Prodigal Co. branch aids shale industry

Staff report

Poland

The Utica and Marcellus shales have sparked yet another new need, this time in public relations.

The Prodigal Co., a longstanding branding and marketing agency in the Mahoning Valley, announced Tuesday the creation of ShaleComm, a new communications branch that will provide business support for those involved in the shale industry.

“As the Utica Shale develops, I think we are learning all the time about the process and finding better ways to educate people,” said Vince Bevacqua, executive vice president of ShaleComm.

ShaleComm already has a few high-profile Valley clients including V&M Star, Patriot Water Treatment and EnverVest.

Bevacqua said he hopes to help those clients and more overcome some misconceptions about the industry.

“When we first started talking about Marcellus in 2008, all of the newspaper headlines were very positive,” he said. “Those headlines have been replaced with more negative headlines. And I believe it’s because of misconceptions.”

More information on ShaleComm is available at www.shalecomm.net.