resonate networks
off bs
https://www.resonatepr.com/
whole foods
Pamela Devaney
Managing Partner
Pam founded Resonate in 2011. Her expertise in corporate strategy and analytical thinking combined with her business mindset and down-to-earth approachability has made her a sought-after leader in the marketing communications field. Pam’s corporate professionalism and aptitude blend well with any business and her decades of experience in hospitality, marketing, public relations and branding has fostered tremendous value for hotels and resort, commercial real estate developers, travel destinations, health and wellness organizations and consumer product clients. Pam is a member of the Public Relations Society of America, Commercial Real Estate Woman, Urban Land Institute, the Downtown Denver Partnership and the National Association of Women Business Owners.
Jennifer Marples
Partner
Jennifer is an accomplished 25+ years marketing communications executive who ran a successful, San Francisco-based firm, Koa Communications, for 12 years. The firm handled crisis, corporate and consumer public relations for Fortune 500 and private companies in the food, wine, retail, CPG, and travel industries. Her specialties include strategic and crisis communications, corporate communications, product launches, grand openings, business development, branding, internal communications, retail strategy, media/spokesperson training, acting as a spokesperson, executive coaching, social media, media relations and digital media production.
Kelly Reed
Partner
Kelly is an innovative brand and marketing professional skilled in design, development and implementation of strategies to build, manage and enhance brands. With an eye for design and brand placement, Kelly works with clients to create, develop and execute strategies across sales and marketing platforms. She excels at aligning communication and social media initiatives with brand direction to activate company and organization goals. With a corporate communications background, Kelly works closely with a client’s in-house team for in-depth collaboration and delivers cohesive materials specific to client needs during all phases of brand and project development.
At Resonate, we have a shared passion for our communities and the non-profit organizations that call to our hearts.
Our team is currently involved with the following: Punahou School, The Junior League of San Francisco, The Right Horse Initiative, Colorado Horse Rescue, Drifter’s Hearts of Hope and Denver Dumb Friends League.
see CIC:
CIC’s Trade Associations PR Investigation in the Media
Posted: April 8, 2019
In early March 2019, the Climate Investigations Center (CIC) launched its Trade Associations and the Public Relations Industry report, which revealed the almost $1.4 billion energy and business trade associations spent over the past decade on advertising, communications, and advocacy via contracts with public relations (PR) companies. Since the publication of the report, CIC’s Kert …
https://climateinvestigations.org/trade-associations-pr-investigation-media/
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CIC’s Trade Associations PR Investigation in the Media
Climate Investigations Center on April 8, 2019
cic pr trade association report summarization photo
In early March 2019, the Climate Investigations Center (CIC) launched its Trade Associations and the Public Relations Industry report, which revealed the almost $1.4 billion energy and business trade associations spent over the past decade on advertising, communications, and advocacy via contracts with public relations (PR) companies.
Since the publication of the report, CIC’s Kert Davies has been interviewed by online media outlets and podcasts discussing which PR firms were contracted, the various campaigns spawned from these connections, and the impacts these campaigns have on the public and lawmakers.
HuffPost
In a HuffPost article titled Big Business Spent $1.4 Billion On PR, Advertising Over The Last Decade, Chris D’Angelo wrote about CIC’s findings on trade associations and their public relations contracts. Additionally, D’Angelo interviewed Robert Brulle, an environmental sociologist at Brown University who has tracked corporate spending and climate change denial groups. Regarding trade association PR contracts, Brulle says, “I don’t think you can understand the opposition to climate action unless you take this massive amount of activity into account.” Brulle called these PR campaigns the “sinews of the political operations and the cultural operations surrounding climate politics.”
Drilled Podcast
“In a lot of ways, PR firms have been sort of the linchpin of the fossil fuel industry’s plan for a long, long time.”
The true crime podcast, Drilled, hosted Davies on an episode titled, Big Oil Is Ramping Up PR Spending and Oil Production, which focused on the relationship between the fossil fuel industry and public relations firms. The episode covered both CIC’s trade association PR investigation as well as a report published by Influence Map.
Host Amy Westervelt described PR firms as being “the linchpin of the fossil fuel industry’s plan for a long, long time,” highlighting their extensive use by trade associations that represent the corporate interests of their membership. These trade associations allow member companies to push their political and anti-environmental agendas without a direct connection to their brand which might tarnish their reputation.
Westervelt highlighted trade associations such as the American Petroleum Institute (API), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and the US Chamber of Commerce as some of the biggest offenders. During the interview, Davies explained that the visible PR campaigns are part of larger goals and targets that have been “agreed upon by the members of that trade association” and are a “window into their political game.” He notes that this tactic includes “very little overt climate denial” and instead is about “laying the groundwork for the campaigns that are against policies on climate change.” For instance, by “making fracking look good” people may begin to “question these policies like the Green New Deal,” Davies says.
Example of trade association advertising, this is API’s Vote4Energy campaign: “We can produce the energy America needs and protect the environment – it doesn’t have to be either/or. There’s already been a lot of progress.” Member companies of API include ExxonMobil, BP, and Shell.
The Real News Network
Kert Davies interviewed by Dharna Noor on the Real News Network, April 2019. View the video above to watch the full Real News Network segment on CIC’s trade associations and public relations spending report.
Davies was also recently interviewed on the Real News Network where he outlined the origins of CIC’s 2019 trade association PR investigation, showcased the report’s findings, and discussed the purpose of trade association campaigns.
As discussed on the show, the money spent on PR contracts by renewable energy associations and fossil fuel associations was a major finding of CIC’s investigation. Of the almost $1.4 billion spent by trade associations in the past decade, only $98.4 million of it (7%) was spent by renewable energy associations. In his interview, Davies elaborated, stating:
…it turns out that if you add all of [the renewable energy trade association PR contracts] up, including the ones that do biofuels and ethanol… they are a fraction of the total spending… API alone is six times the total spending of all the renewable energy associations combined.
API alone spent over six times more than the renewable energy trade associations we analyzed.
Davies also explains that this 2019 report was a continuation of a 2014 CIC investigation, which started with a survey to PR firms asking questions about their internal climate action plans, carbon tracking initiatives, and any client projects focused on climate change issues. As Davies explained, “Turns out, nobody had ever asked the PR companies these questions before, but we got some very interesting responses, including the biggest company, Edelman, who accidentally sent me an email saying ‘there are only wrong answers here, don’t respond.’”
Edelman PR email replying to Kert Davies, "There are no right answers for this guy."
Dharna Noor, host of the Real News Network segment, also highlighted Edelman’s connection to Koch Industries, “a key funder of climate change denial messaging.” As detailed in CIC’s investigation, Edelman was a frequent contractor to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, of which Koch Industries and its subsidiary, Flint Hills Resources, is a member.
The Intercept
…companies are “using stories that appear to be part of a journalistic publication, but are actually paid for by advertisers in attempt to improve an image…”
In early April 2019, the Intercept published an article by Sharon Lerner titled, How the Media Launders Fossil Fuel Industry Propaganda Through Branded Content. The Intercept article warns against the rise of ”native advertising”, which is a form of advertising where an ad is written in article form and published on credible news sites to look like an article.
Lerner explains that fossil fuel and other companies are “using stories that appear to be part of a journalistic publication, but are actually paid for by advertisers in attempt to improve an image suffering in the coverage done by actual journalists.” Lerner cites CIC’s research, saying, “Industry trade groups spent almost $1.4 billion on PR, advertising and communications contractors over the past decade, according to the Climate Investigations Center, almost half of which came from the American Petroleum Institute.”
Click here to read CIC’s full Trade Associations and the Public Relations Industry report
https://climateinvestigations.org/trade-association-pr-spending/
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Trade Associations and the Public Relations Industry
How much money have the corporate and fossil fuel industry’s powerful trade association allies spent to convince the American public that its products are beneficial and necessary – and to stymie progress on climate change that could harm its financial interests?
To find out, Climate Investigations Center researchers analyzed the public relations expenditures of these trade associations going back to 2008, using data from publicly-available federal Form 990 tax records. The expenditures provide unique insight into trade association priorities and the willingness of public relations firms to represent socially harmful industries.
The trade associations we analyzed spent almost $1.4 billion on contracts with public relations, advertising, and communications contractors since 2008.
Between 2008 and 2017, these trade associations spent almost $1.4 billion on public relations, advertising, and communications contractors. The American Petroleum Institute eclipses all spenders at $663 million over this time period, accounting for nearly half the total trackable spending from all trade associations. The US Chamber of Commerce ranked second at $244 million spent. We found that the public relations firms with the most lucrative contracts over the time period of our dataset were Edelman, DDC Advocacy, FleishmanHillard, and Blue Advertising (once part of Edelman).
Many of the trade associations we analyzed are fossil fuel associated but represent different sectors of the industry, such as oil, gas, coal, petrochemical, mining, and utility companies. Trade associations spend their revenue, from members’ dues, on salaries, rent, and services such as lobbying and legal counsel, to forward the goals of the industry they represent.
Trade associations routinely utilize the advertising andfront group — astroturf— services that public relations firms can provide. Top trade associations spend millions on public relations work each year, often targeting the Washington DC media market and political decision makers. Some prominent PR campaigns are launched nationwide, while others create front groups that will intentionally never bear the trade association’s name.
To view the spending by individual trade associations or to see a profile of the PR firms we analyzed,
click on the links below:
Trade Associations
American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
American Fuels & Petrochemical Manufacturers
America’s Natural Gas Alliance
American Petroleum Institute
Edison Electric Institute
National Association of Manufacturers
National Mining Association
National Propane Gas Association
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Nuclear Energy Institute
United States Chamber of Commerce
Western Energy Alliance
Renewable Energy associations
Public Relations Firms
Edelman and Blue Advertising
Burson-Marsteller (Burson Cohn & Wolfe, as of 2018)
DCI Group
Democracy, Data & Communications Advocacy (DDC Advocacy)
FleishmanHillard
FTI Consulting
Hawthorn Group
Hill+Knowlton
Kivvit
Porter Novelli
Something Else Strategies
Our analysis also reveals that fossil fuel trade associations far exceed the PR and advertising spending of renewable energy trade associations. One fossil fuel industry trade association, the American Petroleum Institute, spent over six times more than four prominent renewable energy trade associations combined. In total, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Growth Energy, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), and the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) spent $98.4 million on PR and advertising during the 2008 to 2017 period. API alone dwarfs all four associations, spending a total of $663.2 million during the same time period.
API alone spent over six times more than the renewable energy trade associations we analyzed.
In addition to a comprehensive analysis of how industry utilizes these sizable contracts, CIC has made available all the IRS 990 tax forms used in this analysis, and produced interactive data visualizations and downloadable spreadsheets with the raw data.
In this report, the Climate Investigations Center has extended and updated the Center for Public Integrity’s groundbreaking 2015 report on public relations spending by trade associations. Spending data we have compiled since the CPI analysis confirms that public relations firms remain in a lucrative and influential partnership with big business and energy trade associations.
The Center for Public Integrity published “Who needs lobbyists? See what big business spends to win American minds,” which was the most thorough analysis of trade association spending to date in January 2015. The report compiled IRS 990 data from 2008 through 2012 to reveal that trade associations were often spending more on public relations firms than lobbyists. For some industries, advertising and front groups seemed to be the most powerful chosen means of achieving policy goals, putting public relations firms at the center of the policy debate over clean air, climate solutions, and good governance.
Download our data here (.csv file), or view in the table below:
Trade Association Contract Recipient Year Amount Paid
Western Energy Alliance Resonate Networks 2014 $175,000.00
Western Energy Alliance FTI Consulting 2017 $217,317.00
Western Energy Alliance Resonate Networks 2013 $200,000.00
Western Energy Alliance FTI Consulting 2018 $243,000.00
Western Energy Alliance Clear Channel 2013 $125,360.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Revolution Agency 2018 $4,834,422.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Something Else Strategies 2018 $5,270,805.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Revolution Media Group 2017 $1,150,000.00
United States Chamber of Commerce R Street Films 2018 $1,554,650.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Albright Stonebridge Group LLC 2017 $712,888.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Something Else Strategies 2017 $2,919,990.00
United States Chamber of Commerce R Street Films 2016 $4,500,000.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Revolution Media Group 2016 $9,204,150.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Something Else Strategies 2016 $10,400,000.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Glass House Strategy 2016 $797,550.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Integrated Web Strategy 2015 $1,756,009.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Revolution Media Group 2015 $1,734,327.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Revolution Media Group 2014 $14,456,184.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Something Else Strategies 2015 $1,200,000.00
United States Chamber of Commerce Something Else Strategies 2014 $7,050,000.00
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Energy and Corporate Trade Associations Spend $1.4 Billion on PR Campaigns
Posted: March 14, 2019
How much money have the fossil fuel industry’s powerful trade association allies spent to convince the American public that its products are beneficial and necessary – and to stymie progress on climate change that could harm its financial interests? To find out, Climate Investigations Center researchers analyzed the public relations expenditures of these trade association