Gazprom Hires Omnicom Agencies

Gazprom, the Russian gas company that supplies approximately one-quarter of Europe's gas needs, has hired the PR firms Gavin Anderson, Ketchum and GPlus to handle "all financial and corporate communications and external relations issues worldwide." PR Week notes that all three firms, which are subsidiaries of the Omnicom group, previously worked for the Kremlin when Vladimir Putin was president of the G8 group of countries. In January, the Moscow newspaper Kommersant reported that Gazprom was negotiating with a consortium comprising the PBN Company, Hill & Knowlton and the polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates for a three-year contract worth $11 million.