CooperKatz Launches New Service to Help Corporations Address Issues Bubbling Up from Blogs and Other Online Channels

CooperKatz Launches New Service to Help Corporations Address Issues Bubbling Up from Blogs and Other Online Channels

Service Is First Offering of New Micro Persuasion Practice

NEW YORK, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- CooperKatz & Company, Inc., a mid-sized New York City public relations firm, today launched a new service to help corporations monitor, analyze, plan for and respond to issues that might bubble up from blogs and other emerging online channels.

The service is the first in a series of planned introductions under a new agency practice called Micro Persuasion that will be led by Steve Rubel, VP, Client Services. Micro Persuasion capabilities will not only help companies address corporate issues and concerns but also capitalize on the vast opportunities that blogs and other new channels afford to engage key audiences in a transparent dialogue. Micro Persuasion counsel will be infused into the agency's existing PR services, but can also be purchased as a stand-alone service.

"Thanks to weblogs and other inexpensive online publishing tools, individual voices are more influential than ever in the marketplace," said Andy Cooper, an agency principal. "Corporations need to pay attention to this online commentary as well as engage in a one-to-one dialogue with its 'authors.' We see an opportunity to create a new kind of service that helps companies listen, prepare and manage issues -- as well as their overall reputation -- in this emerging era of citizen's media. When you couple our experience with online privacy, product recalls, litigation, strikes, mergers and acquisitions and controversial marketing categories with our knowledge of blogs and consumer-generated media, we feel we have a unique expertise that will be quite compelling."

Specific issues management services under the new practice include:

* Issue Identification -- Conducting an audit of the marketplace issues
and corporate vulnerabilities faced by an organization.

* Planning -- Developing a preparedness plan to address serious
incidents. Elements might include the creation of special blogs, wikis
or other tools as well as nurturing a network of blogging allies.

* Monitoring -- Setting up alerts and keeping watch of weblogs and
consumer-generated channels such as photo-sharing and link-sharing
sites for mentions of issues, companies, brands and even competitors.

* Analyzing -- Identifying potential issues that need to be addressed and
strategizing ways to handle them, for example by openly engaging online
audiences in a dialogue about their concerns.

* Rapid Response -- Establishing "chains of command" and rapidly routing
and addressing critical issues or concerns in an appropriate tone and
voice.




"This initial service is about helping companies maximize the opportunity to listen and speak in a human voice in an increasingly transparent environment," said Rubel. "We will serve as a company's eyes and ears to its various constituents online so that it can communicate in ways that are most meaningful and relevant. Our approach gives new meaning to the words 'public relations.'"

Rubel, a PR strategist with nearly 15 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience, widely evangelizes the use of weblogs, podcasting and RSS in traditional corporate public relations campaigns. He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog (http://www.micropersuasion.com/) and is frequently sought as an expert on these subjects. Since joining CooperKatz in 2001, he has introduced many of the firm's clients to the power of blogging.

CooperKatz & Company offers a full range of marketing, public relations and creative services to a national client base in the technology, telecommunications, health, financial services, professional services, business-to-business and consumer products sectors. The mid-size, Manhattan- based firm was founded in 1996 by two senior public relations agency executives.


Source: CooperKatz & Company, Inc.

CONTACT: Steve Rubel, CooperKatz & Company, +1-212-455-8085,
srubel@cooperkatz.com

Web site: http://www.cooperkatz.com/
http://www.micropersuasion.com/


-------
Profile: intent