At The Dow Chemical Co., Paul Oakley is looking for a few good agencies. When a major PR project comes along, Oakley, the North American communications leader for Dow
Plastics, is just as likely to offer the assignment to an alliance of smaller independent agencies rather than to any of the mega PR firms.
"We have found that some of the smaller agencies develop a particular expertise that we really value," says Oakley, who is based in Houston. "We work with several big
agencies, but my experience has been that their promise of one-stop shopping typically doesn't come to fruition." More often than not, he says he finds better returns via the
combined labors of several boutique-like agencies.
Filling that kind of need is a strategy many independent firms have found effective. Through informal affiliations and through networking organizations, smaller shops are
starting to pool their resources in order to broaden their expertise and to extend their geographic reach. What's more, the alliances, which are much flatter and have fewer hoops
to jump through, are increasing their appeal among corporate clients who are increasingly disillusioned by the bigger firms tendency to over-promise and under-deliver.
At the nine-person Deveney Communication (New Orleans), founder John Deveney cooks up the PR for national dining chain Ruth's Chris Steak House. It's a huge gig
for a small shop, but Deveney doesn't work alone.
For example, Ruth's Chris recently opened a new branch in Virginia Beach, Va., a long haul from the Big Easy, so Deveney brought in reinforcements. Working through PR
Consultants Group, a national network of independent firms, he tapped local PR pro Lisa Mullins to coordinate the effort on the ground in Virginia. "This way, we had someone
in the market who could look at our plans and look at our media pitches from the point of view of someone who knew the market intimately, who knew the editors and who knew the
local media," Deveney says.
Another instance: Cathy Dunkin, president and CEO of The Standing Partnership, a $2.4 million PR agency in St. Louis, pulled together a team of six firms from
Worldcom Public Relations Group, a global consortium of independent PR companies, to help serve client Maritz Inc., whose diverse interests include travel/tourism,
financial services and pharmaceuticals. "With Worldcom, we can bring together very specific expertise in each of these industries, so the client gets really high-level thought
leadership in each of these area," Dunkin says.
Six different organizations serving a single account? Sounds like a managerial nightmare, but Dunkin insists looks can be deceiving. She manages projects through a central
team in her own office "and then we add in team people from other offices which add value," she says.
Central billing is a key componenent of PR partnerships. Almost without exception, these teaming efforts include a lead player who bills the client. All other agencies bill
that project leader, thus sparing the client the hassle of seeing multiple invoices for a single piece of work.
However, for the system to work effectively, everyone's got to be on the same page. That means talking upfront about project goals and timelines, budgets, strategies and the
division of labor. It also can mean building bridges in advance, even before the call comes in.
"You have to be sure you are compatible in terms of personality and work style, in addition to your skill base," says Jeanette Darnauer of the five-person Darnauer Group
in Aspen, Colo.
Darnauer entered into just such a relationship recently with Denver's venerable Johntson Wells agency, but she did not do so lightly. She first met with the founder and then
with the agency leadership. When a bid opportunity came up, she proceeded to sit down with the project team -- all this before engaging in any actual work. All told, it took the
two sides about 18 months to cement the terms of their alliance.
Why go to such trouble? "I wanted to grow faster, and I wanted bigger clients," Darnauer says. "One of the downsides of being in a small town is that you get pigeonholed as
someone who only works on a local or regional level, so I thought I needed to take a major departure from my past business practices."
While Darnauer took the slow-and-selective approach to choose her partner, others don't have that luxury. Want to work for Dow Chemical? Paul Oakley will hand you a list of
PR agencies with which you can collaborate. "Dow Chemical has a strict purchasing mentality, in that we have a preferred vendors list. That is cost-effective for us, and it
ensures that institutional knowledge stays within a limited number of companies," Oakley says.
No problem, says Terri Howe, who as president of Howe Marketing Communications in Grand Rapids, Mich., works frequently on Dow projects. Howe's tip for making these
partnerships work: working together means, well, working together and not just lip service.
"We had one instance where an experiment didn't work," Howe adds. "One agency handled content development on a piece of literature, and another agency worked on the creative.
That ended up being a difficult situation. It was hard to tell where the ownership was."
Contacts: Jeanette Darnauer, 970.925.9010, [email protected]; John Deveney, 504.949.3999, [email protected]; Cathy Dunkin, 314.469.3500, [email protected]; Terri Howe,
616.531.6235, [email protected]; Paul Oakley, 713.978.3296, [email protected]
Minding Your Ps And Qs Of PR Partnerships
Paul Oakley, Dow Chemical Co.'s North American communications leader for plastics, is quick to extol the notion of having multiple agencies tackle a PR project together. But,
he keeps a tight hold on the reins.
- While each project has a lead team, Oakley still keeps in direct contact with every agency working on the assignment/campaign. "It's my responsibility as the custodian of
the Dow brand and the dollars we are spending to monitor our reputation strategy. I want to make sure that I understand who is doing what and why we are doing it." - Not everyone can play. Oakley maintains a 'preferred provider' list of agencies that he says are qualified to do Dow's PR work. When agencies need to collaborate, they work
off that list to find partners.