We had a great AGM / Conference at Bordeaux, France, with the highest member’s attendance ever, several new and happy faces and very good organization by our French Partner Passarelles. Her CEO Chantal Carrere-Cuny and all her team did a great job showing us the excellence of her country, the beautiful city of Bordeaux and the French gastronomy and wines.
We reviewed, updated and approved many internal proceedings to make sure the IPRN continues progressing, discussed several important topics, explained the position of the IPRN vs other networks and presented the first Business Plan.
We had nine excellent finalist projects participating in the IPRN Project of the Year. The overall winner was Public Dialog, from Poland, with the presentation from his CEO and leader, Pawel Bylicki about an automotive auction, with category awards going to JPA Health, from the USA and The McOnie Agency, from the UK.
We also agreed to do a one day European regional meeting that will take place the 4th November in Berlin”.
New Chairman – New Members
Seven PR Firms Join Leading International PR Network (IPRN). Inna Alexeeva, Principal at PR Partners, Moscow, Elected as New Chairman
At its 21st Annual General Meeting (AGM) meeting in Bordeaux, France, the International Public Relations Network (IPRN) expanded its global reach by approving seven new member agencies. The new firms from India, Portugal, Germany, Italy and the US join a growing number of agencies and consultancies who are already members of IPRN, which was formed in 1995 and is now one of the world’s largest independent agency networks. The organization has members all over the world covering markets in North and South America, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and Australasia and specialized in nearly all the sectors by the volume of clients handled. The combined fee income of their members exceeds US $200 million providing local knowledge and global reach for all clients who require selective market PR programs.
The Network newest members are: Portugal-based agencies Executive Decisions and Communication (EDC) with offices near Lisbon and Central de Informaçao with headquarters in Porto and office also in Lisbon; Germany-based agencies Primo PR, located in Frankfurt, and Schwan Communications located in Hamburg; Axess PR located in Monza, near Milano, Italy and United States agency Vistra Communications, based in Tampa, Florida.
The IPRN also elected Inna Alexeeva, principal of PR Partner in Moscow, Russia, as the next Chairman, for the period 2016 – 2017. In this role she and her team will be responsible for organizing the 2017 IPRN AGM and Congress to be in June in Moscow. They also elected Athena Wang, from the agency Blue Focus from Beijing, China, as the new vice chairman of the organization for the same period.
Each year, one member hosts the network’s Annual General Meeting and conference attended by all members. The annual meeting is critical for fostering personal, professional and cultural relationships for member businesses. Also to get inspiration from other colleagues and international PR experts.
In addition to networking with international contacts, IPRN’s members have access to case studies, resources and local knowledge through its network of more than 5,000 communication specialists located throughout the world. The goal of membership is to develop close working relationships with other members, learn from global sector experts, PR senior specialists and which often facilitates the referral of business from one member to another and one country to another.
“IPRN is a vital organization in which members share global insights and capabilities that they can leverage with the local clients looking to do work in a global environment. We welcome our newest members approved at our recent AGM in France and are excited with the inspiration that our new Russian and very international chairman Inna Alexeeva will bring to the organization,” said Luis Gonzalez, IPRN executive director and principal manager for LUCA Comunicacion Corporativa in Madrid.