Weber Shandwick Australia

Weber Shandwick Australia is the Australian operation of Weber Shandwick Worldwide, the world's largest PR company.

It describes its focus in Australia as "corporate, healthcare, technology and consumer". [1]

History

Weber Shandwick (then Shandwick International) acquired Melbourne PR firm IPR to become IPR Shandwick. IPR was founded by Laurie Kerr, who had previously worked with Eric White.

Clients (past or current)

• Screen Producers Association of Australia
• Australian Chicken Growers Council.
• MasterCard International [2]
• Harley-Davidson [3]
• Johnson & Johnson Pacific[4]
• Sony [5]
• Singapore Airlines [6]

Individual clients

• Carlos Cabal
• Brian Quinn (former Coles Myer boss)
• Alan Bond
• Bruno Grollo
• Richard Pratt - One of Mike Smith's early clients. Was under investigation by the National Crime Authority at the time Mike Smith joined IPR Shandwick. (Andrew Dodd, "The makeover merchant" The Australian, December 9 1999)
• Bill Farrow and David Clarke
• Floyd Podgornik
• David Nicholas

Personnel

• Ian Rumsby
• Steve Pratt (Sydney)
• Jodi Clifford (account director, corporate practice) [7]

Former Personnel

• Stephen Kerr, managing director in 2001, (Mathew Charles, "Sackings silence the talking heads", Herald Sun October 18 2001)
• Mike Smith, former editor of The Age
• Peter Ryan, former head of ABC TV news & current affairs, joined Weber Shandwick in 1998 then left for Turnbull Porter Novelli after 3 years.
• John Fitzgerald, former editor of Melbourne's The Herald, joined IPR in 1978 and was chairman from 1988-1994.
• Mark Kerr
• Paul Kerr (formerly of The Age)

Other SourceWatch resources

• Public relations firms/Australia

Contact Information

166 William Street
Woolloomooloo
NSW 2011
Phone: +61 2 9994 4450

References

• Andrew Dodd, "The makeover merchant", The Australian, December 9 1999
• Alan Attwood, "Mr Fitz-it", The Age, March 15 1994.

Articles

• Ben Cubby, "A Maori voice for a Japanese cause," Sydney Morning Herald, January 19, 2008.