The London PR industry thrives on a somewhat strange blend of professional elixirs: fierce competitiveness mixed with gentility.
Perhaps there s no better illustration of that than Lord Chadlington, the founder of Pounds 22 plus-million Shandwick the leading PR agency in London and a venerable expert at courting and keeping clients.
| 1. Shandwick | £22,430,000 |
| 2. Lowe Bell Comm. | £ 18,780,000 |
| 3. Countrywide Comm. | £ 13,507, 826 |
| 4. Hill and Knowlton | £ 12,094,000 |
| 5. Burson Marsteller | £ 11, 010,475 |
| 6. Dewe Rogerson | £ 10,726,800 |
| 7. Financial Dynamics | £ 8,316,291 |
| 8. Citigate Comm. | £ 7,275,249 |
| 9. Euro RSCG Intl Comm. | £6,087,997 |
| 10. Charles Barker | £ 5,452,267 |
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All billings are for 1995, the latest figures available (1996 figures will be released in May).
Source: PR WEEK (London) |
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There s a reason he s retained one of the first clients he won 23 years ago, 3Is Bank, in London. "This is a highly competitive market that s built on long-term relationships and not a lot of project outsourcing," said Chadlington in a phone interview from his 300-staff office in London.
But having a PR office in London today can be a costly undertaking, even for the smallest of ventures, according to Mike Tarrier, CEO of Jaffe Europe, a company specializing in PR for law firms. Because of the sensitivity of the work his company oversees (sometimes charged with getting companies out of the glare of critical press and unsavory public perception), Tarrier is a Londoner who won t
reveal who his clients are.
Why? "Because it s very, very competitive here and there are many more people watching for perceived conflicts of interest than in the United States," Tarrier said.
Interestingly, the PR industry in Londn has fostered a kind of competition that s similar to what s happened in the ranks of the British press which, as impossible as it seems, is biting in a kind of gentlemanly way. Because of it s reputed power, it s the British media, in fact, that has helped drive the growth of the PR industry in London.
Even though Tarrier s company, which is tied to Jaffe Associates, a prestigious virtual business (employees can work from wherever they want through modem hook-ups) based in Washington, D.C., didn t have the typical start-up costs because it was initially backed by parent company Total Communications, Tarrier estimated it would cost a two-man PR house opening in London today about Pounds 350,000, or $223,000 a year, to operate, with rent running about $30,000 a year.
Contrast that with what Chadlington spent when he opened his one-man office in 1974. He estimated he spent about $10 a week in rent, in a building where he climbed 200 stairs, to start a PR agency that by the close of the first year had a staff of about 12 and about Pounds 100,000 in fees.
"This is an industry which probably employs 22,000 people 7,500 in U.K.-based consultancies and 14,500 in major corporations," said Jeremy Weinburg, PR manager for the Institute of Public Relations, a 49-year-old organization in London. "The reason the PR industry is so large here is because this is the hub for a lot of European and Asian corporations and there are a lot of in-house PR departments which are the gatekeepers for PR projects that extend throughout Europe."
Among London s hot PR markets are: high-tech/medical; public affairs, what s referred to in England as lobbying; financial, including investor relations; and local government, according to Wenderg. "There is a sophistication in the British PR market that s not found as much in other European countries," Weinburg said.
But the importance placed on PR in London hasn t existed without an American push. Major U.S. corporations such as Texaco, Prudential, IBM, Dow Jones, General Motors, McDonald s and Hyatt all have a London-based office. And, ironically, much of the PR that s done in London mirrors the U.S. system in that clients generally determine what billing system hourly, retainers or longterm contracts are used.
Even though the U.S. has a stronghold in London, the U.K. PR culture doesn t always invite what Brits call "ex-patriots" or, in other words, foreigners, which is part of what gives the London PR arena its distinct flavor. In London, PR practitioners are given company cars and fairly hefty budgets to wine and dine clients.
But like the PR culture in the United States, PR in London is seen as far more than events planning and product promotion. "PR certainly has an emphasis on the bottomline, and those in the commercial sector have seen the benefit of employing PR firms," added Weinburg.
But Chadlington said it wasn t always like that and he recalls when the tide turned. "It happened in the 80s when companies were developing multinational services and they became very aware in the financial markets of how PR people could get them good press coverage, which more and more big companies needed as they began taking over other companies," Chadlington said.
He added that company execs began to see the benefits of PR reputation and crisis management; brand positioning; investor relations; and longterm strategic planning but mostly they learned their money could be stretched farther with advertising, which had become pricey.
"I remember 10 years ago when I would go to a social event and as a PR practitioner, I had to explain what I did," said Fiona Joyce, deputy managing director of Countrywide Porter Novelli, which had Pounds 13,507,826 million in fees in 1995. "PR in London now stands alongside marketing and advertising and is part of having total communications."
Countrywide, headquartered in nearby Oxford, has about 70 staffers, most of them British, and around 40 clients. About 30 percent of those clientsare foreign companies. (Shandwick, 011-44-171-408-2232; Jaffe Europe, 011-44-1628-662-336; IPR, 011-44-171-253-5151; Countrywide, 011-44-171-584-0122)