Burson-Marsteller Celebrates Its 60th Anniversary with Major Initiatives Throughout 2013

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Burson-Marsteller, a leading global communications firm, announced today it will commemorate the 60^th anniversary of its founding in 1953 with a series of celebration activities over the course of the next year, underscoring the firm’s values and commitments to its clients and the wider world. On Tuesday, March 5, the firm’s Founding Chairman Harold Burson, Worldwide Chair and Chief Executive Officer Donald A. Baer and other leaders of the firm from offices around its global network will ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ MarketSite located in New York City’s Times Square. NASDAQ is the exchange on which the shares of Burson-Marsteller’s corporate parent WPP are traded.

“As a firm, Burson-Marsteller has a long heritage of community service, so we regard this worldwide Giving-Back Service Project as an excellent way to rededicate ourselves during our 60th anniversary year to the core values on which our firm has always been built.”

As part of its 60^th anniversary initiative, the firm is launching the Burson-Marsteller Giving-Back Service Projects, a worldwide community service commitment among its 2,300 employees in 110 countries. Burson-Marsteller employees will participate in service projects in each of the local communities in which it operates around the world, with as many of its 2,300 employees as possible joining together in community service. Each office around the world will have flexibility in choosing where to direct employee service efforts, though many will be offering pro bono communications and public relations services to local community organizations. To support these locally-driven community service engagements, the firm will donate employee time in total worth $1.60 million to make the Burson-Marsteller Giving-Back Service Projects a major worldwide commitment.

The firm also plans to announce other major initiatives throughout the year that will continue to build on the firm’s history of leadership in the public relations and communications industry.

“As a firm, we are going to use this 60^th anniversary year to build on our strengths and to forge exciting new directions, enabling us to be more as a firm – more strategic and creative in our approaches, more evidence-based and more rigorous in our implementation – so we can continue to meet the dynamic demands of our industry,” said Baer. “As a firm, Burson-Marsteller has a long heritage of community service, so we regard this worldwide Giving-Back Service Project as an excellent way to rededicate ourselves during our 60^th anniversary year to the core values on which our firm has always been built.”

Added Burson, "From the outset Burson-Marsteller and its employees have supported local community activities and public service institutions on a pro bono basis. Throughout the past six decades, public service has been embedded into our culture around the world. As a firm that thinks globally and acts locally, I cannot think of a better way to demonstrate the essence of who we are than to engage in a global give-back to the scores of communities where we have offices."

Burson-Marsteller was founded 60 years ago by Harold Burson and Bill Marsteller. Since its founding, Burson-Marsteller has established itself as a pioneering firm in the modern age of the public relations industry, bringing new levels of professionalism to client service and eventually expanding its reach to 110 countries across six continents. The firm has represented thousands of clients throughout its history including hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and non-profit clients. To read more about the firm’s history please click here.

About Burson-Marsteller

Burson-Marsteller, established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, reputation and crisis management, advertising and digital strategies. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 73 offices and 85 affiliate offices, together operating in 110 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a unit of WPP, the world’s leading communications services network. For more information, please visit bm.com.