The Holmes Report Crowns PR Agency Shift Communications as "New Media Agency of the Year"

Market Wire, May, 2008

NEWS FACTS

The Holmes Report published its 2007 Agencies of the Year list, naming SHIFT Communications -- an award-winning independent PR agency -- as "New Media Agency of the Year." Holmes Report is a resource for corporate communications/public relations professionals and journalists. It includes articles, directories, case histories on corporate reputation, crisis and issues management and public relations. According to Paul Holmes, The Holmes Report dubbed SHIFT "as an innovator in two key areas: first, in creating public relations programs that have a demonstrable impact on sales through the firm's proprietary LeadSensor methodology; and second in new and social media, where the firm's pioneering capabilities have attracted clients from beyond the traditional tech space." SHIFT's LeadSensor service tracts ROI with a Real-Time Marketing dashboard by capturing traction, lead generation and conversion rates. The Holmes Report also touts SHIFT's many social media innovations: The Social Media News Release (SMNR), developed by SHIFT in 2006, has been covered by publications ranging from PRWeek to BusinessWeek. With over 100,000 copies downloaded from SHIFT's website, billion-dollar corporations such as Novell (a SHIFT client), Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, Belkin and SAP AG have used the SHIFT SMNR template. SHIFT's Social Media Newsroom incorporates elements of news, executive information, and relevant links, providing a one-stop shop for all related company news. The PR 2.0 Essentials Guide , released in 2007, demystifies social media terminology with entries on social media innovations including social bookmarking, RSS, Wikipedia, etc. Most recently, the Agency published an updated version of the SMNR, called Social Media Release v1.5 . This fresh look at the SMR incorporates more atomized content, new universal bookmarking widgets and aggregated engagement via comments and trackbacks. The various Agency of the Year winners were presented with their trophies at this year's SABRE Awards dinner on May 13 at Cipriani on New York's 42nd Street.

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QUOTES, ATTRIBUTABLE TO TODD S. DEFREN, PRINCIPAL AT SHIFT COMMUNICATIONS

(Click here for Todd Defren's LinkedIn profile)

"It's humbling to have won New Media Agency of the Year from the Holmes Report, particularly after having won Agency of the Year from the American Business Awards last year," said Todd Defren, a Principal at SHIFT Communications. "I think both honors underscore our belief that all programs can benefit from elements of traditional and new media campaigns."

Please contact Parry Headrick to arrange an interview and/or for additional quotes.

ABOUT SHIFT COMMUNICATIONS

SHIFT Communications is an award-winning, privately-held national public relations firm representing some of the best-known enterprise and consumer technology brands , including Akamai, Novell, Quantum, RealNetworks and Shimano. SHIFT pioneered the world's first Social Media News Release and Social Media Newsroom , changing PR forever. SHIFT Communications' 100+ employees are located in the Boston, Mass. , and San Francisco, Calif. metros. For more information on SHIFT's high-tech public relations and consumer public relations, visit http://www.shiftcomm.com .

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