Here's the English version of our media release of January 18, 2009:

International Alliance To Promote Effective Campaigning

BONN..VIENNA..WASHINGTON DC..ZURICH__ With the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, four campaigning offices from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and the United States have formed the first international campaigning network, called the Worldwide Effective Campaigning Agencies Network (WECAN). The participating agencies involved specialize in Public Affairs; Strategic Communications and Marketing; internal and external Corporate Communication; Brand Management; Non-Profit Communications and Fundraising; Organizational Development; Change Management; Political Campaigning and Crisis Communication.
The network is comprised of independent partner agencies 4C business campaigning GmbH (Switzerland), agentur für public affairs (Germany), SVWP Kommunikationsmanagement GmbH (Austria) and The Balman Group (United States), which have formed a business alliance in order to better serve clients with international interests. All agencies are
members of pro:campaigning worldwide, the only professional association and knowledge centre for campaigning and campaigners. As members of pro:campaigning, the network partners pledge to adhere to the pro:campaigning Code of Conduct and Quality Standards, including process and result orientation, resource efficiency, authenticity, loyalty, innovation, learning attitude, interaction as a principle, honesty, respect and best practice.

Pro:campaigning’s core mission is to promote quality in campaigning practice and education, a mission to which all the network agencies are dedicated. Many of the agencies have been involved for years in promoting the theoretical model of pro:campaigning.

“The level of experience in this discipline among these agencies is unparalleled,” said Peter Metzinger, founder of pro:campaigning and owner of the Swiss agency.

Sid Balman, CEO of the Washington-based Balman Group, said formation of such an alliance was “long overdue,” and would bring a higher level of professionalization, transparency and principles to work on behalf of businesses, foundations, nonprofits, multilateral organizations and governments.

Because of their engagement in the theory’s advancement, the agencies involved share a common understanding of campaigning as a specific and strategic approach. These agencies are dedicated to the principle that campaigning is an interdisciplinary and efficient strategic vessel for packaging the different areas of communications, marketing and
management in companies and in nonprofit-organizations. It is based on the integration of communications and management; communications and process interventions; and the assumption, that while everything is communication, communication is not everything."

With the standards thus defined the worldwide effective campaigning agencies’ network makes a commitment to quality and reliability that no other network or agency is able to offer to their clients. Network agencies will use the label «pro:campaigning member» as a quality indicator. Clients in search of quality in campaigning practice should look for this
stamp of approval.