Larry Weber is chairman and CEO of Weber Public Relations Worldwide, a PR firm with offices in Cambridge, Mass., Palo Alto, Calif., New York, London and Hong Kong which was acquired last year by McCann-Erickson. In joining McCann-Erickson (a multinational advertising agency system), Weber has been charged with forming a global PR agency he believes will set the standard for integrated communications.
Weber has identified eight key categories for communications growth - technology; healthcare; financial/investor relations; public affairs; consumer branding; entertainment; sports; and diversified services. In recent months, Weber has been traveling throughout the world to find possible business alliances and to head acquisition negotiations. Weber told PR NEWS that Weber Worldwide plans on announcing between three and seven acquisitions in the next 12 weeks. The first of those, its acquisition of high-tech PR giant Technology Solutions, was announced last week.
Q. The term "global market" is repeatedly evoked in discussions and articles about what PR will be like in the remainder of this century and going into the next. What does that mean for PR and is this global playground the coup de grace everyone seems to think it is?
A. What has influenced this, in my mind, is the push of two things: the rise of democracy and then obviously the Web, which is the first truly global technology medium with influence on a global basis. But I think the future of PR will extend beyond this global trend because there is an equally strong emphasis on understanding PR on a regional level - understanding countries and their economies. And by next year, I believe there will only be five to six PR brands - Fleishman-Hillard, Burson Marsteller, Shandwick, Weber Public Relations Worldwide, Hill & Knowlton and Edelman - leading the way in global communications.
Q. What do you think Weber Worldwide's part will be in this and how will you prevent the company from becoming a network where the individuality linked to PR - the cornerstone of what makes it such a unique field - isn't lost?
A. It depends on how you organize and structure the large company. Remember, I am creating an umbrella organization with the Weber brand but I am also buying entrepreneurs. They are being sought for that individuality and there will be that added value of keeping the company intact and keeping how the company made its name with its clients, with its practices, intact as well.
Right now, I believe I can do this and if I screw it up, I'll let you know. This will be a practice group that relies on the person's and the company's expertise. For instance, we're not taking a person who has grown up in healthcare and expecting him to work with high-tech clients. It's a lot like - well, here's my best metaphor: I'm viewing Weber, the umbrella company, as your internist or general physician and that physician has a network of specialists, and it's those professionals who tell you if you really need to see the podiatrist or the dermatologist.
Q. But how do you prevent the practice from becoming part of a huge machine where PR becomes robotics, mechanized?
A. Ah, that's a cynic's view and I disagree that it can't be done. It's not this huge system. It's this very intimate system of a specialist who looks at you first and then decides what is best for you. And I believe there is a sense of comfort in that.
Q. When you approach an acquisition, obviously the concerns of the acquirer are different from those of the acquiree, so how do you factor in both and still strike a good deal?
A. Usually the issues are not about financial fairness when you're dealing with the likes of an acquisition by WPP, Interpublic and Omnicom. In those cases, negotiations tend to be accountant- and legally-driven and usually very fair. And usually the entrepreneurs' advisors' believe that as well.
From having been on both sides and because my company was acquired, I know the things that were done wrong, which is the focus on the emotional and soft issues. As the acquiree, you're thinking: Gee, I built something and it's no longer mine. What about my people? What about my clients? Those are the issues that take time, and in the end it comes down to this: It's a communications thing; it's a trust thing; it's a reputation thing.
Q. So how does an acquisition affect employees and how do you best communicate the news to them?
A. You have to communicate well and early. I will never make an acquisition where someone loses a job - I never in 10 years laid off a person, even when we lost accounts. This is only about future growth and synergy between companies. It's about opportunities and not about non-opportunities. I guess I'm a Pollyanna.
Q. What should PR firms/departments be doing online? What are some of the mistakes they're making?
A. The mistake most are making is not doing anything. The thing they should do is take ownership of PR or media relations. They should have virtual press rooms on every Web site and constant reprogramming of this portion or that portion. Another thing they can do is have something like the chairman hosting a chat, answering questions, every Thursday online.
There needs to be that quest, that desire to go to journalists and ask them what they want to see on the Web site... Eventually what PR professionals will become is programmers - not in the sense of the software term, but in helping decide what the content will be so that reporters have all these choices.
Q. Is that why the perception remains that PR people really don't understand the World Wide Web? What aren't they getting?
A. You have to remember that PR professionals have generally been reactors, not innovators or leaders. And this is all about being innovative or new. That's the nature of the beast but most communicators didn't understand that with the first generation of Internet applications.
They were putting static kinds of things and information out there but they didn't understand the interactive nature of the Web and how to use that more productively. That's why this won't ultimately be about advertising.
It won't be about blatant billboards and buttons. It will be about education and information - you see that with successful sites like autobytel and amazon.com. Advertising will not end up being the communications leader on the Web. In purist thinking, it will fly because advertising will make things cheaper for people and people will put up with ads to get a cheaper product... PR professionals are going to have to do a mix to things to get people to come to sites.
But this won't replace human relationships - now and then, you're still going to have to go to lunch with reporters and make your CEO do Q&As like this. But PR will move towards becoming more visual with information.