Chicago public affairs veterans launch Platform Public Affairs, LLC

PRLog (Press Release) - Jun 10, 2009 -
CHICAGO – Three seasoned public affairs pros today launched Platform Public Affairs, LLC, a new consultancy integrating public relations, issue advocacy and campaign experience with the latest digital tools.

The firm is led by CEO Bob Kettlewell, a 30-year veteran of Illinois politics and public affairs who most recently headed Hill & Knowlton’s Midwest Public Affairs practice. The other Platform co-founders are President Laurent Pernot, who left a position as vice president at Hill & Knowlton, and Senior Vice President Jassen Strokosch, who served as Director of Online Strategies at Jasculca/Terman and Associates. Each has worked in public affairs in Chicago for more than a decade.

The new firm offers integrated strategic communications and outreach services for businesses, non-profit organizations and government.
“Today’s proliferation of stakeholders, media and other channels requires pushing messages across integrated platforms,” said Kettlewell. “Our combination of public affairs know-how and digital skills gives clients the tools to push their ideas, issues and campaigns as broadly – or as narrowly – as required.”
Prior to Hill & Knowlton, Kettlewell served as senior vice president for Jasculca/Terman and Associates, as District Chief of Staff for U.S. Representative Cardiss Collins, and as Administrative Director for the Illinois Public Action Council, now Citizen Action-Illinois. He has been advised numerous campaigns for public office.

“Platform Public Affairs combines experience in politics with a successful record advancing the public agendas of corporations and non-profits,” said Pernot, a 15-year media and public affairs veteran who has worked on some of the most high-profile issues and crises in Illinois and Chicago in recent years.
“Each type of client can benefit from the mindset and methods pioneered in the other fields.”

The power of digital outreach and social media is becoming more broadly recognized, but is still vastly underutilized in the policy and issues arena.

“New technologies can help reach the broadest numbers while at the same time enable public affairs stakeholders to target the narrowest niches of voters and decision-makers,” said Strokosch, a pioneer in the development and application of emerging technologies with a background in political science and advocacy. “People expect information to come to them in the channels they have selected. Actors in the public affairs sphere have only just begun to harness the full power of that new dynamic.”

Platform Public Affairs, LLC is located at 1415 N. Dayton in Chicago. For more information, visit www.platformpublicaffairs.com.

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