Frause has great news to announce. The one and only Mr. Bob Frause has been awarded The Jay Rockey Lifetime Achievement Award!

Awarded yearly by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Puget Sound Chapter, the Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes career achievements of public relations professionals in the Puget Sound region who have helped to advance the public relations field. Check out Kate’s post on our intern blog to read more about the award.

All of us Frausies couldn’t be more proud of Bob. Our founder and CEO has dedicated his time and energy to the PR world for more than 40 years.  Bob is currently the chair of the PRSA Board of Ethics and has been a board member since 1991. While serving on the Board of Ethics, Bob lead the effort to rewrite the PRSA Code of Ethics. He was also the president of the PRSA Puget Sound Chapter in 1984-1985, 2000 and 2005-2010.

Bob’s passion for the PR industry transcends through his employees here at Frause. Many of us are PRSA Puget Sound members, board leaders and past presidents. In an effort to help grow the PR industry, we put an emphasis on educating students interested in pursuing a public relations career. Bob frequently hosts university classes and local PRSSA chapters to give them an insight into the Frause culture and the small agency lifestyle. Bob also started the Frause Education Fund, which pays for the first year of national PRSSA dues for students graduating from Washington state universities who are transitioning into the working world.

Bob has instilled in each of us the importance of community involvement, continued education and giving back. Working under Bob’s guidance has made each of his employees proud to be public relations practitioners. It will be an honor to celebrate Bob and his career accomplishments as he accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award next week at PRSA Puget Sound’s Holiday Gala. Frause is fortunate to have such an inspiring leader. I’m sure this won’t be the last time we celebrate an accomplishment of Bob’s and I look forward to continuing to witness the public relations profession flourish under the wings of communication pros like Bob Frause.

Congrats, Bob!

-Amy

NEWS FLASH: people are nervous about the H1N1 influenza virus.

…Wait, that’s not news! But what might be news to you is that each of us can play a part in helping to calm those nerves. Employers especially have a role to play this swine flu season in making the work place feel like a safe environment for their employees. The task is simple and twofold:

1. Take proactive measures to protect your team from the H1N1 virus by developing a pandemic influenza response plan.
Late this summer, Frause sent a letter to our clients encouraging them to adopt a response plan as suggested by the CDC aimed at limiting the spread of the flu virus in the workplace. The CDC has a wealth of resources available to employers to help inform the process of developing this plan.

2. Communicate!
To help clients and friends of Frause facilitate employer-team communication about the swine flu, we created a “Swine Flu & You” care package. The package includes a single-use thermometer, “Sanitize Your Hooves” hand sanitizer, a symptom checklist and a medical face mask. The care package is a light-hearted way of beginning a conversation that is more serious in nature. Ultimately, the message we want to send to our clients and friends is that they are important to us, and we want them to take care of themselves and take care of their businesses so they can continue to thrive. Creating more, open and proactive communication is a key element in making that happen.

If you want a “Swine Flu and You” care package or have questions about getting the conversation started in your business, let us know!

Laura Gese

With all the uncertainty about the industry of news these days, it is interesting to note the looming battle between Reuters and the Associated Press (AP).  As reported by Mashable, the AP recently announced that it would be charging people to link to their stories.  Reuters’ president Chris Ahern caught wind and responded by writing a blog post that encouraged people to link to Reuters stories for free.

For those of you out there who are unaware of the war being waged over news content and the role that the internet is playing, let me give you a quick rundown.  News is expensive.  Good reporting is expensive.  There is a reason that traditional media sources are so powerful – people trust and pay attention to journalists and publications that produce high-quality products.  The problem is this: new media sites (i.e.: blogs and other online content providers) have come to a crossroads with traditional media sites over repurposing content.

What’s the big deal?  Well, the big deal is the credit that is given to the original source.  When a blog or a blogger takes information without citing the original source, the result for the original author and publisher is a smaller amount of traffic or impressions, which means less advertising revenue, which means shrinking margins and so on and so forth.  You get where I am headed.

Ok, so now that we have some context, what is the big deal about Reuters saying “yes” to linking to their stories as opposed to the AP charging for the links?  According to Chris Ahearn, president of Reuters, “I don’t believe you could or should charge others for simply linking to your content. Appropriate excerpting and referencing are not only acceptable, but encouraged. If someone wants to create a business on the back of others’ original content, the parties should have a business relationship that benefits both.”

On the other hand, the news industry is still trying to figure out how to keep all these journalists employed.  The ultimate problem is that news has been given away for free when in actuality it is an expensive product that needs to be financially supported.

What I find the most interesting about this subject is that no facet of the news industry has been untouched by shrinking margins.  It should be interesting to see how this particular story plays out.

-Matt Smedley