Martin Sorrell sees too many middle men

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 p–s 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 left–webmaster 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?