Advertising and public-relations executives Barry Kluger, Rob Snyder and Deborah Wagner have teamed to form The KSW Agency, a full-service agency in Scottsdale, Ariz., bringing together combined expertise in creative, public relations, production, design and branding industries. Kluger is a former Prodigy and MTV Networks executive, who also is known for championing the cause of bereavement-leave rights in the workplace. The new venture has signed its first global client, Sophisticated Rebel, creator of The Forever Blade, a cosmetic jewelry accessory that will launch in Phoenix in January 2015. The product is targeted to affluent women and millennials, and will roll out in other U.S. cities and on the Internet throughout 2015.
Kluger is a corporate communications executive who has worked for 30 year plus in various industries in communications, public relations and crisis management. Most recently, he was managing director, knoodle PR, a division of knoodle Advertising. Prior, he was managing partner of Kluger Media Group, a communications/PR agency he began in 1998. Before starting KMG, Kluger was senior vice president, communications, for Prodigy and oversaw the global launches of Prodigy Mexico, Prodigy China and Africa OnLine. He was part of the management team that acquired Prodigy and took the company public. Before joining Prodigy, he held various senior executive posts at MTV Networks for a decade, overseeing all PR efforts for MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite and the successful launches of MTV Europe and VH1 Europe as VP. He left as SVP at VH1 in 1995.
Meanwhile, media and entertainment industry veterans, Ric Hirsch, Mary Pittelli and Frances Seghers, are launching Global Digital Insider (GDI), a monthly policy brief designed to assist established and emerging enterprises in understanding how various government actions may impact their digital businesses worldwide. GDI will focus primarily on providing subscribers concise analyses of regulatory and legislative activities affecting online concerns. The three principals have operated in the international sphere and garnered vast experience in such areas as: intellectual property, global digital policy, multinational trade negotiations, and local licensing and tax issues.
Each issue of GDI will contain an in-depth examination of one or more public policy areas impacting online businesses, as well as brief updates on related topics and issues. The first issue focuses on the debates on net neutrality regimes in both the United States and the European Union. Future topics will include: regulation of over-the-top services and set-top integration; data protection and data security; copyright laws and their operation in online contexts; and regulations impacting e-commerce and digital currencies.
Pittelli, based in Los Angeles, is a seasoned government affairs and marketing executive with years of experience helping companies understand how public policy and trade issues impact business growth. She has focused on trade and market access issues, business development and brand management for companies such as Discovery Communications, NBC, Scripps Communications, and Turner Broadcasting. She served vice president, international government affairs for Discovery Communications, building the company’s first international government affairs team and creating a strong voice for Discovery in international policy debates. She was an active participant in multilateral trade negotiations, including: US/Korea Free Trade Agreement, US/Malaysia Free Trade Agreement and the US/Columbia Free Trade Agreement. Prior to joining Discovery, she was president of TAP Latin America, a trade association serving the government affairs and public policy issues of 35 US multi-channel programmers that distribute their content in Latin America. She is currently a member of the US State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information.
GDI is owned by Global Digital Insider, LLC, a consulting firm that helps established and emerging businesses gain a foothold in policy debates that could affect their future operations and international expansion. For more information about Global Digital Insider and its principals, please visit: www.globaldigitalinsider.com.
