Euro RSCG

MARIAN SALZMAN DEBUTS A FOUR-PART SERIES ABOUT THE BRAIN ON THE HUFFINGTON POST

Euro RSCG Worldwide PR Executive Pens Columns Exploring Her Own Brain Tumor, the Creative Process, How Brains Adapt to Multitasking And the Superficial Dimensions of “Braininess” 

NEW YORK—July 20, 2010—Three years ago, Marian Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, was a high-powered advertising executive who had been credited with popularizing the wordmetrosexual and whose annual trend predictions were being picked up by media worldwide. But she had nagging symptoms that kept her researching and insisting with doctors that something was wrong. Indeed, she was diagnosed with an atypical meningioma, which arises from the meninges (membranes) that surround the brain and spinal cord. 

Since her successful craniotomy in late July 2007, Salzman has become an articulate advocate for brain health and a supporter of two brain-related philanthropic undertakings: ReMIND.org (a program of the Bob Woodruff Foundation) and the Home Base Program, a joint endeavor from Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston Red Sox to care for and support wounded soldiers and their families. 

As she reflects on her three-year journey, she has produced a four-part series that will appear on the Huffington Post from July 20 to July 23. The first tells of the diagnosis and surgery—plus resulting questions, anxieties, changes and soul-searching. The second discusses the brain and the creative process, including collaboration and other approaches to creativity. The third: Salzman’s second thoughts about multitasking in the wake of a spate of new studies linking those actions to a variety of physical and mental problems. And in the final post, she ponders society’s return to considering brainy people cool—and sexy, even. 

Among her conclusions in the series: 

• Society tends to take the brain’s complexity for granted. 
• The way she generates ideas and solves problems, among other things, have changed since her surgery. “Doctors might tell brain tumor patients they’ll be like they were before,” says Salzman in Part I, “but as Psychology Today pointed out earlier this year, that’s not really the case.” 
• Multitasking, as recent scientific research has proven, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Salzman’s own habits have changed; her senses have somehow sensed that they’ve been rebooted. 
• The new awareness of our brains’ limits just keeps growing. 

“Talking about brain health is part of what comes with 50 being the new 30,” says Salzman in Part III of the series. “We are all desperate to be young of brain, especially those of us who understand what happens when the brain dims even slightly.” 

Named one of the world’s top five trendspotters, Salzman is the author or co-author of 15 books on topics including current affairs, the youth market and the commercial workplace. She has been blogging on the Huffington Post since January 2010 on subjects from politics and BP’s branding to the millennial generation and social responsibility. She also blogs at eurorscgpr.com and eurorscgsocial.com.

About Euro RSCG Worldwide PR 
Euro RSCG Worldwide PR is the public relations arm of Euro RSCG Worldwide, a leading integrated marketing communications agency with 233 offices in 75 countries. Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Chicago and Pittsburgh. It is part of Adweek’s first-ever Healthcare Agency of the Year (2010) and Medical Marketing & Media’s 2010 All-Star Network of the Year. The agency provides communications services, social brand momentum and thought leadership, among other services, in core areas ranging from CSR and health care to content creation and social media. Clients include Bayer Corp., Purina, sanofi-aventis, Toyota Motorsports, Transitions Optical and Yéle Haiti. Euro RSCG Worldwide is the largest unit of Havas, a world leader in communications (Euronext: HAV.PA) (Paris: HAV.PA). 

EURO RSCG WORLDWIDE PR’S MARIAN SALZMAN TO DELIVER  
OPENING KEYNOTE AT ADWEEK’S “WHAT TEENS WANT” SUMMIT 

The Agency President’s Teen Expertise Has Spanned Her Career And Is Now Expanding Through Euro RSCG PR’s Sisterhood Initiative

NEW YORK, May 6, 2010—Marian Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, has been announced as the opening keynote speaker at AdweekMedia’s 12th-annual “What Teens Want” marketing conference on May 12 in New York. Salzman’s presentation, “The Transformation of American Youth: From Teenager to Teenagent,” will be a revolutionary examination of how today’s teenagers interact with family, friends and brands, and what their value is in the contemporary marketing community.  

“Teenhood is now a social place. It’s almost as if the core definition of a teenager can no longer be negotiated by age but, rather, by the kind of actions and activities in his or her life,” said Salzman. “Teenagers are agents of change, agents of communication and agents of innovation. Under our own noses, they have been transformed into something wholly new. And now, as American culture undergoes the digital-social revolution, they’re about to emerge like never before.” 

Salzman, a recognized global trendspotter, is a bona fide expert on the subject of teens and their habits, particularly teenage girls. For more than 20 years, she has worked with them and helped marketers reach them. In the 1990s she worked with BKG Youth, which created a viewer feedback system for the in-school TV network Channel One, and she cast the real kids in Esprit’s “What Would You Do to Change the World?” campaign. She organized focus groups for Levi’s and AOL. She created the National Teen Summit for Clearasil, co-authored the Greetings from High School and Kids Online book series, and was a creative consultant on Pepsi’s “It’s Like This” campaign, which ran on MTV. In the early 2000s, as executive vice president and chief strategy officer of Euro RSCG Worldwide, she led the Euro RSCG Project Fishing Experience, which used real people for innovations creation and launched the Xplorer panels that gave the agency access to global youth. 

This spring, after careful analysis of the findings from a study commissioned by Euro RSCG Worldwide PR that investigated the spending and communicating habits of teenage girls, Salzman founded The Sisterhood. A specialized agency within Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, The Sisterhood provides insight for brands and marketers seeking to understand and communicate with the teenage girl market. The initiative helps facilitate a trialogue, or a three-way conversation among teenage girls, brands and marketing professionals. Its website features a blog with posts by both teens and marketers, plus the white paper, “The Teenage Girl as Consumer and Communicator” (www.forsistersbysisters.com/). 

Among other critical findings, the study found that: 

• To keep in touch with friends, 78 percent of teen girls use social media.
• Another three-quarters are in “constant contact” with friends through texting, Facebook, iChat, AIM or other social media services.
• They want to approach a brand about promotions rather than vice versa. Almost 40 percent sign up for e-mails from favorite brands to do just that.
• When their favorite brand or store has a sale, 65 percent want to share that information with their best friend or sister.
• Shopping with her best friend or sister, a teen girl will spend 23 percent more money than when shopping with two or more friends.
• Shopping with a boy, she’ll spend only 43 percent of what she spends with her close friend or sister.
• About 80 percent prefer one-to-one communication (texting or phone calls) over “broadcast” platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
• More than half (59 percent) say maintaining a unique personal style is important to them—twice the number of girls who like to follow the same trends as their friends.
• Forty-three percent are influenced by the style of celebrities and just 26 percent by “cool” girls at school.

The “What Teens Want” summit is one of the foremost teen marketing conferences in the United States. It allows some of the industry’s brightest marketing professionals, creative developers, and media and entertainment executives to gather and share new developments in teen-specific marketing and communications. For more information, go to www.adweekmedia.com/aw/events/whatteenswant/index.html

About Euro RSCG Worldwide PR

Euro RSCG Worldwide PR is the public relations arm of Euro RSCG Worldwide, a leading integrated marketing communications agency with 233 offices in 75 countries. Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Chicago and Pittsburgh. It is part of Adweek’s first-ever Healthcare Agency of the Year (2010) and Medical Marketing & Media’s 2010 All-Star Network of the Year. The agency provides communications services, social brand momentum and thought leadership, among other services, in core areas ranging from CSR and health care to content creation and social media. Clients include Bayer Corp., Purina, sanofi-aventis, Toyota Motorsports, Transitions Optical and Yéle Haiti. Euro RSCG Worldwide is the largest unit of Havas, a world leader in communications (Euronext: HAV.PA) (Paris: HAV.PA).

EURO RSCG WORLDWIDE PR LAUNCHES  ACCOUNT-MANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL MEDIA INITIATIVES

The Initiatives and Three New Top Hires Reflect The Agency’s Major Recent Successes and Future Plans 

NEW YORK—April 30, 2010—Marian Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, today announced the launch of two new agency initiatives: the Center for Account Management Excellence and SoMe Central, a branded think tank to track social media trends for public relations professionals.  

The Center for Account Management Excellence will be headed up by Senior Vice President Ann Hemingway, while SoMe Central will be led by Senior Vice President Ana Cano. The agency’s brand-new executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Stacy Mackler, recognized industrywide for her successes in joining digital and traditional marketing approaches, will oversee both initiatives. 

“SoMe Central and the Center for Account Management Excellence are part of Euro RSCG PR’s cohesive effort to stay a step ahead of trends,” said Salzman. “On the consumer marketing end, we’ve seen a huge turn toward social media. At the same time, clients still need and deserve the best traditional account care. These initiatives will help Euro RSCG PR generate new solutions to both needs, for our own agency and for the PR industry.” 

The initiatives are the next step in a broader push by the agency to develop in-house thinking campaigns that generate ideas and innovate approaches. Last month, Euro RSCG PR launched The Sisterhood, a marketing initiative to connect marketers and brands with teens (for more information, see forsistersbysisters.com). And SoMe Central builds on a survey and white paper undertaken last fall by the agency to gauge how people use the ever-changing options in social and online media available today. (A blog, eurorscgsocial.com, continues to engage various business-related discussions on the topic.) 

Hemingway has earned her expertise on the topic of account management excellence after working over the past 12 years with sanofi-aventis, Roche, AstraZeneca, the American Gastroenterological Association, Visual AIDS and other clients. She has also managed relationships with such blue-chip clients as IBM and Sears. And last month Hemingway, along with Salzman and Euro RSCG PR’s new director of strategic planning, Karina Meckel, won Warner Chilcott’s $2 million LoLoestrin account.  

Cano is one of the agency’s lead social media strategists. Over her career, she has been responsible for developing and executing digital and corporate strategies for Sears, ServiceLive.com, ManageMyHome and Dun & Bradstreet, among others. Her digital marketing experience has included providing counsel to Yahoo!, id Software, Ensemble Studios, Sony, Dell, Nortel Networks and Microsoft South Central Region.  

Under Salzman’s leadership since she arrived last August, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR has been operating with a new agency model, including this reorientation toward farsighted thought leadership. The rebooted and reinvisioned Euro RSCG PR has also added many clients in recent months, including Yéle Haiti and Purina. Three new hires are designed to help continue the momentum. 

Janene Ferrara, senior vice president on health-care-related accounts, was most recently senior vice president in the health-care practice at Marina Maher Communications. Her clients have included Millennium, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Salix, Qmed and VisionCare. From 2002 to 2005, Ferrara worked as a media specialist with Chandler Chicco Agency and before that held media relations and account management roles at Cohn & Wolfe, Vorhaus & Co. and the National Archives and Records Administration.  

The new senior vice president and chief of staff is Beth Kitzinger. She has 17 years of marketing and communications experience, developing strategies for internal and external audiences at agencies such as the Business Within, Patrice Tanaka & Co., and M. Booth and Associates. At Euro RSCG PR, Kitzinger manages corporate communications initiatives for clients and progresses agency structure and staff. Her list of past clients includes Mercedes-Benz, the Container Store, Tiffany & Co., Wyndham, Leapfrog, Krups, Charles Schwab & Co., eBay, Lever Brothers, Bristol-Myers Squibb, DDF and Mars.  

Susan Carey, the new vice president of finance, began her career in the Euro RSCG network as an intern at Comart-KLP (a sales promotion agency) and within several years was promoted to controller of Euro RSCG NA. She has held various senior finance roles at Honeywell’s Security Group, Adecco Worldwide and Weber Shandwick Worldwide. Carey is returning to Euro RSCG PR from overseeing finance and administrative operations for Medicus LifeBrands at Publicis Healthcare Group. 
 
 

About Euro RSCG Worldwide PR

Euro RSCG Worldwide PR is the public relations arm of Euro RSCG Worldwide, a leading integrated marketing communications agency with 233 offices in 75 countries. Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Chicago and Pittsburgh. It is part of  Adweek’s first-ever Healthcare Agency of the Year (2010) and Medical Marketing & Media’s 2010 All-Star Network of the Year. The agency provides communications services, social brand momentum and thought leadership, among other services, in core areas ranging from CSR and health care to content creation and social media. Clients include Bayer Corp., Purina, sanofi-aventis, Toyota Motorsports, Transitions Optical and Yéle Haiti. Euro RSCG Worldwide is the largest unit of Havas, a world leader in communications (Euronext: HAV.PA) (Paris: HAV.PA).

EURO RSCG WORLDWIDE "MIND AND MOOD" REPORT TACKLES HEALTH-CARE QUESTIONS

Survey Shows Americans Respond—and Agree—in Unexpected Ways 

New York—March 31, 2010—Health care is on the minds of most Americans today. And according to Euro RSCG Worldwide’s Spring 2010 “U.S. Mind and Mood Report,” 67.6 percent of men and 61.5 percent of women are more interested in the subject than they were during the previous 12 to 18 months.  

The findings come from a national online survey of 386 adults about a raft of social and political issues that was commissioned by global integrated marketing communications agency Euro RSCG Worldwide in February 2010. MicroDialogue collected and analyzed the data. A second survey asked the same questions of 386 Connecticut residents. 

Right now, the health-care bill is public issue No. 1. It’s huge and complex, and few Americans have been able or willing to study every aspect of it. Media coverage over the past year has shown more confusion than clarity. Opponents of the legislation raised the specter of “death panels.”¹ Seniors were seen demanding that the government keep its hands off their Medicare,²despite the fact that it’s a government-run program.

Americans have little doubt that things are wrong in the country and need fixing; in Euro’s survey, disapproval and negative expectations outweighed approval and optimism. What’s not clear, however, is how they want the problems to be fixed. Respondents’ angles on the health-care issue reveal this lack of clarity.  

“Americans are looking more closely and more critically than ever at the public issues that affect them, and no issue is more pressing—or confusing—than health-care reform,” said Donna Murphy, worldwide managing partner of Euro RSCG Life, the health-focused communications network of Euro RSCG Worldwide. “Clarity will become more apparent now that we are entering a brave new world in the health-care space, as reforms begin to be realized and new leaders emerge as a consequence of the widespread reforms.” 

On one hand, in the Euro survey, almost half overall (44.9 percent) agreed with the statement “The proposed health-care reform is too socialist for my liking,” and even higher percentages of people age 60 to 64, and those over 65, agreed (50.0 percent and 53.8 percent). Perhaps not surprisingly, 82 percent of self-identified Republicans agreed with the statement, as did 46.5 percent of Independents—and indeed 18.6 percent of Democrats.

On the other hand, even more respondents agreed with the assertion that “Big corporations and lobbies have hijacked the proposed health-care reform.” Overall, 61.7 percent agreed, with even higher percentages of 60-to-64s and over-65s agreeing (77.3 percent and 73.1 percent). This perception indicates the sort of anti-business thinking often associated with Democrats, and 60.5 percent of self-identified Democrats did agree with it—but so did 61.3 percent of Republicans and 70.3 percent of Independents.  

Partisan no longer just means being a Democrat or Republican. It could mean being anti-establishment or anti-corporate or anti-government. Euro RSCG Worldwide’s “Mind and Mood” survey and resultant white paper looks at the feelings and contradictions behind those views.  

About Euro RSCG Worldwide  
Euro RSCG Worldwide, the parent company of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, is a leading integrated marketing communications agency and was the first agency to be named Global Agency of the Year by both Advertising Ageand Campaign in the same year. Euro RSCG is made up of 233 offices in 75 countries and provides advertising, marketing, corporate communications and interactive solutions to clients including Air France, BNP Paribas, Charles Schwab, Citigroup, Danone Group, Heineken USA, IBM, Jaguar, Kraft Foods, Lacoste, L’Oréal, Merck, PSA Peugeot and sanofi-aventis. Euro RSCG Worldwide is the largest unit of Havas, a world leader in communications (Euronext: HAV.PA) (Paris: HAV.PA). 

EURO RSCG WORLDWIDE LEADERS PROPEL NYU STUDENTS  INTO SOCIAL MEDIA 

Online Course Will Teach Brand Value, How to Engage Consumers  
Who Are Active in Social Media

NEW YORK—March 19, 2010—Euro RSCG Worldwide announced today that two of the company’s top leaders will be teaching two online courses at New York University: Examining Social Media Networks for Brand Value and Beyond Twitter and Facebook: The Next Platform.

Marian Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, in New York, and Christopher Hayes, marketing director of Euro RSCG 4D Amsterdam, will conduct the first four-session course beginning on March 20, 2010. Among other topics, it will explore new trialogues—multi-way exchanges of ideas and opinions among consumers, brands and employees, which matter now more than ever—with connected consumers active in the social media world.

“More and more brands are looking for ways to break through the enormous clutter created by the explosion of social networks and nontraditional marketing,” explained Hayes. “The development of innovative digital campaigns can lead to word-of-mouth conversations among consumers, bloggers and traditional journalists. Marian and I will share our experience about how to infuse social media into an organization’s marketing efforts, which can help a brand communicate a unified message at all vital points in the cycle of a campaign.”  

The classes will discuss how tomorrow’s brands are driving into everyday lives today—through active engagement in the blogosphere and online community, which transcends geography. Salzman and Hayes will teach students how to foster a true exchange of ideas through outlets that feel organic and personal, ensure authenticity and maintain integrity, adapt at lightning speed, and remain compelling enough to hold focus in this drop-in, drop-out multitasking world.  

“I have been breaking rules about why to do online since I created Cyberdialogue in 1992—the world’s first online market research company, which used the AOL platform and community, exploiting unreal estate,” said Salzman. “Now short-messaging is key, and these classes will show how doing that right invents desire.”   

In each session, elites of the online world, from inside and outside the Euro network, will make guest appearances. In 2009, Euro was named digital agency of record and/or social media agency of record for such multinationals as Ikea, method, P&G, sanofi-aventis, Shire Pharmaceuticals and Sprint. It also launched the almost budget-less Tck Tck Tck online campaign for climate justice that gave rise to a focused global effort and the Evian Rollerbabies ad, the most downloaded commercial in history at 114 million views and counting. 

The classes will look at PR and marketing communications in real time and cover grassroots activation and campaigns ranging from local politics to multinational brands. Media to be explored include Facebook, Twitter, Delicious.com and YouTube. For more information, visit www.scps.nyu.edu. 

About the Faculty 

Christopher Hayes is marketing director and head of the social media division at Euro RSCG 4D. He is responsible for the agency’s new business, social media, marketing and public relations activities. Recently, Hayes spearheaded a high-profile partnership with the United Nations to support education globally.  

In 1999, he created Middleberg 1.2.1, which is known as the first online marketing division of a traditional PR firm. His entrepreneurial approach is responsible for a number of digital milestones, including co-creating the first New Year’s Eve online with Yahoo!  

Hayes is the founder and director of NYU’s Integrated Marketing Institute, where he has taught for the past 10 years. 

Marian Salzman is president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America. Named one of the world’s top five trendspotters, Salzman has strong expertise in one-to-one persuasion, family dynamics and influence, the new consumer in China and India, narrowcasting and emerging niches. She has worked at Porter Novelli, JWT Worldwide, Euro RSCG Worldwide and TBWA’s Department of the Future. At Chiat\Day, Salzman co-founded Cyberdialogue in 1992 with partner Jay Chiat.

In addition to her closely watched and widely reported-on annual trends forecast, Salzman blogs at eurorscgpr.com/blog, eurorscgsocial.com and the Huffington Post. 

Salzman is author or co-author of 15 books on topics ranging from current affairs to the youth market. Most recent is Next Now: Trends for the Future (Palgrave Macmillan). 

About Euro RSCG Worldwide

Euro RSCG Worldwide, the parent company of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR and Euro RSCG 4D, is a leading integrated marketing communications agency and was the first agency to be named Global Agency of the Year by both Advertising Age and Campaign in the same year. Euro RSCG is made up of 233 offices in 75 countries and provides advertising, marketing, corporate communications and interactive solutions to clients including Air France, BNP Paribas, Charles Schwab, Citigroup, Danone Group, Heineken USA, IBM, Jaguar, Kraft Foods, Lacoste, L’Oréal, Merck, PSA Peugeot and sanofi-aventis. Euro RSCG Worldwide is the largest unit of Havas, a world leader in communications (Euronext: HAV.PA) (Paris: HAV.PA).