Porter Novelli Austin Sees Strong Momentum in First Half of 2006

AUSTIN, Texas, July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Porter Novelli, a global public relations agency, today announced that at the half-year mark of 2006, Austin office milestones include an impressive 17 new clients, a win rate of more than 85 percent, the addition of Aaron De Lucia and promotions of long-time employees Angel Schneider and Lisa Peterson. PR agency veteran De Lucia joined the team in March and was quickly promoted to vice president and Schneider and Peterson were promoted to account manager and account supervisor, respectively.

De Lucia oversees several of the office's new clients, including Austin- based enterprise content management leader, Vignette. Other Austin clients under De Lucia's management include Bigfoot Networks, which targets the gaming market, and ReachForce, an on-demand provider of marketing automation technology that makes sales and marketing more effective. De Lucia also leads the Bay-Area-based TriNet account, a nationwide provider of human resource outsourcing services.

Schneider, a four-year member of the Austin team, leads the newly won Parrot Inc. account. With U.S. headquarters in Austin and global headquarters in Paris, Parrot is a global consumer electronics company and the world's leading innovator in the Bluetooth(R) market, and will tap into the agency's deep Bluetooth(R) and overall wireless expertise. Schneider also heads up newly launched Austin company, FiveRuns, an emerging player in the open source systems management market.

"This is my third time to work with Porter Novelli Austin and I am still equally if not more so pleased and impressed with their creativity and the stellar results I have consistently received on each of my experiences," says Katy Roth, Director of Marketing at FiveRuns. "The Porter Novelli Austin team has become such a part of my marketing strategy that I consider them an extension of my own team - always ready to roll up their sleeves and jump right into the fray."

Peterson continues leading the seven-year PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree account, as well as working with LBS and wireless darling, Bones in Motion, who launched with a big bang at the exclusive DEMO executive conference February, 2006. Peterson will no doubt replicate this success later this year, launching a San Francisco-based Web 2.0 hot shot, already attracting huge buzz, but still in stealth mode.

Other new clients to join the Porter Novelli Austin family within the first half of the year include 17-year-old privately-held Austin success story, Planview, an enterprise software stand-out focused on portfolio management with 300+ customers, as well as newly-launched Dad Labs, a company providing products and services targeting fatherhood. All these and more join existing clients such as publicly-traded business intelligence leader Business Objects and local Austin enterprise software players Scalable and Zilliant.

"Wow to the first half of the year," said Porter Novelli managing director, Laura Beck. "We cannot believe the level of activity on the new business front, nor the caliber of clients we are proud to call our own. It has been an amazing first half, and the 16 of us here are doggedly determined to maintain - and grow - the strong reputation we've earned by delivering excellent PR service to our clients today as well as those we may have tomorrow."

About Porter Novelli:

Porter Novelli is one of the world's leading public relations agencies, with offices in all major markets. With a focus on effective stakeholder communications and adopting a holistic, media-neutral approach, Porter Novelli develops public relations programs that deliver value and impact to its clients' business. Porter Novelli was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1972 and is a part of Omnicom Group Inc. , a leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company. For more information, please visit http://www.porternovelli.com/ .

Parrot and the Parrot logo are trademarks of Parrot SA. The "Bluetooth(R)" word mark and logos are owned by the Bluetooth(R) SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Parrot is under license. Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners.

Contact Lesley Nisbet Porter Novelli Austin (512) 241-2247 lesley.nisbet@porternovelli.com