Carol Cone Joins Edelman

NEW YORK, April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Carol Cone, thought leader, speaker and nationally recognized "mother of cause marketing," today joins Edelman, the world's largest independent public relations firm.

Carol will provide strategic counsel to clients on the development of corporate and brand citizenship, cause and public engagement strategies. Carol also will work with the firm's leadership in the ongoing effort to apply insights from Edelman's annual goodpurpose™ Consumer Study and its Trust and Health Engagement Barometers.

Carol was previously the Founder and Chairman of Cone, Inc., where she led the development of signature cause branding programs for a host of Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits, including the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade, ConAgra Foods' Feeding Children Better, PNC Grow Up Great, the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women movement, ITT Watermark, Western Union's Our World, Our Family initiative and Reebok's Human Rights program. She also created groundbreaking research reports to advance the strategic practice of social issues engagement.  In 2007, PR Week called her "arguably the most powerful and visible figure in the world of cause branding."

Global CEO and President Richard Edelman said: "In this new era of public engagement, clients look to us for counsel to activate brands around social purpose that will resonate in a stakeholder society. Carol has been a part of developing some of the most influential movements and causes at the intersection of business, brands and society. Her addition to the agency brings a powerful new dimension to our client service capabilities."

Mitch Markson, Chief Creative Officer and founder of Edelman's goodpurpose™ initiative, commented: "As we have seen through Edelman's annual goodpurpose™ study, social purpose is becoming a key driver in building both brand equity and dynamic consumer relationships.  In Carol, our clients will have a world class resource who has spent her career focusing on this shift and helping companies and brands stay ahead.  She will also be instrumental in helping build a stronger bridge between CSR and brand marketing."

Carol Cone said: "We live in a reset world, where business and society must partner for mutual benefit. Engagement on societal issues is no longer a 'nice to do' but a 'have to do.' What is so exciting about joining Edelman is the opportunity to help a broad range of world class clients evolve this critical business strategy. The breadth of the agency's talent, resources and global reach, driven by its independence and entrepreneurial spirit, is an exciting platform from which to drive and continue to innovate social issues engagement."

About Edelman

Edelman is the world's largest independent public relations firm, with 3,200 employees in 52 offices worldwide. Edelman was named Advertising Age's top-ranked PR firm of the decade; Adweek's "2009 Agency of the Year"; PRWeek's "2009 Agency of the Year" and "UK Consultancy of the Year"; and Holmes Report's "Agency of the Decade," "2009 Best Large Agency to Work For" and "2009 Asia Pacific Consultancy of the Year." Edelman owns specialty firms Blue (advertising), StrategyOne (research), BioScience Communications (medical education and publishing), and MATTER (sports and entertainment). Visit www.edelman.com for more information.

SOURCE Edelman