Noted Trendspotter Marian Salzman To Present 'Trends For The Near Future' At Cannes

NEW YORK, June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Marian Salzman, CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America (@erwwpr), and one of the world's leading trendspotters, will provide insight on 20 years of gauging what's next for brands, businesses and entire sectors. Salzman will look at the most buzzed-about sightings from her colorful career as a futurist, from flagging "metrosexual" in order to create a marketplace for SAB Miller's Peroni (the sighting then took off across the media stratosphere) to announcing well before the curve that "It's America Online!"

Salzman will also look at newscrafting, addressing a crucial aspect of the new reality of PR: For brands and causes, the essential value of public relations is increasingly coming from its ability to master the changing forms of news as traditional and social media intertwine. In this hyperconnected world of TMI, consumers increasingly have the means to cherry-pick what they want—information, interaction and entertainment—and ignore the rest. News in its broadest sense can satisfy all three. The new home turf of PR is social media, and the future of the industry is newscrafting: making routine news more compelling, creating news opportunities and coattailing onto breaking news.

"Trendspotting has evolved through the years from a 'nice to have' to a 'must.' As an agency, we make and leverage trends to create news for our clients and ourselves," Salzman said. "And we embody the very hottest trend in PR: linking awards to measurement. @erwwpr is among the winningest agencies of our size in the U.S. for a broad range of work, from cause to social to healthcare, but we're winning for client results—and those are our greatest accomplishments."

Salzman will offer a look at a series of comparisons of the past, present and future (her signature trendspotting technique is "Then/Now/Next") for such provocative themes as these:

• The state of the home. Remember when it was a big deal that women could bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan? After decades of making their mark in the workplace while still fulfilling the full-time roles of wife/mother/caretaker/ housekeeper, women have finally come full circle. With the recent "mancession," more husbands than ever are keeping the home fires burning while the wives travel off to the office—and if the men don't seem to mind, the women are even happier. They've evolved from June Cleaver to "The Real Housewives." The next generation will ask, "What's a housewife?"
• Marriage. It makes sense that husband and wife roles are in flux, considering that the notion of marriage itself is undergoing renovation. From the quaint idea of marriage equals a gal plus her fella, we've seen a sea change as same-sex matrimony gains support across the globe. The recession has made its mark here, too, as marriage gets delayed due to lack of funds. And money will continue to color romance; tax benefits will be a deciding factor before saying "I do."
• The economy. Long gone are the days when we needed cash in hand for maximum convenience. Now, even online banking isn't streamlined enough for many of us—we'll be managing our accounts by smartphone, so not even a wallet will weigh us down (i.e., we can't live without our financial institutions, though for years our distrust in them and our disgust with what we've seen as corporate greed have grown). The Occupy movement expressed our ballooning disdain for corporations in general—next, look for a demand for radical transparency from these organizations and a backlash against the wealthy corporate executives themselves.
• Fear of everything. Our current culture of fear traces all the way back to baby boomers hiding under their desks for "useful instruction" on what to do in case of a bomb. That set up a generation of worriers with finely developed fears of anything and everything. And there has been no shortage of fear fodder: The occasional earthquake has morphed into extreme weather, and soon our overheated planet will ignite more concerns; a fear of Internet piracy segued into a hope for online privacy. Next, we'll develop and deploy cyberpadlocks, while the fearless will take over to innovate and survive.
• Consumerism. There was a time when consumers were loyal and brands operated on their own to attract them; now, with so much competition for mind share—and with freewheeling consumers having discovered the joys of sex, er, multiple brand partners—smart brands are taking up with like-minded corporate companions to appeal to a broader swath of potential shoppers. Next, brands will take their collaborations to the next level, creating megabrands for maximum effect and making a more impassioned play for a little monogamy from that most desired of demos: millennials.

Salzman's presentation of findings and insights is scheduled for the 2012 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Tuesday, June 19, 9-10 a.m., at the Havas Cafe (go to http://bit.ly/LJ51nZ to register and request a copy of the presentation).

Some of the recent high-profile awards @erwwpr has claimed include a Gold SABRE, a Silver Clio and a Bronze Anvil Award of Commendation for its work conceiving and executing the Portraits of Heroes song contest for Sears' Heroes at Home program, which led to the hit song "Can't Say Goodbye," recorded by Josh Gracin. The agency also scored a Bronze Anvil Award of Commendation for creating a winning bid book to sell the 2012 global leadership summit One Young World on coming to Pittsburgh, plus two Big Apple Awards: one for @erwwpr's work on the 9/11 10th anniversary commemoration event from nonprofit organization The French Will Never Forget, and one for its work to spread the good word for Ford Motor Co.'s Warriors in Pink breast cancer marketing effort.

Recently named to PR News' CSR A-List, @erwwpr continues to build on momentum, setting the awards standard on several fronts, from client work to agency innovations to staff recognition. Its social media– and cause-related campaigns are especially prevalent on its list of awards (go to the agency's website at erwwpr.com to view the list).

Salzman has executed thought leadership, reputation management and social media programs, including heading up the creation of the pop-up agency Jack + Bill during her tenure at Porter Novelli; the initiative won the top awards in one year from PRWeek, SABRE and Bulldog Reporter.

Her four-part series on the brain for the Huffington Post won a 2011 Bronze SABRE award for Speech or Bylined Article and an honorable mention from the PR News Platinum PR Awards; it was also one of many blog posts that led to top blogging honors from Bulldog Stars of PR, PR News Digital PR and the Golden Bridge Awards. In addition to Huffington, she has blogged regularly at CNBC.com, the Holmes Report, Adweek /Aol's Fuel the Future, Stamford magazine, erwwpr.com and eurorscgsocial.com.

About Euro RSCG Worldwide PR

We call ourselves @erwwpr; we're the North American earned-media and buzz boutique (#bethenews) within French holding company Havas. Headquartered in New York City, with Pittsburgh and Chicago offices, we've seen rapid growth in the last two years and stacked up a huge trophy chest (our CEO was PRWeek's PR Professional of the Year 2011 and our head of strategic planning is on PRWeek's "40 Under 40"), including awards for #wyclefforpresident (global scope), @theywinulose (Campaign Money Watch; against big money in elections), the first-ever teenage girl SoMe lab (The Sisterhood; industry innovation), Ford's Warriors in Pink (#welovecause) and Urban Zen and Mary J. Blige (#celebritiesmakenews). We're grounded in media, strategy, client service, trendspotting and community to ensure we message in straight talk and real time.

Contact:
Dalton Dorne
Chief Marketing Officer
Euro RSCG Worldwide PR
212-367-6840
[email protected]

SOURCE Euro RSCG Worldwide PR