Larry Weber is back on the wagon…

Larry Weber has been a major force in the technology PR business for a long time.  For the past year rumors have been circulating that Weber was considering getting back into building an agency but this time aimed at using the new tools and technologies that are coming onstream.

In July 2003 he was quoted in the Boston Herald:

He (Weber) talked about “viral communication,” or using virtual communities to spread a message. “That’s what blogging is,” Weber added, referring to the Web’s proliferation of open but focused bulletin boards called Web logs, or simply blogs, that anyone can use to post a message. “You really can’t underestimate that,” he said. “I think there’s going to be a consolidation of marketing,” Weber said, as enterprises seek better ways to use technology to reach target audiences.

Well now he has kicked off a new agency called W2 Group Inc. According to the Boston Herald:

Weber says W2 will offer “data-driven, strategy-infused and digitally delivered” PR services targeted at specific groups, along with mobile or wireless marketing, Web marketing and PR for health and life-sciences companies. He calls Boston “the innovation town,” with the necessary technology clusters to make it work.

He has already acquired PR agency Racepoint Group to get the venture underway.

In the modestly titled launch press release (“Marketing Visionary Larry Weber Launches W2 Group, Inc. a Global Marketing Services Company Addressing 21st Century Constituent Management Needs”) he lays out the agency’s vision:

“While founding and building the largest PR firm in the world and leading the formation of Advanced Marketing Services at IPG, I’ve had the opportunity to evaluate and integrate new technologies into the communication process to bring organizations closer to their constituents,” said Mr. Weber. “W2 Group will redefine marketing services by creating an ecosystem of companies offering the most advanced digital research, delivery and measurement technologies to provide analytics and understanding of constituents and market trends and highly targeted message delivery. Clients are demanding the level of measurable, predictable results that traditional marketing services firms are not delivering.”

It’ll be interesting to see how this idea develops. However I thought it was very interesting that they chose the traditional media to break the story.. ahem… as the French say plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose…..

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