Weber Shandwick

History

Shandwick International, founded in 1974, was acquired by IPG in 1998. In September 2000, IPG announced it was merging Shandwick with IPG's Weber Group, itself founded in 1974, to form Weber Shandwick. The merger was completed on 1 January 2001, and in October, BSMG (formerly Bozell Sawyer Miller Group), which had been acquired by IPG as part of IPG's March 2001 acquisition of True North, merged with Weber Shandwick. BSMG Chairman Jack Leslie was named Chairman of the new combined group, and CEO Harris Diamond became the group's CEO.

In 2010, Weber Shandwick's internal developers and social media teams created a social media crisis simulator called Firebell.

In January 2012, after a Weber Shandwick executive moved to Hill & Knowlton, Weber Shandwick secured a restraining order after alleging the firm was taking their employees and clients. In May, the agency was appointed global agency of record for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. In November, Andy Polansky was named CEO.

In March 2013, Weber Shandwick launched MediaCo, a content marketing unit providing services to clients including native advertising and digital media buying.

In May 2014, the firm acquired a Sweden-based agency, Prime, and its business intelligence division, United Minds.

In October 2018, Weber Shandwick relaunched United Minds as a global management consultancy, combining the agency’s global Employee Engagement & Change Management practice with United Minds Sweden, the management consultancy within Prime Weber Shandwick.

In July 2019, Gail Heimann was named President and CEO of Weber Shandwick, with Andy Polansky became the firm's Executive Chairman.

In December 2020, the agency announced a permanent hybrid model for its workforce.

In May 2021, the United Minds consultancy and fellow IPG company KRC Research launched new diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) research. United Minds also started a DE&I initiative called Code+ify, to help business leaders looking to improve their DE&I efforts. In June, Susan Howe was named President. In September, the firm partnered with AI-driven threat intelligence and detection platform Blackbird.AI to launch its Media Security Center, to help clients proactively identify and fight disinformation. In October, the firm announced that Chairman Jack Leslie was stepping down as chairman in March 2022.

In January 2022, it was announced that Andy Polansky, Weber Shandwick executive chairman and Interpublic Group Dxtra CEO, would retire in June 2022.

In 2023, Weber inaugurated its Women’s Health Center of Excellence, an approach to help organizations research and educate the public about women's health issues. The company originally launched its offering in EMEA and eventually expanded it into North America, Latin America, and APAC. Weber worked with Kellanova to develop a humanoid Pop-Tart mascot for the first Pop-Tarts Bowl. The campaign won the Grand Prix in Brand Experience and Activation at the 2024 Cannes Festival of Creativity.

In March 2025, Weber launched Weber I/O, a service that combines analytics, data science, and experiential technology to help clients integrate AI and related technologies into their marketing and communications work. In April 2025, the company launched its Weber Advisory service, which counsels chief corporate affairs officers on reputation management, crisis communications, and public affairs strategies. In June 2025, Mars announced that it was putting Weber in charge of its earned media efforts.

Operations

Weber Shandwick is based in New York City, and as of January 2022, listed offices in 67 cities worldwide, as well as other affiliate city offices in six continents. As of December 2021, Andy Polansky was Weber Shandwick's executive chairman, Jack Leslie was chairman, Gail Heimann served as the agency's CEO, and Susan Howe was the agency's president.

The agency and the eight sub-brands Cappuccino, Flipside, KRC Research, Powell Tate, Prime, Resolute, Revive Health, That Lot, and United Minds make up the Weber Shandwick Collective, within Interpublic Group's IPG DXTRA division, formerly known as IPG's Constituency Management Group.

The agency also does work as 3PM, a dedicated holding company group formed with fellow IPG company PMK-BNC to coordinate efforts for multinational brewing company InBev, primarily with the beer brands Bud and Bud Light.

In December 2022, Weber Shandwick announced a 'work from anywhere' policy in response to the post-COVID-19 trend of home-working.

Research

Weber Shandwick conducts surveys and publishes research reports on business and social trends. Topics have included consumer activism, leadership, and corporate risk. Notable studies include:

• A February 2018 report identifying the growing trend of "buycotts", a form of consumer activism whereby consumers buy from good companies to show support.
• A November 2018 study of CEO activism along with involvement in politics, and its influence on government action.
• A 2019 study of company chief diversity officers identifying the challenges and benefits of pursuing DE&I initiatives.
• December 2020 employee activism research performed in conjunction with Weber Shandwick's United Minds consultancy.
• May 2021 DE&I research done by the United Minds consultancy and fellow IPG company KRC Research.
• An August 2021 report on geopolitics and major implications for corporate risk. (Fortune)

References

References

1. Russo, Will. (December 18, 2024). "Meet the Incoming Weber Shandwick Collective CEO, Susan Howe". AdWeek.
2. . (June 11, 2025). ["Meet the Trio Remaking Weber Shandwick"](https://creative.salon/articles/features/weber-sandwick-susan-howe-karen-pugliese-jim-o-leary). *Creative Salon*.
3. (September 8, 2025). "Leadership".
4. (April 20, 2021). "Agency Business Report 2021: Weber Shandwick".
5. "Interpublic Group rebrands CMG division as IPG DXTRA {{!}} Marketing".
6. (July 10, 2001). "IPG Announces Weber Shandwick-BSMG Merger".
7. (July 12, 2001). "BSMG Worldwide to merge with Weber Shandwick".
8. (September 25, 2000). "IPG unites PR brands into two mega-firms".
9. (July 10, 2001). "IPG Announces Weber Shandwick-BSMG Merger".
10. (March 18, 2019). "Mastering the message".
11. (21 October 2019). "The Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research, and Practice". Routledge.
12. (November 19, 2010). "Weber Shandwick Builds Social Media Crisis Tool".
13. "PR firm, two execs agree to restraining order in dispute".
14. (May 25, 2012). "Tokyo 2020 Appoints Weber Shandwick for Olympics Bid".
15. (November 13, 2012). "Harris Diamond Succeeds Nick Brien as McCann Worldgroup CEO".
16. (March 27, 2013). "Weber Shandwick Sets Up New Unit To Capitalize on Content Marketing Craze".
17. (May 6, 2014). "Weber Shandwick Acquires Swedish PR Firm Prime". The Wall Street Journal.
18. (October 24, 2018). "Weber Shandwick Launches Management Consultancy United Minds".
19. (July 17, 2019). "Andy Polansky named Interpublic CMG CEO; Gail Heimann appointed Weber Shandwick chief".
20. (December 20, 2020). "Weber Shandwick Unveils Permanent Hybrid Model For Global Workforce".
21. (May 18, 2021). "DE&I-Committed Firms Attract Talent".
22. (July 28, 2021). "The methods agencies are using to hold themselves accountable on DE&I".
23. (June 10, 2021). "Susan Howe promoted to president of Weber Shandwick".
24. (September 23, 2021). "Weber Shandwick launches media security center via partnership with Blackbird.AI".
25. (October 27, 2021). "Longtime weber Shandqwick chairman Jack Leslie to retire in March 2022".
26. "IPG Dxtra CEO Andy Polansky to retire".
27. Ruderman, Jess. (May 22, 2024). "Weber Shandwick Collective launches North America Women's Health Center of Excellence". PRWeek.
28. Mandel, Stewart. (March 10, 2025). "How Pop-Tarts turned an easy-to-forget bowl into one of the college football season’s best moments". The Athletic.
29. . (June 20, 2024). ["Cannes Lions 2024: Brand Experience & Activation"](https://www.contagious.com/news-and-views/cannes-lions-2024-template). *Contagious*.
30. Zuss, Noah. (March 25, 2025). "Weber Shandwick expands AI services with Weber I/O launch". PRWeek.
31. Zuss, Noah. (April 17, 2025). "Weber Shandwick launches global integrated advisory unit". PRWeek.
32. Bradley, Diana. (June 10, 2025). "Weber Shandwick Collective emerges as earned media winner from Mars review". PRWeek.
33. "Global Network".
34. (October 28, 2020). "Interpublic Group rebrands CMG division as IPG DXTRA".
35. (December 16, 2021). "Weber Shandwick Repositions As Collective Offering & Steps Up Futures Investment".
36. (November 17, 2015). "A-B InBev Shifts Budget Toward Working Dollars With Dedicated Shop".
37. Wickens, Zoe. (2022-12-07). "Weber Shandwick introduces work-from-anywhere policy".
38. (February 1, 2018). "Don't Boycott Bad Companies, Spend More With Good Ones".
39. (July 25, 2018). "C.E.O. Activism Has Become the New Normal".
40. (November 14, 2019). "Toward a Racially Just Workplace".
41. (September 18, 2019). "Making the 'Business Case' for Diversity and Inclusion: raceAhead".
42. (December 13, 2020). "How corporate leaders can respond to employee activism".
43. (August 3, 2021). "Business leaders must grapple with geopolitical risks—and expect to take a stand".