Carlman Booker Reis Public Relations, an 18-person PR shop in Maitland, Fla., has filed suit against Wilchem Corp. and its multi-million-dollar parent company TETRA Technologies, Inc. for more than $50,000 worth of work that Wilchem never paid.
According to court documents obtained by PR NEWS, Wilchem backed out of a one-year contract with CBR in June. The boutique was hired in October 1997 to get national exposure for one of Tetra's key brands, DampRid. CBR contends not only that they have not been paid for work already done, but that Wilchem cancelled on what was expected to be a $1 million contract.
Regardless of how the issue plays out, the lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court in Orange County, Fla., provides a quintessential lesson in business management - an area in which many pros have been johnnies come lately.
Sources tell PR NEWS that filing suit against a client is rare.
Wilchem President David Heaner allegedly notified CBR this summer that the company would be jumping ship despite what CBR claims is a significant ROI - a 30-percent-plus hike in sales of the product they were hired to promote.
CBR claims it racked up, in addition to the sales surge, 40 million impressions through its PR efforts. It shelled out money for travel, copies, mileage, faxes, courier services, postage, photography, long-distance calls and printing, all subject to a 20 percent agency administration fee, according to the suit, and all without receiving the $25,000 retainer called for in their contract.
Lori Booker, a principal at CBR, said the firm has been in business for almost 15 years and has never filed suit to force a client to pay for the firm's work. Booker declined to disclose what kind of fiscal stress this has put on the agency, refusing to comment about the firm's billings or how many clients - minus Wilchem - it has now.
Tetra also refused to comment on the lawsuit, although Booker says rumors have surfaced that Wilchem will counter sue in the breach-of-contract case.
Compounding the problem is that within the PR community, there are no regimented standards to prove a company has met a client's bottom-line goals beyond measurement standards - such as media analysis which can include impressions - commonly used to prove success. This kind of analysis can often be more subjective, than tangible.
The Take on TETRA
Last year, Tetra posted with the SEC $219.4 million in sales. Tetra's agricultural arm manufactures DampRid, a ground-drying chemical, along with calcium chloride-based products.
Tetra is based in The Woodlands, Texas, and Wilchem is headquartered in Orlando, Fla. The Wilchem/CBR relationship stems from contract negotiations in September 1997 about bolstering DampRid through PR.
One of CBR's media blitzes included an aggressive awareness campaign based on a cheeky "El Nino Survival" press kit mailed to more than 500 media outlets, including secondary vertical markets such as boating and photography. The mailing used the storm news hook, naming the top humidity markets and featuring wet weather gear including a poncho.
Now, CBR is eating the cost of that effort.
(Tetra, 281/367-1983; CBR, 407/834-7777)