Global public relations firm Weber Shandwick is eyeing a spring launch for the Canadian office of Screengrab, the agency’s interactive, social and emerging media division.
The new division will focus on representing clients in digital spaces such as blogs, community forums, mobile screens and social media sites such as Facebook, with an emphasis on creating positive word-of-mouth discussion among consumers. Screengrab is already operating in Europe, Asia and the U.S.
Kerry Harris, executive vice-president and general manager at Weber Shandwick’s Toronto office, says client demand spurred the introduction of Screengrab in Canada.
“Clients are acutely aware of the fact that this is an area that they need to jump into with both feet, and there’s a lack of resources on the client side to actually do that, so there’s a window of opportunity for us to provide those resources,” says Harris.
According to Harris, Weber Shandwick is already developing initiatives for three unnamed Canadian clients using the resources of Screengrab’s U.S.-based operations. The agency is searching for an executive to run Screengrab in Canada and hopes to have a team of three or four Screengrab employees, based in Weber Shandwick’s Toronto office, by the end of the year, she says.
Weber Shandwick also announced this week a global strategic partnership with Radian6, the Fredericton, N.B.-based developers of social media monitoring software. The program automatically sifts through discussions on social media sites based on metrics calibrated by the user, such as the number of posts about a topic or the number of comments generated by a given post. All of Weber Shandwick’s 2,500 employees around the world will have access to Radian6 under the terms of the deal.
