Kyiv: Scott Lewis, who formerly led public relations in Ukraine for Willard, has rejoined the integrated marketing company in an expanded role as a creative, a trainer and the chief editor of Willard Marketing Monthly magazine as it moves into the international marketplace.

Lewis previously worked for Willard for six years before leaving to form a PR team at Pulse.

“I enjoyed my time at Pulse. It’s a good company,” said Lewis. “My heart, however, has been in helping Willard grow in Kyiv, Moscow and Istanbul where we have offices and beyond.”

With its new relationship with the London-based marketing company All About Brands, Willard has been charged with the responsibility of taking Willard Marketing Monthly over the next year into London, Abu Dhabi and Mumbai.

“I have worked with Scott for half dozen years. We work well together as a team,” said Michael Willard, chairman of Willard. “I am glad he is back because we have a lot of work to do and Scott is the only person I wanted for the job.”

Olga Willard, CEO of Willard, said she looked forward to “once again working with one of the most creative minds in Eastern Europe when it comes to idea generation.”

Lewis, 56, is a former editor of the Kyiv Post.

WILLARD is proud to announce we've just won a tender for VITALUX brand (chain of Ukrainian health and beauty supermarkets).

We would like to sincerely thank all members of our team who participated in the preparation of our winning proposal...Good job!

When it comes to media monitoring, Willard Metrics allows you to see the forest and the trees and to make sure you are delivering effective messages.

You see, we don't just count the number of stories, we measure the effectiveness of the messages. We analyze the stories as to content and using a carefully constructed formula, let you see whether your news event accomplished its communication goals. A stack of stories means nothing if the messages have gone astray.

Measuring the effectiveness of your public relations campaign isn't an exact science. But with Willard Metrics, it comes close.

Call Oksana Yerofeyeva at (+380) 50 346 8670 or e-mail her at oksana.yerofeyeva@twg.com.ua for a free demonstration of Willard Metrics.

Willard is proud to announce the following wins:

• Danone, public relations, Kyiv
• Monsanto, education roundtables, Kyiv
• Alcatel, Willard Metrics, Kyiv
• TNK-British Petroleum, 10th anniversary celebration, media relations, Kyiv
• Metinvest, trainings, Kyiv
• Zablotsky Dental Implant Clinic, public relations, Kyiv
• Bakhurinsky Clinic, public relations and corporate identity projects, Kyiv
• Crisis simulation for energy company, Moscow.
• IAS,  Regional juice producer, communications consulting and PR support, Moscow
• Country-wide trainings for one of Russia's largest banks, Moscow
• Media training program for oil and gas sector, Moscow
• Media trainings and crisis trainings for industrial company in Mocow, Kyiv and Almaty, both Moscow an Kyiv offices
• Armaggan, manufacturer, public relations, Istanbul
• Lafarge, trainings, Kyiv

Willard, the company, and Willard Marketing Monthly have searched diligently for a relevant cause with which to identify the company and the magazine. We have one in our back pocket, and we like it.

It has to do with an area of Corporate Social Responsibility that is important to every Ukrainian who would like to have a free and unfettered press. It has to do with the sad practice of commercial payment for news stories.

However, we take a somewhat different position.  We believe the burden is not on the press but on the companies-including multinationals-that buy the press.

We know of corporations in virtually every segment-otherwise good corporate citizens-who buy stories in Ukrainian press rather than trust what I call the basic theory of news-a good story that is news will rise to the top of the stack and get printed.

It would be hypocritical for us as a company not to acknowledge from the outset that in the 15-year history of Willard that, on occasion, we might have been guilty of such transgressions at the behest of a client. I have always had, as they say, plausible denial with a blanket rule of no purchased press. However, that's not good enough.

In the past, we have donated medical equipment to a hospital for older Ukrainians from revenue garnered from sold paintings. It wasn't a fortune.

We have supported a short-story contest and hosted a community website to promote public relations standards. I always like to think our seven-year experience publishing The Ukrainian Observer was a social cause. There were certainly no monetary benefits, and the community got a pretty good English language magazine that took on Ukrainian topics from culture, to history to current political debate.

However, having first started working with newspapers at age 19 and having spent a dozen years as a reporter and editor, this issue of attempting to stem paid stories is as close to my heart as my skin. 

We have launched a Facebook page called "East European Companies Against Paid Press."  We will be soliciting supporters-not money.
If anyone would like to talk to me directly about this, my telephone is
(+380) 50 355 9040.