The past year
produced a bumper crop of odd behaviors and remarks by leading
figures in the PR/ad arena topped off by WPP's Martin Sorrell
saying there are "too many people in the middle" at
PR firms, which touched off a lively debate.
Martin Sorrell sees
too many middle men
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Sorrell noted that investment banks have "big producers
at the top and then a lot of arms and legs, a lot of soldiers."
Making PR "more efficient" is very important, he
said. WPP owns Burson-Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton, Cohn
& Wolfe and other PR firms. Click
here for web debate.
Omnicom CEO John Wren
has given one interview since the WSJ knocked 40 points off
OMC in June 2002. He shifted the annual meeting from
N.Y. to L.A. in 2003 and to Atlanta in 2004 (to avoid the
press, we think). OMC was $82 on Dec. 17. On the same date
in 1999 it reached its high of $107. Barron's called OMC "a
beleaguered stock," saying sale of $24M of stock by Wren
and other insiders didn't help.
Debt of about $14B for the five conglomerates (WPP, IPG,
OMC, Publicis and Havas) could be a problem if interest rates
rise from their historic lows. Major media have ignored this
story.
PR Week/U.K.
got so mad at the conglomerates for not letting their nearly
50 PR units report employment and fee incomes that it called
the giants "cowards" in its May 7 issue.
Could real estate be one of the big reasons the giants purchased
PR firms? Interpublic is combining seven L.A. PR units into
145,000 sq. ft. in one building (Weber Shandwick, Rogers &
Cowan, PMK/HBH, etc.). Omnicom is planning a similar consolidation
for certain PR units.
Wall Street Journal
reporters complained that Peter Kann and his wife, Karen House
(Dow Jones CEO and publisher, respectively), got raises of
58% and 32% while they got tiny hikes and were asked to pay
more for healthcare.
Kekst and Co., one of the most secretive PR firms, was hired
by Dayton Power & Light to tell of DP&L's new policy
of corporate openness in the wake of charges of impropriety.
The CEO and CFO of DP&L resigned.
Procurement officers reared
their ugly (to PR and agencies) heads in 2004, demanding every
penny be accounted for in terms of results. One PR firm, fed
up with nit-picking, tossed out a half-inch thick RFP from
the purchasing officer of the University of Illinois Business
College for a $40K, one-year program.
Nervous NIRI, its exchequer down to $4.73 million in cash/investments,
boosted dues $50 to $475.
Meanwhile, Business Week's
Oct. 3 cover story on "Fuzzy Numbers" said there
is rampant "distorted and confusing" financial reporting
in spite of Sarbantes-Oxley. Don't these numbers mostly come
from NIRI's 5,000 members?
"Bad News Burke," where are you? An AT&T PR
exec hung up on us when we called about the cuts in its PR
dept. The job was shifted to an outside PR firm. Former spokesman
Burke Stinson would never have done that. He returned a call
even though he now lives in Alberta Province, Canada.
Fear gripped not only PR pros
but reporters. Teri Agins, Wall Street Journal fashion
reporter, is afraid to write too many exposes because people
might "stop talking" to her. Fashion people "can
be very punitive," she said.
Liz Smith devoted her entire Nov. 28 column to railing about
PR people who "block access" to celebrities, government
and business execs. She says it's hard getting "even
a simple question answered."
Travel writer Margie Goldsmith
and PR counselor Al Vinikour were among those with similar
complaints. "It's disgusting," said Vinikour, referring
to the plague of unreturned calls. Phone snubs were rare in
the past, he said.
Canadian reporters beefed to Porter Novelli and Canada Newswire
that PR pros were not only blocking access to news sources
but were treating them with a "contemptuous" and
"condescending" attitude" and that businesspeople
were adopting a "superior, arrogant tone" to reporters.
PRSA staffer Cedric Bess,
in reply to an e-mail by this reporter, in error sent us back
an e-mail asking, "Can I just e-mail (O'Dwyer) a smart
remark to ps him off?" Who was supposed to get
this e-mail? is what we'd like to know.
Towers Perrin found that less than half of employees view
company communications as credible and about 25% think they're
dishonest.
Reuters cut 20 editorial jobs
in London and New York while hiring 60 replacements in Bangalore,
India. PR pros wondered if their field was next.
GCI Group in February hosted an "offshoring summit"
in New York for Citigroup, Aetna Life, Nike and other big
companies to talk about the impact of offshoring on corporate
reputation, employee loyalty, etc., and "if there is
a risk in waiting." It was closed to the press.
Eighteen Citigroup PA staffers
treated themselves (at $300 each) to the "Financial Follies"of
the N.Y. Financial Writers. The two Citi tables were about
the only ones sans press guests.
A "Credibility of Spokesperson" poll by Edelman
PR Worldwide found "company PR representative" was
next to the bottom.
WPP's Martin Sorrell and Edelman's
Richard Edelman are about the only two people in ad/PR willing
to be quoted. edelman.com/speak_up, where Edelman expresses
his views, is No. 5 on the Google ranking for ceo blog.
A producer for CNN's "NewsNight with Aaron Brown"
called the O'Dwyer Co. at 4:30 one afternoon desperate for
someone to hotfoot it to the studio to talk on-air about Martha
Stewart. The producer couldn't find anyone at the big PR firms.
Rob Levy, prof. dev. head
of PRSA who in February promised "master classes"
for 400-500 at the October conference and three-hour "double
sessions" with top speakers, was suddenly fired or quit
in June. PRSA and Levy refused to comment on the sudden departure.
Levy had boosted PD revenues 61% to $2.1M in the first half.
Three others leftwebmaster Robin Michaels, ad sales
vet Anne Fetsch and Leighton Watson of finance. Was there
a budget crunch caused by the $300K cost of COO Cathy Bolton
and the move downtown?
The "old" PRSA board,
just before the new board was nominated, gave Bolton a two-year
contract. The old board, again unwilling to give up control,
in December named a governance committee whose work would
be in 2005.
PR counselors reported they were getting much more action
from prospects if they described themselves as being in "marketing
communications" rather than PR. The latter is thought
to be too identified with press relations and too "long
term." Companies want sales.
Finally, if democracy can come to Iraq and Afghanistan, why
can't it come to PRSA, allowing all members (not just the
20% who are APR) to seek office this year?
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