Mark Raper, chairman-CEO of PR agency Carter Ryley Thomas (CRT), doesn't mince words when he describes what keeps his clients up at night.
"Clients are telling us they're sick and tired of the same PR tools coming off the shelf," says Raper. "It's like we all know what the problems are but we keep doing the same
things to address those problems. That's the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."
Ed Moed, managing partner and co-founder of Peppercom Inc., also wrestles with his clients' frustrations. "Clients are saying they're in pain and have needs that aren't being
addressed," he says. "They know they're sick, so the question becomes: How do they get well?"
Paging Dr. Kildaire for PR? Not exactly. But CRT and Peppercom, along with three other independent, mid-size firms, believe strongly that their clients deserve better bedside
manner. So they have banded together to form Lumin, an "intellectual collaborative" in which the five firms will work together to offer all their clients new ideas, strategies
and PR methodologies. What's more, the tools will be designed to address communications throughout the entire enterprise -- not just vertical silos.
The founding member agencies include Carter Ryley Thomas; Padilla Speer Beardsley (PSB); PainePR; Patrice Tanaka & Co. Inc. and Peppercom. Collectively, the firms have
nearly 300 employees, 11 offices and approximately $35 million in fees. Raper, the driving force behind the alliance, serves as chairman while David Paine, CEO of PainePR, serves
as Vice President and Ed Moed is the Treasurer. A board of directors consists of executives from all five companies. Each PR firm has invested an equal amount in the
enterprise.
The alliance is not your garden-variety PR network, which tends to focus on geography, specific PR projects and Profits & Loss (P&L). Rather, the alliance's mission is
to develop PR content first and worry about the distribution later. Lumin, which will be a virtual agency, is expected to roll out the first of several PR products in the next two
or three months.
"It could be a service-oriented product, but it won't be cookie-cutter," Paine says. "It'll be specific to a defined need a company might have, like the difficulty in getting
sales and marketing departments to communicate better or why a publicly traded company isn't getting what it feels is a proper valuation in light of its revenues compared with its
competitors."
Lumin will initially focus its efforts on four areas that internal research shows corporations think PR firms need to improve upon: a better understanding of their businesses;
bringing more brain power to the table; what's "next" in public relations and said frustrations with the same old same old. Lumin will also create an MBA-style boot camp to help
the agencies' staff members familiarize themselves with the language of the C-suite and learn about the communications concerns within corporate America. It's too early to tell
whether the alliance can serve as a potential model for other mid-size PR firms.
"On the surface it looks like a great idea," says Mike Crawford, president of M/C/C, a marketing communications firm exclusively serving the technology industry. "The biggest
challenge they have will be to play well together." But Lumin plays into an accelerating trend throughout industry: a growing demand for integrated communications and one-stop
shopping. "Maximizing every dollar you invest in marketing communications is critical today, and they're trying to reach out to the marketplace," Crawford says.
Of course, the five agencies that form Lumin want to serve their clients better. They also want to compete head-on for PR business with the heavyweights like Burson-Marsteller
and Edelman.
"If they can tell the clients they can provide new tools, great," says Andrew Edson, president-CEO of Edson & Associates Inc., a public/investor relations firm. Edson
helped to create The Worldcom Public Relations Group, a network of 100+ independent PR agencies. (PSB is a member). "But then the big firms will tell the client, 'We also have
market research departments, we're constantly coming up with new ideas and all of that is part of our mission.'"
Reaction among other PR pros has been mixed. Kare Anderson, co-founder of Say It Better Center Inc., which specializes in cross-promotional strategy, says Lumin hasn't done a
very good job of coming out of the gate. "There's nothing specific where a prospective client can immediately grab the obvious benefit of the alliance, which is at the heart of
PR," says Anderson, who is the author of "Walk Your Talk: Growing Your Business Faster Through Successful Cross-Promotional Partnerships." (Ten Speed Press, 1998.) She says the
company should have "first established a specific benefit which can be a method or a mutual market they're going to serve together" rather than waiting for clients to fuel the
alliance.
Cathy Ackerman, president-CEO of Ackerman PR, a full service PR firm with offices in Tennessee and Dallas, Texas, is more sanguine. "These things take time to gel," she says.
"I think getting the business together is a low priority and how [the PR firms] help each other is the bigger priority."
Ackerman's agency has an ongoing collaborative with Washington, D.C.-based Dittus Communications PR. Dittus assists Ackerman with several of Ackermans clients that have PR
needs in the nation's capital, such as the Department of Energy and Siemens AG. Ackerman says the biggest hurdle to growing an alliance is making sure all of the players stay on
the same page. "All the partners need to be sure not to get too greedy or impatient and to spell out the expectations. Not feeding the organization and putting it in the work is
what causes failure."
Kathy Cripps, president of the Council of PR Firms, applauds the concept. "It is purely about bringing brain power together to help solve problems," she says. "They're willing
to take the risk and challenge ourselves to try and do new things and create new ways to solving clients' challenges."
Contacts: Cathy Ackerman, 865.584.0550, [email protected]; Kare Anderson, 415.331.6336, [email protected]; Mike Crawford, 972.480.8383, [email protected]; Kathy Cripps,
877.773.4767, [email protected]; Andrew Edson, 631.486.5546, [email protected]; Ed Moed,
212.931.6116, [email protected]; David Paine, 949.233.0050, [email protected]; Mark Raper,
804.675.8100, [email protected]
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Lumin: The Players
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PR Firm
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Location
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Staff
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Specialties
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Major Clients
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| Carter Ryley Thomas | Richmond, VA (HQ), Norfolk, Los Angeles, Charlotte Launched: 1989 | 45 | CommTech, consumer behavior, business-to-business, education, awareness and influence; RC2 (Reputation, Change, Culture); health sciences |
Capital One, Nextel, Wyeth |
| Padilla Speer Beardsley (PSB) | Minneapolis & New York Launched: 1961 | 80+ | Technology, retail, manufacturing, health care, financial services, consumer products and utilities | BASF, General Mills and Rockwell Automation |
| PainePR | Los Angeles, New York and Orange County, CA Launched: 1986 | 50 | Consumer (electronics & technology/packaged goods), business products, services & technology, financial services, life sciences | Procter & Gamble, Duracell, Polaroid |
| Patrice Tanaka & Company, Inc. | New York Launched: 1990 | 35 | Brand marketing & PR, corporate PR, cause-related marketing, business-to-business, crisis management, event management, sales promotions and buzz marketing |
Dyson, Godiva Chocolatier and World Kitchen International |
| Peppercom | New York, San Francisco, United Kingdom, Chicago Launched: 1995 | 60 | Technology, manufacturing, health care, financial/ professional services and consumer products | GE, Steelcase, ITT |
| Source: Lumin LLC | ||||