TMCA

Compass Award judging begins

14 marketing pros gathered at Ozburn-Hessey Logistics (OHL) March 18 to judge one-third of TMCA Compass Award entries. From the TMCA press release:

This year, there were nearly 170 entries in the TMCA Compass Awards Program, according to Brian Everett, ABC, TMCA's chief executive officer. Two other judging sessions will take place next week - one in Illinois (at the Echo Logistics corporate headquarters in Chicago), and the other in Ohio (at the Pacer offices in Dublin).

Judges on the Tennessee Judging Team were: Brad Brown of Averitt; Sherri Tipton of Cornerstone Systems; Emily Summar of Comdata Corp.; Larry Perry of Epic One Media; Tara Tocco and Leigh Marie Lunn of Gish Sherwood & Friends; Karen Hall, Christy Brown, Michelle McManus, and Eli Dolgansky of OHL; Mason Kauffman of WorldLogistics.org; Patricia Harris-Morehead of Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority; and Diane Green of ProVenture Commercial Real Estate. Brian Everett was proctor of the session.

Recipients of the 2009 TMCA Compass Awards Program will be announced in mid-April, after all judging sessions have been successfully completed.

PR in a down economy

We are all feeling the effects of the economic crisis.  Therefore, in the spirit of misery loving company and facts that help affirm our perception of reality, I thought I would share some recent research that I came across. The University of Southern California Annenberg Strategic Communication and Public Relations Center recently published a report entitled “The Economic Situation on Public Relations/Communication.”

Here are a few of the facts that I found particularly disturbing:

• 40% of the companies surveyed are decreasing their PR budgets in mid-stream compared to the budgeted amount
• 69% of those surveyed have reduced or plan to reduce their agency fees
• Of those who decreased their budgets, 94% of them were doing it in response to economic conditions
• The average decrease was 18.8%