FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 15, 2011

CONTACT: Michael.Bush@edelman.com 212-729-2181

Edelman Launches Social Business Planning To Help Organizations Create Business Value In A Connected World December 15, 2011, -- As the relevance and use of social technologies within corporations continues to grow, the need to create real business value from social media becomes even more significant. To better help clients realize that value, Edelman today announced the launch of Social Business Planning. The initiative, co-led by David Armano, EVP of global innovation in Edelman Digital and Mike Kuczkowski, president of Edelman Consulting, brings together Edelman Digitals hands-on experience in developing and implementing scalable social media initiatives with Edelman Consultings organizational alignment and business strategy capabilities. The offering will focus on achieving operational efficiencies for clients, developing a learning organization, which can adapt/innovate in rapidly changing environments and optimizing return on investment from social technology investments. Many companies are now seeing the benefits (and risks) of tapping social media particularly in the marketing silo said Armano. But social business looks beyond brand building and presents opportunities for a business to become more connected, informed, innovative and intelligent. Social Business Planning will also help companies improve organizational and marketing effectiveness by leveraging emerging communications, technology and data driven trends. Social technologies have the potential to create tremendous value for enterprises, both externally with customers and other stakeholders and internally with employees and business partners, said Kuczkowski. In the face of the complexity created by social media, organizations need to take an adaptive approach and evolve their organizations to unlock their full potential. Edelmans Social Business Planning approach provides a five-step process that will optimize social business integration across the enterprise. The process includes: Assessment: Evaluate the current state of social media adoption and performance, potential alignment with business goals and integration opportunities Strategy Development: Define core objectives and create a roadmap for integration aligned with an agreed organizational approach Organizational Alignment: Align the organization and optimize organizational structure to fully harness the internal and external power of social media Engagement Activation: Implement the social media approach, including appropriate stakeholder-oriented measurement tools

250 Hudson Street New York NY 10013 Tel +1 212 768 0550 Fax +1 212 704 0128 www.edelman.com A Daniel J Edelman Company

Evaluation & Learning: Take a continuous measure and respond approach around social media investments, optimizing the execution model based on continuous stakeholder feedback.

Edelmans deep roster of social business specialists, which spans the globe, includes Michael Brito, author of Smart Business, Social Business, Robin Hamman who previously led digital efforts for the BBC, Zena Weist, formerly social media lead at H&R Block, David Garrison, former CMO of Indaba Music, and Kazim Ali, a former CTO and Gartner consultant. As part of the Social Business Planning offering, an in-depth articulation of the methodology behind it will be made available on Slideshare. About Edelman Edelman is the worlds largest independent public relations firm, with wholly owned offices in 60 cities and 4,000 employees worldwide. Edelman was named Advertising Ages top-ranked PR firm of the decade and one of its 2010 A-List Agencies and 2010 Best Places to Work; PRWeeks 2011 Large PR Agency of the Year and 2011 Large UK Consultancy of the Year; European Excellence Awards 2010 Agency of the Year; Holmes Reports Agency of the Decade and 2009 Asia Pacific Consultancy of the Year; and among Glassdoors top five 2011 Best Places to Work. Edelman owns specialty firms Blue (advertising), StrategyOne (research), Ruth (integrated marketing), DJE Science (medical education/publishing and science communications), MATTER (sports, sponsorship, and entertainment), and Edelman Consulting. Visit http://www.edelman.com for more information. ###

250 Hudson Street New York NY 10013 Tel +1 212 768 0550 Fax +1 212 704 0128 www.edelman.com A Daniel J Edelman Company