Burson-Marsteller Appoints Michael Bassik as U.S. Lead Digital Strategist.

NEW YORK -- Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, announced today the appointment of Michael Bassik as Managing Director and Digital Practice Chair for the United States. Bassik is an accomplished digital strategist with more than 11 years of experience. He has built several successful online public affairs practices and has been honored for his industry-leading work by Yahoo!, the American Association of Political Consultants and POLITICO.

Michael Bassik is appointed as Burson-Marsteller's U.S. Lead Digital Strategist. (Photo: Business Wire)

Throughout his career, Bassik has been a pioneer in the field of digital communications. He has blended digital strategy, public affairs and political communications to lead effective campaigns. He has worked with several high-profile clients including IBM, Google, the Democratic National Committee, John Kerry for President, Hillary Clinton for President and Obama for America. Bassik will be based in New York and report to U.S. President and CEO Pat Ford. He will lead a team of strategists that will advise clients across the firm's practices on digital media and social media strategy.

"Burson-Marsteller is fortunate to add Michael Bassik's deep digital experience and expertise to our U.S. team," said Ford. "Michael will play a critical role in the firm's continued integration of digital strategies throughout each of our practices. His background in digital public affairs and issues management makes him a great compliment to key areas of strength for our firm."

Most recently, Bassik was Senior Vice President at Global Strategy Group where he established and managed the full-service digital public affairs division. In this role, he developed and oversaw the execution of award-winning online marketing, reputation management and media relations programs for some of the firm's largest and most highly visible clients, including IBM, Google, Al Jazeera English, Oprah Magazine, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Dan Malloy for Governor (CT). While at Global Strategy Group, he conducted and published cross-media research on the effectiveness of political communication on the Internet on behalf of leading political and advocacy clients.

"Burson-Marsteller counsels some of the world's leading businesses and organizations on many of their most significant business challenges and opportunities," said Bassik. "I am grateful for the opportunity to join such a premier firm. I look forward to helping clients implement effective digital strategies that support their business objectives."

Prior to Global Strategy Group, Bassik was Chief Digital Officer for the radio network Air America Media. At Air America Media, Bassik successfully led digital strategy through the worst recession in decades, growing the outlet's online audience and revenue by over 200% - including a new, profitable website and multimillion-dollar subscription podcast business. He also created Ad Progress Network, a stand-alone advertising network representing cross-media ad inventory from Air America, The New Republic, Mother Jones, The Nation and AlterNet.

Earlier in his career, he established America Online's political advertising division, the first such division among the Internet portals. As the Director of Political Advertising, he executed the first political advertisements on the Internet and worked with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Yahoo!, MSN and The New York Times to author industry-wide policies regarding political and issue advocacy advertising.

Bassik has appeared on Bloomberg Radio and NPR's Morning and Weekend Editions. He was also featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune, BusinessWeek and Advertising Age.

Bassik received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish from the University of Pennsylvania and his law degree from American University's Washington College of Law. He is a member of the New York State Bar and sits on the advisory board of the Personal Democracy Forum and E-Voter Institute.

About Burson-Marsteller

Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm's seamless worldwide network consists of 68 offices and 70 affiliate offices, together operating in 96 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world's leading communications services networks.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6695513&lang=en