Echo's clients made history at the AMEC (International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication) 2009 Awards in November by not only walking away with 12 awards - a record haul for any member company - but also by winning the prestigious Judges’ Platinum award for an unprecedented fourth time, pushing Echo’s tally to a massive total of 66 AMEC awards. GSK, RNLI and Women in Journalism research were specially recognised by the judges. With other recent industry awards from the prestigious Jack Felton Golden Ruler Awards and Paul Holmes Sabre Awards for MetLife and other clients, Echo clients have been celebrated in over 70 industry platforms for best practice in reputation and communications research.

"Excellent example of integrated internal / external comms analysis. Clear, intelligent strategy"

"GAME CHANGER: very innovative project with sound methodological approach by integrating different means of research, very learning-oriented ... research objectives are perfectly linked to business objectives ... Echo's work for GSK is simply stunning. Very importantly, the work contributed something of real commercial value."

Echo celebrated its 20th anniversary Summit in London among some 150 clients and friends with Interbrand Chair Rita Clifton, Severstal's Vadim Saveliev, digital guru Bob Pearson, Breaktingtrends' Alec Howe and International Business Leaders Forum CEO Adam Leach. Chaired by Paul Holmes of The Holmes Report, the dialogue was rich, exciting and varied ranging from best practices in reputation measurement through to future challenges and opportunities with new social media, Generation Y and sustainability. On behalf of all at Echo, thank you for making the last 20 years so exciting and we hope you find these summit podcasts useful in your continued journey to improved reputation.

From our Summit see "15 Key Trends & Observations for Leaders of Great Brands", by Bob Pearson, WeissComm Group and Chief Evangelist Social Media Business Council

...life happens at the level of events, not of words", so said Sigmund Freud colleague Alfred Adler, and used to set the scene of the latest Echo Chamber in New York on communications in the new economic reality. Ketchum's Rob Flaherty argued that "the digital revolution and the intersection with the economy provide huge opportunities for PR professionals. If the most influential source is another person, not earned or paid media, relationships become key. It is up to PR to develop content that grab audiences in the right way." The eponymous editor and publisher Paul Holmes remarked that "in terms of social media, the marketing folk jump up and down and shout 'look at me'; the PR folk are at the other end of the spectrum, worrying about risk and wanting to listen. Both approaches are flawed - but the marketing one will likely dominate. Those who are successful in this area find a mid-point in between the two and focus on engagement."

CR and Sustainability: Commit or Crunch? was the topic of this year's Helsinki School of Economics Lecture, given by Echo Research Group

Teen Spirit: The Secret Life of Teenage Boys: Echo's study for the UK's Guardian newspaper challenged the notion of teens as being career-minded and happy at home compared to the vacuous and violent yobs as typically portrayed by media stereotypes.

Social Media is an unexpected and much welcomed 'gift' to communicators, who have yet to learn to fully embrace its potential beyond online 'press release-speak'. It's to that challenge that PR Week posted its latest opinion editorial on whether PR will do so or not.