• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 29, 2008

Universal McCann Thursday lost its fourth PR executive in two years, as Charlotte Fox stepped down as senior vice president-communications director. Fox's departure follows the hiring of Patricia Steele as global communications director in October 2007, but it also comes amidst a revolving door of PR executives at the Interpublic shop.

Long-time Universal communications chief Charlotte Hatfield left in January 2007, as did PR manager Kristin Milligan. Hatfield was replaced by Jeremy Miller, who was recruited from Omnicom's TBWA, which he eventually rejoined.

The shuffling occurs as Universal McCann continues to deal with some reputation management and new business issues. Despite having a high-profile management team, the agency's senior executives--especially CEO Nick Brien--rarely make public appearances and are not as visible in the trade press as other media agency chiefs. Over the past year, Universal McCann has also been overshadowed by sister Interpublic agency Initiative, which has been generating good vibes, positive coverage, and an impressive new business record.

The PR turnover, and the dearth of senior management visibility, however, does not appear to have hurt Universal McCann's media attention. According to Google's news index, Universal McCann ranked fifth among the major media agencies in media coverage during 2007, just behind Omnicom's OMD unit, and just ahead of Publicis' MediaVest. Aegis Group's Carat dominated industry coverage during 2007, followed closely by Publicis' Starcom, and WPP Group's MindShare.

Google News Indices For Major Media Agencies
	2007	Last Month
Carat	16,700	224
Starcom	16,300	659
MindShare	11,500	316
OMD	10,200	93
Universal McCann	8,710	123
MediaVest	8,460	131
Initiative	6,313	65
Mediaedge:cia	5,760	64
Zenith Media	5,130	113
Optimedia	2,600	45
Horizon Media	2,490	65
MPG	2,140	22
MediaCom	1,500	40

Source: Google News