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DETROIT and SILICON VALLEY – May 17, 2013 – Airfoil, an independent technology-focused PR and marketing communications firm, announced today the addition of six individuals to its team of award-winning communications professionals.  The hires enhance a team that has been delivering consultation and services in the increasingly critical areas of analytics, advertising, social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising, graphic design and video production. 

“The brand story that marketers need to create…

Airfoil, a U.S. technology-focused PR and marketing communications agency, and Newell PR, a China-based independent public relations firm that has won more technology awards than any other national firm, announced today an exclusive affiliate relationship to provide services to each firm's respective technology client interests in the Asia Pacific and U.S. markets.

"Airfoil Global Group chose Newell as our exclusive affiliate for its combination of expertise, geographic reach and strong track record for producing innovative technology…

Airfoil has been selected as a national finalist in the “Technology – Software & Services” category for the prestigious Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil Award for its representation of the Microsoft Small- and Medium-Sized Business (SMB) Group’s 2012 business-to-business marketing campaign.

Regarded as the "Icon of Best Public Relations Practices," the national awards program was established in 1946 to recognize programs of excellence “that incorporate sound research, planning, execution and evaluation…and meet the highest…

Our own Jennifer Akoma is quoted in the March edition of PR Week, highlighting how Airfoil is looking to hire people with  non-traditional skills sets and backgrounds, to create a stronger agency. The full article can be found here.

Jennifer Akoma, HR manager at Airfoil, a tech PR firm with offices in Southfield, MI, and Sunnyvale, CA, says, “We really need non-traditional skill sets, including social, digital, advertising, analytics, and video design – all necessary to provide the full range of marcomms strategies and services to our…

Airfoil co-CEO Janet Tyler contributed to PRSA’s PRSAY blog this week, highlighting how mobile will impact the public relations industry in 2013. Her post discusses how trends in mobile such as NFC and mobile payments are changing the consumption and shopping habits of consumers, which in turn will impact the marketing practices used to engage customers. Businesses should not only consider mobile as part of their communications and marketing strategy, but also need to learn to use mobile effectively through targeted and relevant content.

Top Technology PR and Marcomm Agencies
Say There’s a Better Way to Source Multi-Market Communications Programs

Airfoil, a U.S. technology-focused PR and marcomm agency, and Babel PR, the European technology, media and telecoms specialist, today announced an exclusive affiliate relationship. Existing and prospective clients of the two agencies will now have access to expertise, experience and local support in a wide range of markets – from North and South America to Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Additionally, Airfoil is…

Airfoil today announced that the agency and its client, eBay, have earned three awards in the 2012 Bulldog Reporter Digital/Social PR Awards competition for excellence in online communications. All three honors recognize Airfoil’s program to support increased use of the eBay marketplace by consumer sellers.

The program to inform consumer sellers of how easy eBay is to use earned a silver award in the “Digitally/Socially Engaged Brand of the Year” category, another silver for “Best Use of Digital/Social for a Consumer Tech Campaign,” and a…

Airfoil's resident Tech Kings, Aaron Petras and Tony Onofrio, discuss the benefits of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. With expected sales of NFC-equipped handsets to reach 263.6 million units by 2015, connectivity will be taken to another level through the endless benefits of this user friendly interface. 

To learn more watch the rest of the Tech King's video here

Airfoil’s “Mission Control Team” is responsible for training executives and employees of client companies to communicate their mission and messages more successfully, especially during a crisis. The team devotes a significant proportion of its training program to crisis communications and prevention, frequently focused on workplace violence. Last week’s horrific events in Aurora, Col.—the largest mass shooting in U.S. history—furnish a scenario that can be translated to manufacturing plants and other business sites.  Many lessons in…

In the course of their careers, public relations pros build a long list of areas they need to study—how various industries operate, differences among markets, cultural traits globally, digital devices, media preferences and processes, not to mention grammar, spelling and writing skills. But the one area that many PR practitioners—especially younger ones—fail to study over the years is the years themselves.

Today’s account teams are intensely focused on the latest trends, emerging social media, pop culture, sometimes politics, but they often…

Are you a gamer? Traditionally, we might think gamers are teens locked away in the basement playing games like Borderlands and Call of Duty for days on end. However, the traditional view of a gamer is changing as games like Farmville and Angry Birds are played every day by mass amounts of people. Even more, games are now being incorporated into classrooms and workplaces and “gamification” is growing as a method to impact everything from employee onboarding to internal sales processes.

Gamification by definition is the use of game theory to…

After learning that blogging at Airfoil was a hot trend, I knew I wanted to start contributing. I opened up a new Word doc in an attempt to start writing my first post. Immediately, I started sweating dreading the thought of my new fellow ‘foilers and other blog readers not only reading what I produce from various combinations of 26 letters, but judging my diction and grammar, too. Let’s be honest, us grammar competent PR people inevitably half read and half edit at all times. These thoughts were treading through my mind while the blank…

Aside from surprising some parents, Ted, the movie, awakened Teddy Ruxpin from its ‘80s hibernation. Ruxpin’s creator is miffed and horrified that his bear, who promoted stories about friendship and love, now guzzles beer and swears like a sailor. I contest that it’s The Snuggle Bear from the fabric softener commercials and his creators that should be complaining. The resemblance is definitely there and The Snuggle Bear has much more to lose reputation wise. 

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To me, the term “Generation X” has always suggested mystery—most appropriate, I can confirm from having fathered two members of this crowd. “Gen Y” sounds like a question—also apropos, since these Millennials seem to question traditional workplace processes and revel in “What’s on your mind?” posts, tweets and text.

So where does that leave “Generation Z”—the term we might use for post-Y youngsters born over the past seven to 10 years? Will they be the sleepy generation? Probably not. But we might end up calling them the Zoomers, an homage…

Is it more important for organizations to communicate when economic times are good or bad? It’s a conversation I’ve had with many businesses, especially over the last few years as clients debate the relative value of their investments. Maybe not surprisingly, my answer is a valid “both.” However, nonprofits face a different set of communication challenges when our economy – and funding – fluctuate.

Coming off several years of downward giving trends, it’s awesome to read the recently released GivingUSA 2011 report detail positive gains in…