PORTLAND, OR: Edelman is opening an office in Portland, OR to serve as the firm's hub for its Northwest hi-tech practice.
"Our office will be very complementary with the Seattle office," said SVP Erin Holland, also deputy general manager of the new Portland outpost.
"We're not going to be a niche office. We will be a full-service office, with considerable strength in tech, consumer, and healthcare."
The office is already working with clients such as Microsoft and Adidas.
At a time when most agencies are looking to control overhead costs, Edelman has opened its 39th office in a region with some of the highest unemployment in the country, at nearly 8%.
The hi-tech downturn hit the area particularly hard. When the demand for semiconductors dried up, some of the state's largest employers, such as Intel, felt the pinch.
But Holland is optimistic. "The outlook for Portland to rebound from the tech crisis is stronger than it is in Silicon Valley," she said. "We're not out of the woods yet, but things will get better. This area has more than just tech."
