Larry Weber`s New Book, Sticks and Stones, Redefines Reputation and Influence in the Digital Age

Digital world requires new models for businesses to organize, create and
distribute content, and engage with key stakeholders
WALTHAM, Mass.--(Business Wire)--
Racepoint Group, an award-winning global public relations agency with special
expertise in digital media relations, announced today the immediate availability
of Sticks and Stones: How Digital Business Reputations Are Created Over Time…
And Lost in a Click, authored by Racepoint Group Chairman Larry Weber and
published by John Wiley & Sons.

Sticks and Stones is a practical guide to shaping both individual, small
business and corporate reputation; where and what to talk about on the web; how
to respond to online attacks and crises; and how to organize for success. Weber
also discusses the implications of the YouTube explosion and the reputation
lessons learned from the Obama campaign.

For the past 30 years Larry Weber has advised hundreds of companies of different
sizes and industries, helping them navigate a wide spectrum of business
challenges and communications opportunities. Most recently, he founded W2 Group,
a group of digitally driven marketing services companies that includes Racepoint
Group, Digital Influence Group (social media marketing), Two Martinis
(branding), Ringleader Digital (mobile ad server) and A2aMedia
(outdoor/display). Previously, Weber built the world`s largest public relations
agency, Weber Shandwick, and made numerous investments and acquisitions in a
variety of marketing services companies as chairman of the Advanced Marketing
Service unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies. A passionate advocate of
innovation and technology, Weber co-founded and is chairman of the Massachusetts
Innovation and Technology Exchange (MITX) and is a member of the Executive
Committee of the Council on Competitiveness.

"Larry Weber has made an important contribution to helping any leader understand
how to manage and protect reputation in a digital world," said Michael E.
Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School.
"The influences on reputation have spun out of control, and this book is a
highly actionable approach to move from reacting to managing one of every
organization`s most important assets."

A good reputation is a company`s or an individual`s most important asset, yet it
never appears on a balance sheet or in a checking account. Sticks and Stones
defines reputation equity as the sum total of positive impressions that an
individual, product, service, brand or organization makes on stakeholders
(customers, prospects, employees, shareholders, suppliers, regulators,
communities). Reputations are based upon accumulated behavior and actions over
time. The stronger the reputation equity, the more easily it can overcome
attacks from one crazy blogger.

"Building reputation equity no longer depends on getting into the headlines of
The Wall Street Journal or on a four-color spread in BusinessWeek," said author
Larry Weber. "Businesses need a strategy and tactics to start and maintain
digital conversations. In the digital age, the pendulum has swung and it`s now
stakeholders who have the power to impact and shape a brand through
conversations - both on and offline."

For more on the book`s content and purchasing information, go to
http://www.thelarryweber.com/sticksandstones.

About Racepoint Group

Based in Waltham, Mass., Racepoint Group, Inc. is an award-winning global public
relations agency with special expertise in digital media relations. We leverage
the power of traditional and digital media relations to elevate premium and
emerging technology, health and science brands - generating world-class media
and analyst coverage that directly impacts mindshare and marketshare. We lead in
the application of technology to our craft and provide clients with a level of
research, analytics and measurement that is unmatched in the public relations
industry. On the net: http://www.racepointgroup.com.

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Racepoint Group
Ginger Lennon, 781-487-4640
glennon@racepointgroup.com

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