PR Agency SHIFT Communications’ Principal Todd Defren Named One Of PRWeek’s ‘40 under 40’

SHIFT Celebrates Defren’s Win as One of Public Relations' Most Influential People

December 8, 2008

NEWS FACTS

• Today, PRWeek profiled SHIFT Communications’ Todd Defren as one of 40 PR pros, nominated by industry peers, who have achieved tremendous success and established a leadership role in PR before the age of 40.
  

• In five short years, Todd helped grow SHIFT from $2 million in revenues in 2003 to well over $10 million in 2007. Clients such as RealNetworks, Jim Beam, Shimano, Novell, and Akamai have looked to SHIFT Communications for its traditional and social media expertise.

• With Defren at the helm, SHIFT took a leadership role in the new media realm, garnering the American Business Awards’ coveted “Agency of the Year” in 2007 and The Holmes Report’s “New Media Agency of the Year” (SABRE Awards) in 2008.

• His efforts to make PR less about “publicity” and more about relationships, led him to invent the Social Media Release and the Social Media Newsroom templates.  Marketing executives at Cisco, NutriSystems, GM and Coca-Cola, and many more, have adopted his social media release format.
  

• While running a multi-million dollar Agency, Todd owns and blogs on PR-Squared, a social media, PR and marketing blog ranked within the Technorati 10K. It’s on AdAge’s Power150’s (#33) and is also recognized on Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop: “Best of the Best.”  PRWeek recently nominated PR-Squared as one of the top blogs in the PR industry and readers voted it all the way to the top 4.

Please use this link to access a purpose-built del.icio.us page for more information about SHIFT Communications.

MULTIMEDIA ELEMENTS:

QUOTES

• “We’re extremely proud of Todd’s designation in PRWeek’s 40 under 40,” said Jim Joyal, a SHIFT Communications principal along with Defren. “His brains, guts and leadership have helped transform SHIFT into a nationally recognized agency, as well as helping to reshape the broader PR industry. My hat’s off to him.”

• “Talk is cheap in PR. Todd's team delivers results and that's why they have been a trusted partner of mine at two companies. The difference? They make my business their business,” says Bill Hankes, VP of corporate communications at RealNetworks.

• “A pioneer and inspirational voice in the digital PR industry, Todd Defren has been instrumental in promoting social media and innovative technology solutions for online communications,” says Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing.
  

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 that has represented some of the best-known enterprise and consumer technology brands, including Akamai, Canadian Club, Quantum, RealNetworks, Yelp, Johnson & Johnson and H&R Block.  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, San Francisco and New York metros. For more information on SHIFT’s high-tech public relations, consumer public relations and content marketing programs, visit http://www.shiftcomm.com.

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