NEW YORK—MWWPR has acquired a majority stake in Berk Communications & Marketing Group, a public relations firm specializing in sports, entertainment, travel, lifestyle publicity and event planning. Berk Communications will become an independent subsidiary of MWWPR and continue to operate under its own name. Founder Ron Berkowitz will continue to serve as president and chief executive officer of the subsidiary. 

WASHINGTON, DC—Ogilvy Public Relations has launched Association Works, a specialty service focused on helping trade and professional membership associations achieve their reputation management, marketing and member communications goals. The group, operating across Ogilvy Public Relations' North American network, will focus on member communications, issues and crisis management, association branding and category marketing.

NEW YORK—Christopher Graves, global chairman of Ogilvy Public Relations, has been elected to his second term as chair of the PR Council. Returning alongside Graves as executive officers are Aaron Schoenherr of Greentarget as secretary and Bryan Harris of Taylor as treasurer. New board members are Don Baer (Burson-Marsteller), Fred Cook (Golin), Heidi Hovland (DeVries Global), Sandra Fathi (Affect) and Tonya Veasey (OCG PR).

MILAN—The International Communications Consultancy Organisation has appointed Maxim Behar as its new president during its Global Summit in Milan. Behar is CEO of leading Bulgarian PR consultancy M3 Communications Group and chairman of Hill+Knowlton Strategies in the Czech Republic. He has been vice president of ICCO since December 2013, working alongside ICCO President David Gallagher, CEO of Ketchum Europe.

CHICAGO—Current Lifestyle Marketing, an Interpublic Group agency, is rebranding to become Current Marketing, emphasizing its focus on “marketing for real lives.” A proprietary insight approach called “Realistics” and a strategic partnership with influencer platform TapInfluence is designed to drive public relations, influencer marketing, digital and social work that is authentic and impactful for clients including Allstate, The Clorox Company, Club Med and Samsung. 

VANCOUVER—PR and influencer marketing agency Yulu Public Relations has become a certified B Corporation, a new type of company that builds positive social and environmental impact into its business model. Founded in 2011 by Melissa Orozco, Yulu specializes in social enterprise PR and influencer marketing and works with nonprofits such as F-Cancer and World Housing as well as brands such as Charitweet and Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership.

LONDON—Agile marketing firm Kenshoo has formed a global partnership with Hootsuite, a platform for managing social media,  in  an attempt to help marketers better understand, attribute and optimise the combined impact of their paid and owned social media marketing. Marketers can use Kenshoo's Infinity Suite to monitor traffic and conversions from organic social media activity sent from Hootsuite, alongside paid social media activity metrics and other complementary digital campaigns.