NEW YORK, April 12—Burson-Marsteller this week became the latest firm to expand its presence in the entertainment public relations realm, entering into a strategic alliance with Bounce Event Marketing—a new firm formed by entertainment industry veterans Tom Ross, John Cossette, and Tim Swift.

There has been increased interest in the entertainment sector over the past couple of years, with Interpublic acquiring Hollywood publicity agency PMK, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide buying Baker Winokur Ryder, Ketchum launching a new entertainment marketing division, and earlier this year Weber Shandwick Worldwide snapping up Bragman Nyman Cafarelli.

According to B-M’s chief operating office, Ken Reitz, the new alliance is “puts us at the nexus between marketing, entertainment and the Internet. It’s a significant step forward in providing our clients with the best creative talent in the entertainment industry.”
Ross developed and spearheaded the growth of the music and personal appearance division of the Creative Artists Agency—serving clients such as Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton and Janet Jackson—and was managing director at CAA before founded Bounce. Cossette has been a producer of The Grammy Awards for the past 10 years, and was instrumental in the creation of the Latin Grammys. Swift was a founding partner of Merv Griffin Productions and has produced corporate marketing events for clients such as Kodak, Charles Schwab and Philip Morris.