CHICAGO: Encyclopaedia Britannica has made its long-awaited choice of PR agency, selecting Middleberg + Associates to re-launch its web site.
CHICAGO: Encyclopaedia Britannica has made its long-awaited choice
of PR agency, selecting Middleberg + Associates to re-launch its web
site.
PR fees for the account will run ’well into six figures,’ said director
of corporate communications Tom Panelas.
Brittanica plans to re-launch www.britannica.com as a free reference
site and include various information sources that will bring visitors
back on a daily basis. The new site will allow users to find information
in reference works, magazines and other sources.
Middleberg has been charged with handling business and consumer media
relations, as well as branding work.
’What we are trying to do is reinvent the brand for the Internet,’
Panelas explained. ’With the new site, Britannica wants to become a
daily information source for consumers, rather than just a resource for
school or work projects.’
Panelas said Middleberg’s strength in media relations and Internet
capabilities were key factors leading to its selection. He initially
considered seven or eight firms, but asked only three for presentations
in June - Middleberg, Ketchum and FitzGerald Communications.
’Middleberg is very, very strong in taking established brands and
redefining them for the Internet,’ he said.
Britannica earlier this year awarded a dollars 25-dollars 35 million ad
assignment for the site to the New York-based Deutsch Inc.
