Cohn and Wolfe Ltd

Cohn & Wolfe - a subsidiary of WPP - describes itself as a "strategic marketing public relations firm dedicated to creating, building and protecting the world's most prolific brands." [1]

Clients

O'dwyers Directory of PR Firms lists CW clients as including: [2]

• 3M
• ADP
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
• Chevron Texaco
• Coca-Cola
• Colgate-Palmolive
• Danone
• Diageo
• DuPont
• Eli Lilly & Co.
• Epson
• Hewlett-Packard
• Hilton Hotels
• Illycafe
• Intel
• M&M/Mars
• McDonald's
• Merck
• Novartis
• PGA
• Pfizer
• Seagram's (Absolut)
• Sears
• Smuckers
• Sony
• Taco Bell

Personnel

Senior Management Team

• Donna Imperato, President and CEO, Cohn & Wolfe Worldwide
• Doug Buemi, Vice Chairman, Cohn & Wolfe Worldwide
• Tom Petrosini, CFO, Cohn & Wolfe Worldwide
• Victoria Dix, Managing Director, Cohn & Wolfe Geneva
• Christiane Dirkes, Managing Director, Cohn & Wolfe Frankfurt
• Patricia Godefroy, EVP, General Manager, Cohn & Wolfe Los Angeles
• Franco Guzzi, Managing Director, Cohn & Wolfe Milan
• Jean-François LeBrun, EVP, General Manager, Cohn & Wolfe Montreal
• Annie Longsworth, Managing Director, Cohn & Wolfe San Francisco
• Michael O'Brien, President, General Manager, Cohn & Wolfe New York
• Carol J. Panasiuk, EVP, General Manager, Cohn & Wolfe Toronto
• Rose de la Pascua, Managing Director, Cohn & Wolfe Madrid
• Jonathan Shore, Managing Director, Cohn & Wolfe London

Dabbling With Fake Blogging

Fake blogs - a form of viral marketing in which PR or advertising agencies attempt to generate interest in their client's product by creating a fictional character on the internet - are drawing criticism from real bloggers. The Cohn & Wolfe PR firm had to apologize in 2005 after "using a fictional character to leave a series of thinly veiled advertisements on blogs and other websites. A number of websites were hit last week with messages from Barry Scott," a fictional spokesman for a British household cleaning product.

British blogger Tom Coates was especially outraged and called it "a new low for marketers" after he wrote an emotional account of his relationship with his father, and then received comment spam from "Barry Scott" disguised as condolences. Coates replied: "My view was that any right-thinking person would view trying to market your product on such a post as revolting, corrupt, cynical, disgusting, sick and dishonourable."

Contact details

292 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212.798.9700
Web: http://www.cohnwolfe.com

Cohn & Wolfe London
7-12 Tavistock Square
Lynton House
London, WC1H 9LT

Resources

• Cohn and Wolfe PRCA Yearbook

External links

• Tom Coates, "On Cillit Bang and a new low for marketers...", Plasticbag.org, September 30, 2005.
• "An apology from the Cillit Bang team...", Plasticbag.org, October 4, 2005
• Bobbie Johnson, "Cleaner caught playing dirty on the net", The Guardian (UK), October 6, 2005.