All Star Awards

Inside PR magazine / March 22, 1998 / Creativity (Agency)
Shelley Spector / President, Spector & Associates

While boutique firms have demonstrated an ability to deliver quality public relations programming at least as good as that of their larger counterparts, it is still unusual to find a niche PR agency with a roster of blue-chip clients that includes names such as AT&T, Bayer, Philips and The Bank of New York. But that's the kind of agency Shelley Spector has built since she opened Spector & Associates in 1991.

Spector's success has been achieved in large part because of her ability to create and execute "signature" programs on behalf of clients. She has an uncanny knack for identifying the issues that matter most to a company's stakeholders and then helping the company take ownership of those issues. In 1992, for example, her firm won the Gold CIPRA for its work on a "FamilyFriendly" initiative for Embassy Suites, and since then she has developed programs for AT&T Capital, supporting socially-minded entrepreneurs, and Bayer Corporation, a leader in science education issues.

She has also pioneered in the area of new media, creating interactive software for clients and producing and publicizing award-winning Internet sites.

Spector began her career after receiving B.A. in Journalism and M.S. in Television/Radio from the prestigious Newhouse School at Syracuse.

Before opening her own firm, she held account management positions at agencies including Hill & Knowlton, Lobsenz Stevens and RuderFinn.

In addition to being an inspired practitioner, Spector has worked tirelessly, to elevate the prestige of the public relations industry. Heavily influenced by a 9-year friendship with Edward Bernays, the "father of public relations," Spector began leading seminars for PR, and marketing executives in the mid 80's, focusing on the strategic uses of public relations.

In November 1997, she launched The Museum of Public Relations, in cyberspace, drawing heavily on the writings and papers of Bernays. Since its opening, the museum has won three awards, among them the USA Today Hot Sites designation, and has received hundreds of thousands of visits.