Yesterday we posted on Weber Shandwick‘s new unit Mediaco, which will focus on creating and distributing content for clients. Today we had the chance to talk to Jason Wellcome, the Weber digital EVP who will run the new unit, on exactly what his teams do — and what this development means for the PR industry.

Here’s the firm’s promo video:

In our conversation, Wellcome gave us a little more detail on the strategy and its implications:

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In a new Adweek interview on the future of public relations, Weber Shandwick CEO Andy Polansky says that PR is increasingly “the steward of the strategy”. He believes that developments in digital/social media are the “biggest growth engines” for the industry at large and that they have increased the amount of power that firms hold when shaping messaging strategies for clients.

He makes some very strong statements about social media being “the core of everything we’re doing” and echoes Edelman‘s sentiments about an industry more directly involved in the creative process, saying that “Whoever retains the most creative thinkers will win market share.”

The topics covered in the interview are, in fact, similar to those Polansky addressed when we spoke to him after his promotion last November. In that post he also focused on the power that firms have gained through social media and the very “explosion of data” that has led some to create their own custom analytics tools. The Adweek quote that interests us most concerns the public’s perception that PR is all about “spin” when more firms are concerned with pushing and sharing a given client’s narrative through content and messaging than containing and minimizing the effects of its missteps.

These are familiar talking points to anyone who works in the industry, but we’re interested in specifics: in what ways have firms begun more aggressively managing media strategies for clients over the past few years?

How social is your CEO?

Weber Shandwick‘s recently released follow-up to its 2010 study “Socializing Your CEO: From (Un)social to Social” doesn’t contain many earth-shattering revelations or statistics that will inspire double takes. But its findings do provide evidence of a shift toward sociability among CEOs across the business spectrum that will only increase over the next few years.

Also: In the future, many of these executives will spend more time working with internal communications teams or third-party PR firms to maximize the impact of their social activities.

Some key conclusions:

• 66% of consumers say their perceptions of CEOs affect their impressions of companies and the products these companies sell.
• Overall usage of social networks among the CEOs of the world’s largest companies barely changed from 2010-12, going from 16% to 18%, but…
• “Sociability” stats exploded: In 2010, only 38% of CEOs could be described as “social”. In 2012 that number was 66%.

What does this mean? We recently spoke to Leslie Gaines-Ross, chief reputational strategist at Weber Shandwick, to find out.

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Last week the Interpublic Group announced the promotion of PR firm Weber Shandwick‘s former president, Andy Polansky, to the position of CEO. Polanksy had served as president of Weber Shandwick since 2004; he replaced outgoing CEO Harris Diamond (who in turn became chairman and CEO of “ad agency network” McCann Worldgroup).

Polansky has worked for Shandwick and its predecessor firms in various capacities for approximately 30 years; he is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society who currently sits on the Board of Trustees for the Institute for Public Relations, and he has also served as chairman of the Council of PR Firms for the past two years.

On Friday we had the opportunity to get Polanksy’s thoughts on a changing PR industry; we’ve reprinted our exchange below.

I’ve been with Weber Shandwick and its predecessor firms for nearly 30 years, so of course the change has been quite dramatic! Over the past few years we’ve seen significant shifts in how people consume and share information. We’ve also seen a heightened focus on the changing context of go-to-market approaches, with public policy and reputation considerations now playing a larger role in how organizations shape strategies. Public relations firms increasingly play a lead role in the fast-changing environment. It’s an exciting time to be in this business.

There seems to be a consensus around social media and the data/analytics explosion exerting a great influence on the PR industry of the future. What is your take on this subject?

Social media’s rise has transformed our industry, as companies focus on new ways to engage with their customers.  Whether you’re a B2B company, dealing with a reputational issue or crisis or launching a new consumer product, social media is front and center – a nexus for everything we consider now for any type of communications program. There has been an explosion of data available to formulate insights, to inform strategy, and to create pathways to breakthrough creative thinking.

How do you see the relationship between PR, marketing and advertising changing?

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Earlier this week we posted on the deal that Ogilvy PR Worldwide signed to promote the new health insurance law in the state of California.

Now we have a piece of follow-up news: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has hired Weber Shandwick to “raise awareness” about the other state-based healthcare insurance exchanges–those that will be managed by the federal government.

Here’s the lowdown: these exchanges are essentially virtual marketplaces enabling citizens to compare and choose between competing providers’ plans, and they’re one of the central components of The Affordable Care Act, which requires states to create them by January 2013. In states that do not set up exchanges by that date, the federal government will create its own “federally facilitated” exchanges by default—and these are the exchanges to be promoted by Weber Shandwick.

Here’s the challenge: To date, only 13 states and the District of Columbia have agreed to manage their own exchanges.

This is a particularly big get for Shandwick, which was recently named PR News’s “Digital Firm of the Year” just after winning the title of “Global PR Firm of the Year” via The Holmes Report.

The future of the insurance exchange project will be interesting to say the least.

Where technology was once only for geeks, now digital gadgets are for everyone, from small children keeping busy at the supermarket to grandparents Skyping their grandkids. We had a chance to talk with Bradford Williams, president of Weber Shandwick‘s North American tech practice, and Heidi Sinclair, president of the firm’s global technology practice, while they’re visiting New York, and they were squarely focused on this intersection between even the highest of technologies and the consumer.

“It’s a reversal of the tide of where technology comes from,” said Williams. “Previously, it came from big business. Now, the most dominant technology is coming from the consumer area, like the iPhone and the iPad.”

For example, when mobile first caught on 30 years ago, it was a business tool. Today, of course, it’s for everyone.

“RFPs that we’ve seen from the last month or two seem hi-tech, but when you dig in, they have apps or some other little piece where the company has to talk to consumers,” said Sinclair, who referenced the “consumerization of IT.”

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Citrix has selected Weber Shandwick as the AOR for the company’s online services division in the U.S. This division includes the GoTo set of cloud services, like GoToMeeting and GoToMyPC. The branding behind these sorts of remote tools is a “flexible work movement” that Citrix calls “workshifting.” Citrix has an entire blog dedicated to the topic and how it benefits companies.

This account will be handled out of Weber Shandwick’s northern California office.

Lewis PR works with Citrix in international markets and, according to a firm spokesperson, will not be impacted by this new hire. The firm has never worked with Citrix in the U.S.

We also reported in 2010 that Atomic PR was working on the Citrix account, with the firm handling the company’s GoTo tools. Atomic told us via email that they no longer work with Citrix Online or use the company’s tools. *

*This last sentence is an update to the story.

Weber Shandwick has promoted three executives in its digital practice. Chris Vary is now EVP of digital program innovation, Patrick Chaupham has been named SVP of digital operations, and Colin Moffat has been appointed SVP of digital content strategy.

The changes come at a time of even more change in this area of the firm, including the addition of Jim Paul as executive creative director, Matt Dickman as EVP of social business innovation, and Vanessa Muir Johnson as SVP of digital.

In the release announcing the changes, Weber also touts some of the digital practice’s recent work, including the social media launch of Simple Skincare last month, the centennial campaign for L.L. Bean, and the firm’s relationship with Mattel, which includes digital and crisis work.

The United Nations Foundation, which connects businesses and others with the UN’s work, has chosen Weber Shandwick to help with the organization’s “Sustainable Energy for All” campaign, focused on energy’s uses for global development and poverty reduction.

The firm was chosen after a competitive search. Weber’s Social Impact division, based in D.C., will lead the effort, which will include media relations and strategy work.

Sustainable energy is a top priority for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during his second five-year term. Goals include doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvement by 2030.

Weber Shandwick has released the results of “The Company Behind the Brand: In Reputation We Trust,” a study finding that 70 percent of consumers won’t buy into a brand if they don’t like the parent company. Among senior execs, 87 percent said that having a strong brand for the parent company is as important as having a strong product brand.

A couple of stats that jumped out at us as well: 56 percent of respondents said they do research on companies that make products they buy; and 56 percent said they “hesitate” to purchase a product if they can’t tell which company makes it.

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