Brian Berkman, founder of PR-Net, which has 550 communications professionals who subscribe to its monthly Cape Town and Johannesburg networking meetings, has linked his consultancy business with GlobalFluency, the international network of influence with 110 offices around the world.
Berkman says his joining with GlobalFluency was the final piece in his expansion plan after leaving BBDO almost three years ago: "As Client Service Director of PSPR BBDO, then the only local PR agency in the giant communications group, I realized the value of tapping in to global knowledge resources and business referral networks.
"Unlike other networks, GlobalFluency agencies are independently owned and agree to a best-practice methodology which means global work can be referred to GlobalFluency practitioners around the world where skills and cost efficiencies are optimized."
Although most of GlobalFluency's US$12 million billings represents work in the technology sector, Berkman says he is developing skills to service technology clients while at the same time offering the network his expertise in FMCG and B2C sectors.
Berkman recently returned from New York where he spent three weeks working in GlobalFluency's office and attending a CMO Summit focused on measuring marketing's return on investment.
"Creating Affinity Networks like the CMO Council which brings together Chief Marketing Officers from the world's leading brands to network, is a pillar of GlobalFluency's Intelligent Market Engagement.
"PR-Net, although still fledgling, is also an Affinity Network which I hope to expand around the country and eventually into other territories. GlobalFluency is the perfect partner to help me achieve this."
Donovan Neale-May, CEO of Neale-May & Partners and founder of GlobalFluency, says Berkman's unique skills set developed over years working in journalism, advertising and public relations, combined with his passion for transforming the PR industry into providing a strategically-focused board-level input, makes him a perfect GlobalFluency partner.
In South Africa, Neale-May & Partners provides advertising support through GlobalFluency while in Johannesburg, Headlines PR provides communications services.
"It is amazing to have an industry leader like Simone Appleton's Headlines that has handled major ICT clients for a decade as the other South African communications company in the GlobalFluency network."
