and GLBT respondents for the “Marketing to the Modern Family” study.

The study found that mom is hustling, managing the family finances (86 percent said they’ve taken on this responsibility), working (75 percent said they’re earning money), and making major family purchases (84 percent said they’re buying cars). All of these figures are higher than the past, some considerably so.

There’s a new family dynamic, but dad isn’t just hanging out on the couch.

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A slide from the Edelman Health Barometer

The Edelman Health Barometer, released this week, showed that even personal health has a social aspect. Nancy Turett, global president of Edelman’s health group, told us this morning that PR has a part to play in the spreading of healthy behaviors. Health is becoming an issue much like environmental awareness and sustainability: there’s the growing expectation that companies will address these issues as part of their business.

“Health is the most personal of public issues and the most public of personal issues,” she said. “Because health is such a social issue, we’re all playing a role, and this was the biggest ‘A-ha!’ from the study this year. Businesses need to reset their lens. The lens is not only about how the individual can become healthier, but that we are individuals and health influencers.”

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Edelman released its 2011 Health Barometer this week, with results showing the impact that one’s personal network of friends and family can have on healthy behaviors.

According to the findings, 31 percent of respondents will distance themselves from unhealthy people, and 43 percent think that those close to them have the most impact on their health-related lifestyle.

“Health – good and bad — is communicable, and it is the responsibility of every citizen, especially those of us with leadership roles in any sector or industry, to act on this,” said Nancy Turett, global president of Edelman’s health group, in a statement.

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