Edelman (firm)

Edelman (firm)
Edelman
Type Industry Founded Founder(s) Private Public relations 1952 Daniel J. Edelman

Headquarters New York City and Chicago Area served Key people Worldwide Daniel J. Edelman (Founder and Chairman) Richard Edelman (President and CEO) $644.7 million (2012) 4,500 [edelman.com edelman.com] [1]

Revenue Employees Website

Edelman is a public relations firm founded and named after Daniel J. Edelman and currently run by his son Richard Edelman. Founded as a team of three in the postwar boom, today the company collects over $604 million in annual fees and employs 4,200 people with co-headquarters in New York City and Chicago. In January of 2013, the firm is expected to expand by launching The Daniel J. Edelman China Group.[2]

History
Former journalist Daniel Edelman founded the public relations firm in 1952 just down the hall from its first client, Toni Home Permanent Co. (now a division of Gillette)[3] with only three staff and a retainer budget of $500 a month.[4][5] By 1960, the firm had about 25 accounts, including the country of Finland. Edelman retired as CEO in 1996 at the age of 76. His son and current CEO Richard Edelman continued in his father's footsteps. Daniel's other children John and Renee also held high positions in the company. In 1997, Richard made it public that they had received purchasing offers from two of the company's biggest competitors, and that they turned them down. Edelman would remain the only private firm amongst the top ten by revenue. In 1978 Daniel Edelman had an opportunity to sell the company, but instead persuaded his son, Richard Edelman, to work for the company for "just a year."[6] By the early 2000s, Edelman had about $210 million in revenue with almost a quarter of it coming from Europe. Industry consolidation among competitors however, made several conglomerate competitors much bigger.[7] The early 2000s marked the pop of the so-called "dot-com boom," which Edelman had become particularly vested in. Edelman's considerable client base in consumer technology was impacted by the economy, but they also diversified into healthcare, finance, and other high-growth sectors.

Edelman (firm)

Business
It is the world's largest independently owned public relations firm.[1] 82 percent of the company is owned by the Edelman family, while 18 percent is owned by key executives.[6] Edelman is known for remaining private, despite an industry-wide trend towards consolidation and many offers for acquisition.[5][4]

Political Contributions
On June 10, 2008, Edelman donated $5,000 to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund Inc. in support of Barack Obama.[8]

Noteworthy clients
Schering-Plough Microsoft Kraft Starbucks Royal Dutch Shell[9]

Corporate
Reports
The company's Insights group regularly publishes reports on issues relevant to PR and marketing professionals.[10] They are most well known for the once-annual Trust Barometer, which in 2009 showed a 10 year low for trust in businesses.[11] The report found that: Nearly two-thirds of informed publics trust corporations less than they did a year ago Only 38% said they trust business to do what is right and only 17% trust information from a company's CEO 77% said they would not buy products or services from a company they distrusted Edelman's CEO said the results are an indication to how difficult it will be to rebuild the economy, when businesses have lost the trust of their customers.[11]

Views
Shortly after the mortgage lending crisis, Richard Edelman said that financial institutions have a PR problem. Richard claimed that financial institutions rank lowest on the company's trust barometer, because they don't explain the how and why of their actions to the public.[12] Steve Rubel, who helps Edelman clients identify emerging trends for marketing purposes, has said that he expects social networking to reach the television next year.[13] Edelman CEO Richard Edelman spends about an hour per day voicing his views on the company blog that he started to set an example for Edelman clients.[14]

Edelman (firm)

Corporate culture
Edelman provides a stable environment and has maintained a positive business outlook even through rough economic patches. The CEO enjoys a strong approval rating from employees, but some complain of long work hours, as is common in the industry.[15][16][17] Edelman helped raise donations for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.[7]

Controversy
Edelman has sometimes been criticized by activist groups for failing to provide disclosure or mismanaging promotions for clients including Microsoft and Wal-Mart.

Microsoft
In April 1998 the Los Angeles Times revealed that Edelman had drafted a campaign plan to ensure that a dozen state attorneys-general did not join anti-trust legal actions against Microsoft. Documents obtained by the LA Times revealed that the plan included generating supportive letters to the editor, opinion pieces and articles by freelance writers.[18] USA Today responded to the astroturfing saying, "the elaborate plan hinges on a number of unusual and some say unethical tactics, including the planting of articles, letters to the editor and opinion pieces to be commissioned by Microsoft's top media handlers but presented by local firms as spontaneous testimonials."[19]

Wal-Mart
The New York Times reported in March, 2006 that Edelman had sent information to bloggers, some of which was copied word for word on blogs, to try to help Wal-Mart in a public relations campaign.[20] Edelman responded by saying that it was working with bloggers and Wal-Mart in a "transparent" manner.[21] Edelman is also infamous for having invented the "flog", or fake blog. Edelman execs created a fake blog called "Walmarting Across America". The blog was written by a former Washington Post employee who was allegedly paid by Edelman to write the blog.

Eon
Edelman has also been targeted by those who accuse the company of greenwashing. On July 16, 2008, a group of protesters mounted a protest against Edelman's UK headquarters by climbing onto its glass roof and unfurling a banner.[22] The activists were protesting Edelman's work with Eon, an energy company seeking to build a coal power station at Kingsnorth. The group charged that Edelman presents Eon as an environmentally aware company, despite coal power being one of the most carbon intensive form of energy production. On 1 September 2009, to coincide with the week long "Climate Camp" range of protests, a group of naked protestors occupied Edelman's reception, resulting in a considerable amount of news activity.[23]

Edelman (firm)

References
[1] "Worldwide Fees of Top Independent PR Firms With Major U.S. Operations" (http:/ / www. odwyerpr. com/ pr_firm_rankings/ independents. htm). O'Dwyers. . Retrieved December 6, 2011. [2] http:/ / usa. chinadaily. com. cn/ business/ 2012-10/ 12/ content_15814673. htm [3] Channick, Robert (November 07, 2012). "Public relations scion Richard Edelman, subject of an upcoming book, shares his take on the business in the digital age" (http:/ / articles. chicagotribune. com/ 2012-11-07/ business/ ct-biz-1107-edelman-20121107_1_richard-edelman-digital-age-dan-edelman). Chicago Tribune. . Retrieved November 9, 2012. [4] North of Neutral. " Richard Edelman, CEO, Edelman Inc. (http:/ / www. northofneutral. com/ da_richard_edelman. php?l=1)" Retrieved December 6, 2011. [5] Kirk, Jim (June 18, 2002). "Edelman savors nearly 50 years of independence" (http:/ / articles. chicagotribune. com/ 2002-06-18/ business/ 0206180039_1_pr-firms-pr-campaign-daniel-j-edelman). Chicago Tribune. . Retrieved December 6, 2011. [6] Bertagnoli, Lisa (January 30, 2012). "PR firm Edelman rises to No. 1 under second generation" (http:/ / www. chicagobusiness. com/ article/ 20120128/ ISSUE01/ 301289977/ pr-firm-edelman-rises-to-no-1-under-second-generation#ixzz2Bfps0OT4). Crain's Business. . Retrieved November 8, 2012. [7] "Company Histories & Profiles: Edelman" (http:/ / www. fundinguniverse. com/ company-histories/ Edelman-Company-History. html). Funding Universe. . Retrieved January 6, 2012. [8] http:/ / www. fec. gov/ press/ press2008/ 2008indexp/ 2008iedetail. xls [9] Ian Hall, PRWeek. " Edelman, Burson Land Global Deals With Unified Shell (http:/ / www. prweek. com/ uk/ news/ 520000/ )." [10] "Insights" (http:/ / www. edelman. com/ insights/ ). Edelman.com. . Retrieved January 6, 2012. [11] Media Bistro. 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer: Trust in Business at 10-year Low in U.S. (http:/ / www. mediabistro. com/ prnewser/ news/ 2009_edelman_trust_barometer_trust_in_business_at_10year_low_in_us_106937. asp). January 22, 2009. [12] Alain Sherter, Bnet. "PR Man Richard Edelman Says Banks Have a Perception Problem. Wrong" (http:/ / industry. bnet. com/ financial-services/ 10004153/ pr-man-richard-edelman-says-banks-have-a-perception-problem-wrong/ ) October 13, 2009. [13] Steve Rubel, Forbes. " What To Watch In 2010: Social TV (http:/ / www. forbes. com/ 2009/ 11/ 30/ social-networking-tv-cmo-network-steve-rubel. html)." [14] Debbie Weil, Social Media Insights Blog. Q & A with CEO blogger Richard Edelman (http:/ / www. debbieweil. com/ blog/ q-a-with-ceo-blogger-richard-edelman/ ). October 2, 2007 [15] "Edelman Career Information" (http:/ / www. vault. com/ career-company/ Edelman-Public-Relations. html). Vault.com. . Retrieved January 6, 2012. [16] "Edelman Reviews" (http:/ / www. glassdoor. com/ Reviews/ edelman-reviews-SRCH_KE0,7. htm). Glassdoor.com. . Retrieved January 6, 2012. [17] "Occupational Outlook Handbook: Public Relations Specialists" (http:/ / www. bls. gov/ oco/ ocos086. htm). Bureau of Labor Statistics. . Retrieved January 6, 2012. [18] "DOJ/Antitrust" (http:/ / www. usdoj. gov/ atr/ cases/ ms_tuncom/ major/ mtc-00030610d. pdf). . Retrieved 2007-05-09. [19] Jim Drinkard; Owen Ullmann (2000-05-30). "Microsoft leans creatively on levers of political power as breakup decision looms, 'stealth' lobbying efforts aim for survival". USA Today. [20] Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in P.R. Campaign (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2006/ 03/ 07/ technology/ 07blog. html?ex=1161403200& en=121511323f0252b9& ei=5070), Michael Barbaro, New York Times, March 6, 2006 [21] A Word to the Wise (http:/ / www. edelman. com/ speak_up/ blog/ archives/ 2006/ 03/ a_word_to_the_w. html), Edelman blog, March 6, 2006 [22] Activists target Edelman in climate change protest (http:/ / www. prweek. com/ uk/ search/ article/ 832313/ FRONT-PAGE-Activists-target-Edelman-climate-change-protest/ ), PR Week, July 17, 2008 [23] Edelman discovers the naked truth (http:/ / www. communicatemagazine. co. uk/ index. php?option=com_content& view=article& id=379:edelman-discovers-the-naked-truth& catid=1:stories& Itemid=115) Communicate magazine, September 2009

External links
Official website (http://edelman.com/)

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

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