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| On November 5, 2007, following a controversial article written on the use of spam in the public relations field by ]’s editor Chris Anderson<ref></ref>, the NY Times followed up and referred to 5W as a “leading” public relations firm alongside ], ] and ].<ref></ref> | On November 5, 2007, following a controversial article written on the use of spam in the public relations field by ]’s editor Chris Anderson<ref></ref>, the NY Times followed up and referred to 5W as a “leading” public relations firm alongside ], ] and ].<ref></ref> | ||
| On July 9, 2008, Shmarya Rosenberg, who operates the blog ], accused 5W of ] on his blog by impersonating critics of ], a kosher meatpacker in ] which had been under heavy criticism for animal cruelty, worker abuse, and harboring illegal immigrants.. Agriprocessors had recently hired 5W to improve its public image after an ] raid where nearly 400 workers were arrested and plead guilty to charges of illegal entry into the United States and fraudulent use of Social Security ID's. Rosenberg claimed that the impersonation of Rabbi Morris Allen of ] and two other regular posters on his blog was likely a Federal crime, and that all of the recent posts in support of Agriprocessors or phony impersonations of critics shared the same pair of ] traceable to computers at 5W. Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5W, claimed in the ], a Jewish weekly, that Rosenberg was a longtime opponent of his agency and that he trusted that his account team did not make the posts in question <ref></ref>. On July 10, 2008, the ] reported that it had discovered another fraudulent impersonation of Rabbi Allen on its website and was able to trace it to the home of 5W Senior Vice President, Juda Engelmayer, who was in charge of their Agriprocessors account <ref></ref>. Engelmayer had e-mailed JTA ten minutes earlier, and the e-mail and Rabbi Allen impersonation shared the same IP address. Engelmayer responded that a 5W intern had used his computer without authorization and had been immediately fired. | |||
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| ==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 02:03, 15 July 2008
5W Public Relations is an American public relations firm with two offices, in New York City and Los Angeles. Since its founding in 2003, it has grown to more than 90 employees. 5WPR billings for 2007 exceed $11,500,000 , and appeared on the 2007 Inc list of fastest growing companies. 5WPR maintains practice areas specializing in technology, corporate, consumer, entertainment, crisis communications, event management and public affairs.
History
The company was founded by Ronn Torossian in 2003. It launched from a small office within a Manhattan based travel agency with only three clients and two employees. Under his leadership, the company's client list expanded to well over 100 and in under three years, the staff roster grew to 75
In January 2008, 5W PR for the second consecutive year hosted events at the Sundance Film Festival with attracting 5W celebrities such as Paris & Nicky Hilton, Mary Kate Olsen, and others.
As of March 2008, 5W PR signed IHOP and Loews Regency.
Clients
Listed among 5WPR clients are Anheuser-Busch, Evian Water, IHOP, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc, NICE Systems, Barnes & Noble Online, Phillips-Van Heusen, The Ice Rink at Rockefeller Center, The Loews Regency, Vail Resorts, Philippe Chow, Microsoft, Ahava Skin Care, Weatherproof Garment Company, 1800 Tequila, Gen Art, The Pritikin Longevity Center & Spa, Avenue Stores, and Patina Restaurant Group. Celebrities, Hip Hop entertainers, and musicians include Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube. In addition, 5W works with a plethora of publicly traded technology companies; a variety of other global interests, national corporations, high-profile individuals, regional businesses, government agencies and academic institutions.
This array of diverse public and private interests consists of brick and mortar companies as well as tech and high-tech.
In addition, it has a faith-based and foreign government clientele consisting of organizations such as Zionist Organization of America, The American Bible Society, Benny Hinn ministries, Regent University, Pastor John Hagee and his Christians United for Israel organization and members of the Israeli Knesset.
In December 2006, the Foreign Ministry of Israel worked with 5WPR and Elias Buchwald (one of the founders of Burson-Marsteller) to train Israel's top spokespersons on western media and communications methods .
In March 2005 PR Week reported that The Lebanese American Council for Democracy, the "group that played a key role in the passage of the Syrian Accountability Act," retained 5W Public Relations for "strategic counsel and media relations." The group's goal is "to gain support from U.S. political leaders and United Nations officials to pressure Syria to withdraw its troops." The group is reportedly "closely aligned with Michel Aoun, the former Prime Minister who was ousted by the Syrians" in 1990. The 5W firm was "preparing daily briefing sheets for the media to respond to current events." The Syrian Accountability Act, passed in 2003, "imposed sanctions on Syria for occupying Lebanon."
At the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, 5W created the "5W Sundance Escape Mansion, and held four nights of clublike atmospheres for the stars attending the festival.
Growth
According to the O'Dwyers PR news website 5W Public Relations netted $11,581,939 in fees in 2007, an increase of 24.3% from 2006 figures.
O'Dwyers has ranked the company #21 in earnings among their top 182 ranked PR companies; and it has given it the 8th spot for top entertainment PR firms among its top 40 in that category. 5W Public Relations is considered by the Holmes Report as the “Fastest Growing public relations firm in the nation”, and appeared at #153 on the Inc. 500 2007 list.
Inc 500 posted the firm as number 153 in its 2007 Inc 500 list of fastest growing companies.
The NY Post has called its CEO a "publicity guru", and Fox News a "high-powered PR CEO", CNN as "a leading PR expert". CBS National News said that "Ronn Torossian knows spin," and a 2005 NY Times feature story on Torossian referred to him as "The consummate hard-driving, scrappy NY publicist."
Controversy
5W is mentioned on PR industry blogs for what some term, "self-promotional activity."
5W had been retained by an organization that advocates for independence for the province of Kosovo from Serbia, while only one year prior 5W was retained by a group representing Serbian President Boris Tadić, to help establish an image as a friendly democracy.
On November 5, 2007, following a controversial article written on the use of spam in the public relations field by Wired Magazine’s editor Chris Anderson, the NY Times followed up and referred to 5W as a “leading” public relations firm alongside Fleishman-Hillard, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and Weber Shandwick.
References
- O'Dwyer's Public Relations News: PR Firm Rankings - Independent PR Firms
- 5W Public Relations - Advertising & Marketing, inc5000 Article - Inc. Article
- "Brash P.R. Guy Grabs Clients, Ink". New York Times. February 20, 2005. Retrieved 2007-11-18.
At 30, Mr. Torossian is the founder and president of his own agency, whose name was inspired by the five journalistic W's -- who, where, when, etc. He may be particularly busy this month with his client Lil' Kim, the rapper who is headed to trial on Feb. 28 on perjury charges stemming from a shootout outside a Manhattan radio station, but she is just one of a large and seemingly contradictory stable of customers.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - The Armenian Reporter, 06-26-2004
- Forbes, 05-23-2008
- PR Watch/Israel Hasbara
- The Jewish Week Article
- PRWeek Reference
- Salt Lake City Tribune
- Adrants
- O'Dwyers PR Report, February 2008
- O'Dwyers Rankings
- O'Dwyers Report, Entertainment PR
- Holmes Report Agency ID
- Netscape News
- Inc 500 Web Page
- Blic Online (Serbian Media's English Translation Pages)"In political fight for Kosovo, only lobbying agencies in USA are sure about profit - Yesterday for Serbia, today for independent Kosovo"
- News about 5W and Tadic
- Anderson’s Blog
- New York Times, Things Turn Ugly in the 'Hacks vs. Flacks' War, By Andrew Adam Newman, November 5, 2007