In 2003, Andrea Johnston was serving as VP of corporate communications at drug-development company aaiPharma (Wilmington, N.C.). She needed someone to help
develop press releases, to manage media relations and to release clinical news, among other things.
What she didn't need was a traditional PR firm. "I did not want to feel like I needed to keep a team of 10 billable people just to get access to senior talent," she says.
So Johnston turned to a "virtual" agency: a PR shop headed by a central figure and staffed by a wide-ranging assortment of contract workers brought on to handle specific
projects or accounts. Such agencies started to crop in the early 1990s when the Internet and other telecom advances created the possibility of seamless work among colleagues -
regardless of geography.
Johnston eventually tapped Sam Brown Inc. The Newtown Square, Pa.-based firm was launched in 1999 by Laura Liotta and has since built an impressive client roster,
including GlaxoSmithKline Oncology, Rohm and Haas Company, and DuPont Pharmaceuticals. Liotta's agency will bill roughly $3 million this year, yet she
is the only person on the payroll.
Rather than take on a permanent staff, Liotta relies on a team consisting of 20 strategic consultants in the areas of PR, IR and media relations. She supports the group with
the skills of another 80 freelancers who have expertise in such diverse fields as research, Web design, VNRs, financial communications and biotech.
"This way, I have the flexibility to grow or condense as I need to, depending on the business," Liotta says. "If oncology slows down, I do not have to move all my oncologists
over to HIV. I have different people I can call for that, so I can always match the expertise to the client's needs."
Maybe so, but some corporate clients have raised a red flag on this "virtual" PR structure, expressing concerns that ad hoc PR teams might not be stable enough to handle
a PR campaign soup-to-nuts.
Having tried it both ways -- using a traditional agency and then moving his business to Sam Brown Inc. -- John Bonfiglio, CEO of The Immune Response Corporation, says
he's found the reverse to be true. With traditional agencies, "the people that you saw at the beginning when they pitched the work were never the same people you ended up working
with on a daily basis," he says.
In his work with Sam Brown, on the other hand, Bonfiglio says he has constant access to a stable core of PR executives, which is built up early on.
For those who choose to sell their PR skills in the virtual marketplace, the promise of ad hoc employment can be both a blessing and a curse -- but mostly a blessing, at
least the way Michael Beyer sees it.
An Edelman veteran and freelance media consultant in Chicago, Beyer went virtual 10 years ago, working with Sam Brown.
It's been a delicate balancing act to keep his financial footing. "I went very cheap when I first started and, since then, I've raised my rates on a 'feel' basis, based mostly
on what my needs are at the moment," he says, adding the caveat: "You don't want to price yourself out of the work but, at the same time, you do want to get paid what is fair."
Right now, fair for Beyer is $100 an hour.
To better understand the allure of virtual work, consider Andrea Johnston. In her job at aaiPharma, she was so impressed with Sam Brown that she eventually quit her corporate
gig and joined Liotta's network of experts. "In the network model, there seemed to be a kind of passion that reminded me of why I got into this business in the first place," she
says.
However, she also spotted potential downsides, including no central number or no fixed address for the agency. Yet none of these obstacles proved a hindrance.
As for the lack of bricks-and-mortar, "that was never an issue for me, because I felt it was better and more appropriate to have the meetings in our office, where they could
meet other members of the staff and I could have access to the materials that I needed," Johnston adds.
Moreover, the virtual agency's hourly rates of $150 to $220 were significantly lower than what she would have expected to pay a traditional agency. With no real-estate expenses
or benefits to pay, Liotta can afford to lowball and still come out ahead.
But that doesn't mean she pinches pennies. She relies on her network of experts to carry the day. "My strategy is to be very, very good to my people. I pay well, and I give
bonuses - which is something consultants and freelancers are not used to getting," she says. "We create real teams so that people feel they are part of something larger, even
while keeping their independence."
Contacts: Michael Beyer, 773.463.2087, [email protected]; John Bonfiglio, 760.602.5540, [email protected]; Andrea Johnston, 910.681.1088, [email protected]; Laura Liotta,
610.353.4545, [email protected]
'Virtual' Reality
Although the influence of the Web is growing in leaps and bound, many corporate-communications executives still shy away from "virtual" or "networked" agencies. The idea of
working with affiliated freelancers still is too new and too different from the traditional way of doing things. But there are ways to make it work.
In its publication, "Alternate Work Arrangements: A Manager's Guide," the University of California at Davis offers tips for getting the most out of a geographically disparate
workforce. These telecommuting tips apply equally well to virtual agencies:
- Scheduling: With people in different offices and even different states, spontaneity tends to go by the wayside. To work with a virtual team, it's important to agree
upfront on the need for scheduled meetings, and then to make sure those meetings happen - daily, weekly, whatever is needed. Meetings ought to be supplemented by e-mail -- not
just off the cuff but consistently and at planned intervals. - Goals and timetables: It's crucial for a corporate PR executive to set goals and timetables for an outside PR agency, but the nature of virtual work increases the ante.
The savvy PR exec will stay on top of production, not only scrutinizing the process, but the outcomes. If you can't watch people working, you absolutely must tally the fruits of
their labors. - Protocol: In a traditional agency, it is relatively easy to make contact. Call the office and find the person you need. If it isn't the first person, maybe it is the
person next door. Not so in a virtual agency, in which "next door" could be hundreds of miles away. To make such relationships work, establish a system detailing who gets called
for what kinds of issues. Otherwise, the time spent dialing around could eat up whatever potential benefits the arrangement offers.