Havas agencies Havas London, Havas Lemz, Havas New York and Havas Immerse have lost their B Corporation certifications due to Havas Media’s relationship with Shell. An investigation by the nonprofit B Lab, which is tasked with determining that B Corporations voluntarily meet certain standards of transparency, accountability, sustainability and performance, was undertaken following complaints from other agencies after Havas Media signed the contract. (While Havas Media did not have certified B Corporation status, the use of the Havas name across the company’s units now prevents B Corporation status for all of them.) Clean Creatives, a campaign calling on advertising and PR agencies to refuse to work with fossil fuel companies, led the backlash against Havas. “Creative agencies should not be working for the companies destroying the planet,” Clean Creatives executive director Duncan Meisel said in a statement.

Ironistic, an Alexandria, VA-based digital agency, merges with RISE Marketing, a specialized marketing communications agency headquartered in Vermont. RISE Marketing’s entire staff will join the Ironistic team. Ironistic specializes in web development and design expertise, website hosting and maintenance services, and extensive digital marketing services, including PPC and SEO management. RISE Marketing focuses on serving as an extension of their client’s marketing department to provide content marketing, as well as advertising, email marketing, public relations, events management, and social media. “In RISE Marketing, we found a partner that shares a similar vision and values,” said Ironistic co-founder and CEO Jared Elliott. “By combining our two entities we will be able to naturally extend our range of services, leveraging our combined expertise and resources for greater impact and innovation in the marketing landscape.”

PR73, which in June rebranded from Press Record Communications, releases its first research report, “Building Trust: Insights and Strategies for Communications Teams.” The report, which surveyed 100 US-based communications pros from organizations like NBC Universal, Disney and Visa, finds that many communications pros think a trust gap exists between in-house communications teams and internal stakeholders. The report’s findings show that 50 percent of respondents feel dispensable to senior leadership; only 49 percent of respondents feel highly trusted by other departments; one-third of respondents find it challenging to work with their senior executives and two-thirds of respondents say that departments in their organizations ignore or resist their strategies.