It’s definitely worth noting on this blog that NPR and WGBH have acquired NPB. This means Mission Social Media will now be a part of the NPR family. How great is that?! This means that NPB’s digital portfolio will expand from PBS.org and the NPBi network of stations, to include NPR.org as well. With Mission Social Media, we will be able to expand our reach into the non-public broadcasting/public good space, with the scale needed to support all the great sites which fall under this new banner.

Find the press release below.

September 11, 2007; New York, Washington, D.C. and Boston – Public media companies NPR and WGBH Boston today announced they have made an offer to acquire National Public Broadcasting, LLC (NPB), the leading multi-market sponsorship representative for public television and radio stations.

The offer has been accepted in principle by Williams Communications, Inc., majority owner of NPB.

Combining NPB with NPR Corporate Sponsorship, NPR and WGBH will form a new independent non-profit company to represent sponsorship across all media for public broadcasting. This new entity will become the largest and most comprehensive representative for national and local public radio, television and multimedia.

Robert Williams, who founded NPB in 1997 with his partner Linda Williams and has served as its Chief Executive Officer, will retain that role with the new company. Ken Stern, Chief Executive Officer of NPR, will additionally assume the Chairmanship of the Board of this new entity; Jonathan Abbott, Chief Operating Officer and President-Elect of WGBH, will also serve on the new Board.

Williams said, “Every company founder wants to see his company succeed longterm, and this is the best outcome we could have imagined. We are delighted that these two powerful institutions have chosen to make NPB a central strategic asset for an expansion of the sponsorship efforts of the public broadcasting community. What we at NPB have worked to accomplish in the last decade will now serve as the foundation for this new organization and its wide-ranging plans.”

“This new organization will enable us to better communicate the value, and values, of public broadcasting to the corporate community,” said Stern. “Public radio and television hold a critical role in American life, and our rapidly-growing audiences trust and support the companies that support our public service mission. With the rapid growth of audience throughout public broadcasting and the expansion of media platforms we serve, this new organization will provide greater resources to fully, actively represent our shared assets.”

More here.

If you’ve been paying attention to trends in Internet advertising (and traditional advertising), you’ve probably seen an influx of brands promoting their position on sustainability.

The simple fact is that with increasing channels of communication and the growing ability to interact with the companies producing the products you consume, consumers are more armed to hold companies to the same standards they hold themselves to. For brands with a “good” position on sustainability, knowing how to reach earth conscious “consumers” (I’ll stick with “people”) and deliver that message is very important. Just as important is knowing the issues involved in this process.

Enter the Sustainable Brands 2007 conference, being held this year September 26-28, 2007 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in New Orleans.

I’ve never been to the conference before — I just noticed a link to this conference on the footer of someone’s email. Nonetheless, it looks like a great opportunity to learn about this environment (PUN intended!) and meet new people passionate about it.

Anyone know people going this year? We’re definitely going to look this one over.

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