Germany’s PR Report cites international growth, financial communications and employee training as factors for industry recognition

Düsseldorf, May 3rd 2006. Pleon has been awarded Agency of the Year by Germany’s PR Report, a leading trade journal for public relations. The awards recognise excellence in PR throughout the country. Pleon was awarded the Gold at the 2006 PR Report awards dinner in Berlin earlier this week.

A panel of 20 judges representing corporations, journalists, scientists and renowned PR agencies recognised Pleon as Germany’s market-leading public relations and public affairs agency. They also made special mention of Pleon’s successful re-branding and assimilation into a European consultancy across 15 European countries.

In his awards ceremony speech, Carl-Eduard Meyer, CEO of ‘News Aktuell’, sponsor of the category "pr agency of the year", listed several factors that contributed toward Pleon’s ongoing success in 2005. They included, for example, a large-scale employee qualification programme, repositioning in the financial communications segment and the Agency’s expansion into emerging markets such as Turkey and Eastern Europe.

“Since Pleon’s launch 18 months ago, we’ve been driven in our efforts to deliver a truly European economic, structural and content perspective to our clients,” commented Pleon CEO, Timo Sieg. “To be recognised by a group of our peers is the ultimate acknowledgement of these efforts.”

Pleon, a subsidiary of BBDO Worldwide, was formed in 2004 through a merger between Germany-based European Communications Consultants (ECC) Group and five Brodeur Worldwide European offices in Western Europe. Since its launch, the Agency has extended its reach to 31 Pleon-branded offices in 15 European countries, and has expanded and refined new service offerings to include functional practices such as Change & Transformation, Crisis and Issues and Financial Communications. The Agency provides communications, marketing and public affairs services to the automotive, consumer goods, finance, government, healthcare and technology sectors and also offers online relations, research and design services.

About Pleon

Pleon (www.pleon.com) is Europe’s leading international consulting firm, creating and implementing strategies for private and public sector organisations around the world. With a deep understanding of business, politics and communications, Pleon is uniquely placed to devise compelling solutions that deliver measurable and tangible results. Blending the best of local market knowledge and leadership with global resources and best practice, Pleon provides a one-stop resource for communications in Europe.

The Agency has 31 branded offices in 15 European countries and associate agencies in 14 countries across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Pleon is part of the Brodeur/Pleon Worldwide network with a presence throughout the United States, Asia Pacific and Latin America and part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), a leading global marketing and corporate communications company.

For more information, please contact:

Frank Behrendt
CEO Germany
Tel: +49 211 9541 2169
M +49 172 2053 952
E-Mail: frank.behrendt(at)pleon.com
 
About the PR Report Awards

The PR Report Awards are organised by the leading trade journal for public relations in Germany, PR Report (Haymarket Publishing House).The purpose of the awards is to recognise excellence in PR throughout Germany, and the PR Report Awards follow the international example of PRWeek. Awards are allocated in 20 categories. The jury consists of 20 representatives of the PR business, among them Managing Directors of renowned PR agencies, Press Officers of large companies and associations, trade journalists and representatives of science.