Renee Wilson, MD of MSLGroup‘s New York office and lead on the firm’s P&G business, and Bob Bejan, founder of MSL’s creative studio PBJS, have been appointed to the firm’s global management board, effective February 1. (Both pictured left, top to bottom.) Wilson will now be chief client officer based in New York and Bejan, chief development officer, based in Paris. Wilson is transitioning her MD duties to a new exec that hasn’t yet been named. Jenny Pigott will become CEO of PBJS and Ian Saunders will be president and chief creative officer for PBJS in Chicago, Seattle, and New York.

Netflix CMO Leslie Kilgore has been appointed to the company’s board as a non-executive director. She’s held the CMO role for 12 years. Jessie Becker, previously VP of marketing and an 11-year vet of the company, has been named interim CMO. Jonathan Friedland has been appointed chief comms officer. He joined the company last February from Disney. The company is seeking a new CMO. [via]

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The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for 2011 is over but the discussion continues. PR had a less-than-stellar showing this year, its third in the competition, with only six of 39 lions going to PR firms, Renee Wilson, MSLGroup‘s northeast regional president, says in today’s Council of PR Firms blog post.  She offers some tips on how PR firms can get their entries noticed.

But over on the Olson PR (formerly Dig Communications) blog The Think Room, there’s the question of whether PR firms should even enter at all. While admitting that the firm enjoys touting a win and pinpointing some of the not-so-great lengths that ad agencies will go to for this and other competitions, the post asks, “Am I alone in failing to see a lack of interest in an award show as a negative?”

The post continues, “But I fail to see how not winning a three-year-old award which PR firms show little interest in pursuing should matter at all to those same PR firms that, for the most part, choose not to enter.”

“Cannes is unquestionably the strongest global brand in the area of communications arts,” Dave Senay, president and CEO of Fleishman-Hillard and PR Jury president, told us today in a phone conversation. “There’s nothing that even approaches it. And when Cannes extends its reach into your industry, you ignore it at your peril.”

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Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, an ad agency, took the top PR prize this year with a campaign for National Australia Bank.

The 2011 Cannes Lions wrapped up this weekend and it looks like the PR industry has a lot of work to do to improve its showing in the years to come.

Israel Mirsky, Porter Novelli‘s EVP of emerging media and technology, told us previously that he thought the PR firms are still learning how to present themselves at these awards. Others share that opinion.

“For the third straight year in a row, the PR industry is still failing to represent itself as strongly as it should in its own category,” Renee Wilson, president of the northeast region for MSLGroup told Ad Age in an interview.

But it’s not just presenting the entries that require improvement. Some are saying that the resources required to enter are also an issue.

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So you can’t go to France for the Cannes Lions (it starts on Sunday). But you can still pretend to be there with MSLGroup‘s new chat site www.cannescentrale.com. Writer Tim Seidell and other reporters will be posting to the site, and it will curated by the public.

Fleishman-Hillard‘s Dave Senay, who is serving as Jury President, gives a sneak preview of the Cannes Lions here. MSLGroup’s Renee Wilson is also serving on the jury.

Separately, if you will be in one of the 12 cities hosting the next Social Media Week and would like to make a presentation, the submission process is now open. In addition to the cities listed here, Social Media Week will be happening in Chicago and Milan.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced the full jury that will be passing judgment on this year’s entrants for the PR Lions awards.

The organization had previously announced that Fleishman-Hillard president and CEO Dave Senay will lead the panel. Among those on the panel are Christopher Graves, global CEO of Ogilvy PR Worldwide and Renee Wilson, president of MSLGroup‘s northeast region. The full list of jury members is available after the jump. More info about the Cannes Lions available here. Submissions will be accepted through this Friday.

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