NEWTON, Mass., Sept. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Traditional public relations is dead; businesses need a new PR model that integrates the right messages with the right media in the right channels, essentially becoming media companies for their prospects and customers. To meet this challenge, HB Agency, an integrated marketing and public relations firm, has acquired Fresh Ground, a public relations and social media agency, to evolve an approach to PR that delivers on the promises of both inbound and outbound communications. Fresh Ground’s approach to PR was built upon a beyond-the-hits strategy, defining story lifecycle from conception to placement to social sharing. Adding Fresh Ground’s process to HB’s storytelling capabilities creates a practice ready to change how PR is done and help clients become the media companies they need to be to drive business results.

“We believe the future of PR is in building media companies,” said Chuck Tanowitz, Fresh Ground co-founder and vice president of editorial content at HB. “There’s a widening gap in businesses’ ability to connect with their audiences for many reasons – fragmentation, noise, varied influencers, social chatter.”

“The HB/Fresh Ground team will help clients ensure their voices are unified throughout the many different vehicles and channels they use,” said Todd Van Hoosear, who co-founded Fresh Ground with Tanowitz and now serves as vice president of PR and stakeholder engagement at HB. “A press release, blog post, infographic, Vine, newsletter – these are not ‘one-and-done’ communications tools. They work together to tell a compelling story and reach buyers and influencers.”

The combined team will showcase public relations through visual storytelling and media relations, while integrating with HB’s branding, marketing strategy, design, social media and other services. The combined HB/Fresh Ground PR team will move clients off the linear path that too many PR firms follow, and onto one that incorporates media relations, self-publishing, content marketing, video, digital, images and more.

“The ‘editor-in-chief’ has become the public, whether that public is a broad consumer audience or a narrowly focused group in a vertical target market,” said Nicolas Boillot, CEO, HB. “As companies embrace the need to create relevant content that builds stakeholder communities, the right PR firms must seize the opportunity to produce a compelling flow of audience-appropriate and influential media, use feedback to understand what works, and rapidly increase production and outreach accordingly.”

Fresh Ground principals and founders Chuck Tanowitz and Todd Van Hoosear join HB as vice presidents, and the Fresh Ground team will join HB’s public relations department led by Mark O’Toole, managing director, PR & content at HB. HB public relations veterans Dawn Sullivan and Perrin McCormick have been promoted, respectively, to vice president of PR and senior account director, PR. The combined company will be located at HB’s Newton, Mass. headquarters.

About HB Agency
Founded in 1999 as a business-to-business integrated marketing agency, HB’s public relations and creative services have earned national recognition through Bell Ringer Awards from the Publicity Club of New England, Telly Awards, Communitas Awards and a Summit Marketing Effectiveness SIA Award. Clients experience core values and skills at HB: honesty and candor underlie tough conversations; creativity informs every initiative; expertise with complexity and deep B2B immersion enables skilled and influential communication to audiences. To learn more about HB’s branding, marketing and public relations expertise, please visit www.hbagency.com, or call (781) 893-0053.

Contact:
Molly Delaney
HB Agency
(781) 893-0053
mdelaney@hbagency.com

SOURCE HB Agency