NEW YORK—While the market for pure dot-com public relations is in free fall, there’s still plenty of work to be had from mainstream bricks-and-mortar companies seeking to take advantage of e-commerce opportunities and the Internet’s potential as a communications medium, which means plenty of work for mainstream PR firms such as M Booth & Associates, which this week announced an alliance with web design firm groundzero to expand its activities in the Internet arena.

Booth last year launched a suite of Internet services it called Cyberbr@nding, and has worked with clients ranging from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to consumer products giant Unilever. The new alliance will enable the firm to offer “one stop shopping services to help clients creatively manage, enhance and maximize their presence in new media as a way to build a brand or corporate presence, reach new customers, and handle the flow of information in a crisis,” says Booth.

According to Booth managing partner Brad Rodney, the firm has been working with about half-a-dozen clients on Internet-related programs. The agency helped launch the online management review Knolwedge@Wharton, for example, working with the management school to create content-sharing alliances; for property and casualty insurer Coregis, it helped rewrite website content and create a direct e-mail campaign for the broker community; while for Unilever, Booth has handled the launch of multiple websites linked to specific brands.

The new partnership will including website development, including an offering the firms call Br@ndwidth, an opportunity assessment; new channel communications, including viral marketing campaigns; Internet monitoring; partnerships and online promotions; and Internet crisis communications, including the creation of “shadow” websites.
Says groundzero founder Craig Winkelman, “M Booth has an unparalleled record with traditional public relations and a keen sense of the shifting digital terrain. We look forward to working together to implement integrated, cohesive communication strategies.”