Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Libya Paying Big Bucks for Outreach to US Think Tanks

The public relations and advertising firm Qorvis MSLGroup has just signed a $1 million contract to provide PR services to the Libyan Embassy in Washington, DC, and part of the contract includes outreach to think tanks.

Here is more from O'Dwyers:
[Quorvis] will work to "open channels of communication" through government relations and organize meetings for Libyan officials, according to its contract.
Outreach is slated with reporters and US officials to ensure Libya's messages reach the White House, media, think tanks and Capitol Hill.
Qorvis will develop messages, forge a rapid response team and provide regular briefings on conditions in Libya.
The firm is in line for $50K retainers for the first three months and $100K payments for the following nine months. Monthly expenses are capped at $12,500.

Qorvis MSLGroup, which is owned by Publicis, works with a variety of other foreign governments, including the Bahrian, Sri Lanka, the British Embassy, Fiji, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, and the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.

PR firms and lobbying firms often reach out to think tanks in order to influence the narrative of current issues, business concerns, and other purposes.