"Attention Brokerage" is one of the latest developments in the field of online advertising. The first Web-site applying the concept of selling and buying attention is Cybergold. Users, who want to earn money have to register and then look at ads, which, of course, they have to prove by e.g. downloading software. Attention, according to this idea, represents a good, which is worth being paid for.
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The public relations industry, the same as advertising, is concentrated in the hands of few dominant firms. Still, the striking element about corporate public relations is that PR firms are tightly related to advertising companies. Nine out of the ten biggest international PR agencies have close ties with the advertising industry. Also, looking at the largest acquisitions involving U.S. PR firms from 1997 to 1999 it is apparent that money coming from advertising agencies has played an important role.
Table: Top 10 PR Firms 1998
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With many PR agencies sold to advertising companies, the advertising industry's influence further increases; enabling them to offer their clients not only advertising services, but also know-how in marketing, public opinion, crisis and issues management and political lobbying.
Table: Acquisition of PR Agencies (1997 - 1999)
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Source: Odwyerpr.com.
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With new sponsorship models being developed, even further influence over content from the corporate side can be expected. Co-operating with
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With television still being very popular, commercial entertainment has transferred the concept of soap operas onto the Web. The first of this new species of "Cybersoaps" was
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Amazon.Com was one of the first online bookstores. With thousands of books, CDs and videos ordered via the Internet every year, Amazon.Com probably is the most successful Internet bookstore.
Seagram is the largest producer and marketer of distilled spirits in the world. It is headquartered in Montreal, Que. The company began when Distillers Corp., Ltd., a Montreal distillery owned by Samuel Bronfman, acquired Joseph E. Seagram & Sons in 1928. Under the leadership of the founder's son, Edgar M. Bronfman, who became head of the company in 1971, the firm diversified during the 1950s and '60s from its original base of blended whiskies into the production and marketing of scotch, bourbon, rum, vodka, gin, and many different wines. It also expanded into the European, Latin American, East Asian, and African markets with its products. The company adopted its present name in 1975. It produces more than 400 different brands of distilled spirits and wines. Edgar M. Bronfman, Jr., took over as head of the company in 1989. Seagram in 1995 purchased MCA Inc., a media and entertainment firm, from the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company.
Born in 1944, Giuliani became famous in the mid Eighties, as a typical Eighties figure: a censor of corruption and greed. In the Seventies he had switched his registration from Democratic to Republican, and served a stint in the Reagan Justice Department. In 1983 he became U.S. Attorney for the southern District of New York, and his career took off. He was aggressive, headline grabbing, none too scrupulous about the finer points of civil liberties, and often effective. He used the RICO Act against organized crime, and pioneered the use of asset forfeiture in prosecuting drug dealers. He also moved against political corruption in New York City, toppling the Democratic leaders of the Bronx and Queens.
John W. Hill opened the doors of his first public relations office in 1927 in Cleveland, Ohio. His early clients were banks, steel manufacturers, and other industrial companies in the Midwest. Hill managed the firm until 1962, and remained active in it until shortly before his death in New York City in 1977. In 1952, Hill and Knowlton became the first American public relations consultancy to recognize the business communication implications engendered by formation of the European Economic Community. Hill and Knowlton established a network of affiliates across Europe and by the middle of the decade had become the first American public relations firm to have wholly-owned offices in Europe. Hill and Knowlton, a member of the WPP Group integrated communications services family, has extensive resources and geographic coverage with its 59 offices in 34 countries. Hill and Knowlton is known for its hard-hitting tactics and said to have connections with intelligence services.
An international organization designed to supervise and liberalize world trade. The WTO (World Trade Organization) is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was created in 1947 and liberalized the world's trade over the next five decades. The WTO came into being on Jan. 1, 1995, with 104 countries as its founding members. The WTO is charged with policing member countries' adherence to all prior GATT agreements, including those of the last major GATT trade conference, the Uruguay Round (1986-94), at whose conclusion GATT had formally gone out of existence. The WTO is also responsible for negotiating and implementing new trade agreements. The WTO is governed by a Ministerial Conference, which meets every two years; a General Council, which implements the conference's policy decisions and is responsible for day-to-day administration; and a director-general, who is appointed by the Ministerial Conference. The WTO's headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.