Edelman

According to PRWeek's Aarti Shah, Edelman made some executive team changes this week. Bob Angus, "will step down as president at A&R Edelman in May, giving up day-to-day management of the tech firm he cofounded and sold to Edelman in 2006," Shah reports. He will be replaced Todd Irwin, GM and EVP, who will pick up day to day duties.

Matt McGinnis, Commercial Product Communications at Dell, posted on Twitter in response to the news, "Looks like Bob Angus has lived through his earn-out period after Edelman bought A&R in '06."

Edelman Chief of Staff Derek Creevey says the statement is not accurate. "Bob has stepped down from the global tech practice role, but Bob is very much continuing in his role as chairman of A&R and absolutely that is going to continue. He's not leaving the company," Creevey told PRNewser.

[Image: Bob Angus, Courtesy PRWeek]

Richard Edelman, CEO of independent megashop Edelman Worldwide has advice for slugging your way through the recession in his latest 6 A.M. blog post.

There's some good stuff in it that addresses the fuzzier lines drawn between PR, advertising, marketing, and grassroots influence--anyone in any of these businesses is fighting for the same pool of dollars. The examples cited are ones of influence, not necessarily what many people think of as tradition PR work--the secret ingredient is pairing clients (or disparate media) together in interesting ways.

The full quote about the runway is "We uniquely create the runway of credibility for the advertising and digital plane to take off."

A source in a major ad firm told me this is why Crispin Porter + Bogusky is so successful, apparently known for their motto: "Don't show me a script. Show me the press release."

More after the jump:

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Now in its 28th year, Edelman's evergreen PR campaign for Butterball turkey is going 2.0, in addition to the huge wave of consumer publicity the agency generates for the ladies of Butterball, or the staffers who run the phones of the Turkey Talk line.

Last year we spoke to Allison McClamroch, VP at Edelman's Consumer Brands division in Chicago who with the help of an 8-person team put together an SMT, three Today Show spots, a CNN American Morning, and a mountain of newpaper clips.

Though they didn't go for my racy Ladies of Butterball calendar idea, the campaign is considerably more sexy this year in other ways--specifically in interactivity beyond 800-BUTTERBALL. Here's what McClamroch's team put together this year--more on the mainstream publicity tk:

Mobile: Turkey Texts: Text the word "TURKEY" to the number 36888 from your mobile phone or log on to Butterball.com and enter your mobile phone number to opt in and have tips on how much turkey to buy, thawing reminders and turkey temperatures at your fingertips.

Online: Log on to Butterball.com for a new look and easy-to-find how-to videos, fresh recipe ideas, cooking calculators, new Web chats and a section to upload your personal Thanksgiving photos. The site has been formatted for viewing on mobile devices.

Turkey Talk-Line Bloggers: This year, three well-known mommy bloggers have joined the Turkey Talk-Line to train at Butterball University and share their tips. They will assist with answering e-mail questions sent to TalkLine@Butterball.com, participate in weekly Web chats on Butterball.com and contribute content to the "new cooks" section of the site.

Web Chats: Virtually talk turkey with the experts and have questions answered live during Web chats on Butterball.com taking place. The next one happens tomorrow from 11 AM to 1 PM Central time. Web chats will be co-hosted by a Turkey Talk-Line expert and a Turkey Talk-Line blogger.

We've run into Edelman's Amanda Mooney at a few events around town as of late. Yesterday, she announced via the Edelman Digital blog that she will be relocating to the agency's Chicago office. However, as Amanda noted in her post, she won't have to pack much:

I was amazed when I noticed that the majority of my belongings fit into three medium-sized boxes and a carry-on bag. The largest amount of clutter I own is digital.

Pretty impressive, we must say, especially with only one carry-on! Are you living a digital lifestyle, or still rooted in analog?

Edelman yesterday announced that it, "consolidated its three digital entities into one global operating unit now known as Edelman Digital." Those three digital entities are Edelman Interactive Solutions, me2revolution, and Edelman Mobile.

PR Week: "The unit current has more than 120 global staff members and expects to hire 30 more...the me2revolution brand will continue mostly as an internal operation."

As of the time of this post, Edelman Digital president Rick Murray has not returned a PRNewser phone call asking for comment.

Edelman scored big in Advertising Age's Agency of the Year Special Report. The agency, which grew 26% globally in 2007 to $376 million in revenue, was the only PR agency listed in top 10 "Agency A-List," while CEO Richard Edelman was named Agency Executive of the Year.

AdAge's Matthew Creamer interviewed Richard, with topics including social media, the Wal-Mart "fake blog" blunder, and why he chooses to keep Edelman independent.

Read the full interview here.