11/12/2024
USPR Network Acquired, Renamed and Rebranded by St. Louis PR Firm
St. Louis, MO – November 12, 2024. After seven years as Unified Strategies Public Relations Network, USPR has a new name, United States Public Relations Network, and a new owner but the same winning strategy: To bring together successful, independent PR agencies to offer creative brainpower and boots on the ground in more markets across the U.S. and around the globe.
Since USPR Network’s founding in 2017, member firms have planned and managed world-record-breaking events, coordinated media tours for spokespeople, celebrities and top executives and led national and international marketing campaigns, consistently landing stories for USPR clients in some of the world’s most influential traditional news outlets and far-reaching social media channels.
Chris Kuban, Founder and CEO of Chemistry PR & Multimedia in St. Louis, purchased the network from Bob Schiers & Cora Schiers, two of USPR’s three original founders. By 2017, the Shiers had already marketed many of the world’s best-known brands for nearly 50 years. They ran their own communications and media firms but felt ready to launch a newkind of collaboration.
Sadly, in 2022, third co-founder SUSAN HAMBURG passed away. By 2024, the Schiers felt ready to pass the USPR baton to the next generation. By then, Kuban had witnessed the results and ROI of USPR firsthand, so he purchased the network, eager to build on the founders’ legacy with expanded multimedia capabilities for telling memorable business stories in new, visual ways.
Those visionary founders negotiated many first-of-their-kind group plans to give small, independent agencies access to industry tools they couldn’t have afforded otherwise. Lower overhead. Better value. The model made sense to other agency owners, including Kuban, and the USPR network grew to an international scale.
Kuban says, “Together, USPR Network members offer strategic access to all traditional and emerging platforms to help clients launch, manage and amplify the messages that matter to them. Each member runs an independent agency that partners with fellow member agencies to provide local expertise with international reach. Clients don’t have to deal with long-term contracts. They don’t have to vet agencies in multiple markets. They pay only one agency invoice. They love that!”
Research and SEO data predicted more online traffic would result if the Network had a new name. To maximize online searchability, the US in USPR now stands for United States, since most member agencies operate in the U.S. and all members hope to serve clients in the top 50 U.S. DMAs. Hence, the name, USPR, now stands for United States Public Relations Network.
For owners who find their agencies growing faster than they can manage comfortably, this new iteration of USPR Network provides fractional C-Suite support for strategic growth, operations, change management, employee engagement, strategic agency tools, succession planning and much more.
ABOUT USPR Network
USPR’s MISSION: To form and foster an exclusive network of the brightest public relations professionals in the world, each bringing their unique expertise, energy and geography to launch campaigns, amplify messages and solve client problems together.
To learn more, go to www.USPRNetwork.com.
