Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
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Waggener Edstrom Worldwide (WE) is a large privately owned communications agency, best known as the long-standing public relations firm for Microsoft.
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[edit] History
Melissa Waggener Zorkin founded the Waggener Group in 1983, working at the time with Microsoft and other technology companies. In 1984, Pam Edstrom joined the Waggener Group as an agency partner to Melissa Waggener, and the firm was renamed Waggener Edstrom in 1990. The agency is probably best known for its work in launching Microsoft Windows'95 [1]. In 2005, the agency was renamed Waggener Edstrom Worldwide.
[edit] Present
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009) |
The agency has over 800 employees and 16 offices worldwide with U.S. headquarters in Seattle, European headquarters in London and Asian headquarters in Hong Kong, with further field offices in Austin, Texas; Beijing; Boston; Johannesburg, South Africa; Munich, Germany; Mumbai; New York City; Paris; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Singapore; Shanghai and Washington, D.C. WE clients include Microsoft Corp., Shire, BMC Software, Iron Mountain and T-Mobile USA.
The agency released corporate responsibility reports in 2008, 2009 and 2010[2][3]
[edit] Awards
In 2011, the agency won PR News Digital PR Awards’[4] PR Firm of the Year: Digital and was named by PR News as a Top Place to Work in PR. The agency also won Bulldog Stars of PR’s [5] Large, Digital and Technology Agency of the Year awards as well as the Grand Prize: Communications Agency of the Year. At the PR News Platinum Awards [6] the agency won an award for Product Launch for the launch of Microsoft IE9 and was named a finalist for Large Firm of the Year and Global PR Campaign for Microsoft IE9. CEO, Melissa Waggener Zorkin was announced as an inductee into the PR News PR People Hall of Fame [7] and named to PRWeek’s US Power List [8]. In addition, Senior Vice President Mark Martin was named one of PRWeek’s 40 under 40 [9]. Waggener Edstrom Worldwide won a European SABRE award in Real Estate & Construction for its work with Green City Energy & Rau Larmschutzsysteme [10]. The agency also won numerous awards, including the Web Marketing Association’s Best Music Website WebAward [11] and three W3 Awards, for its work on the redesign of the Sasquatch! Music Festival website [12].
Previously, the agency was named to PRWeek’s Editor’s Choice: Who to Watch List [13], called out as a “digital frontrunner.” The Holmes Report also named Waggener Edstrom as the Technology Agency of the Decade in 2010. In 2009, the agency was named Public Relations Agency of the Year in North America by the Internal Business Awards [14]. The agency’s WE twendz service has received awards including PRWeek’s PR Innovation of the Year Award (2010) [15], International Business Awards Best New Product/Service of the Year (2009)[16].
[edit] Controversy
Agency partner Pam Edstrom was a central character in her daughter's book Barbarians Led by Bill Gates co-written with Marlin Eller in 1998[17]. In 2007, the agency was also at the center of an incident where a secret Waggener Edstrom-authored dossier for Microsoft on Wired Magazine journalist Fred Vogelstein was sent to the journalist by accident[18].
[edit] References
- ^ [1] PC World
- ^ [2] Media Bistro.
- ^ [3] Media Bistro.
- ^ PR News Digital PR Awards’
- ^ Bulldog Stars of PR’s
- ^ PR News Platinum Awards
- ^ PR News PR People Hall of Fame
- ^ PRWeek’s US Power List
- ^ PRWeek’s 40 under 40
- ^ Green City Energy & Rau Larmschutzsysteme
- ^ Best Music Website WebAward
- ^ Sasquatch! Music Festival website
- ^ http://www.prweekus.com/editors-choice-2010-who-to-watch/article/160360/2/
- ^ http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/awards/408_2219_19926.cfm
- ^ http://www.prweekus.com/pr-innovation-of-the-year-2010/article/165186/
- ^ http://www.prweekus.com/pr-innovation-of-the-year-2010/article/165186/
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/25/business/her-mother-isn-t-pleased-as-daughter-rips-gates.html?pagewanted=1
- ^ http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2007/03/enough_about_me/
