Edelman (firm)
Encyclopedia
Edelman is a global public relations
firm with consumer
, finance
, healthcare, technology
and industrial
practices. It employs over 3,600 people in 53 offices around the globe. Edelman was founded in 1952 by Daniel J. Edelman and is today led by his son President & CEO Richard Edelman
. The firm is known for remaining private, despite an industry-wide trend towards consolidation, making it the largest private PR firm that exists today. It's estimated that 40 percent of the company's business is outside of the US.
, New York
in 1920. He graduated high school at 15, then enrolled at Columbia University
.
During World War II
, Edelman had been drafted into the army
, where he analyzed German propaganda. Following the war, he held a job at CBS
, then at a record company called Musicraft. During his time at Musicraft, Toni
, a hair care company, was sponsoring weekly radio spots for their product. Edelman packaged a Mel Tormé record to look like one of Toni's hair care products. The record made a strong impression on radio personalities who promoted the product on their shows because of the unique packaging. After the campaign's success Toni decided to hire Edelman on to their own PR staff in Chicago
.
Daniel Edelman worked at Toni for three years. In 1952, Edelman told his boss he was planning to go into business for himself and was immediately fired. Soon after, Toni became a client of Daniel J. Edelman's new firm.
, and other consumer brands. 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.
. Industry consolidation among competitors however, made several conglomerate competitors much bigger.
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.
The report found that:
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.
Edelman helped raise donations for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
.
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. 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."
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. Edelman responded by saying that they were working with bloggers and Wal-Mart in a "transparent" manner.
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 their glass roof and unfurling a banner. 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.
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
firm with consumer
Consumer
Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...
, finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
, healthcare, technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
and industrial
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
practices. It employs over 3,600 people in 53 offices around the globe. Edelman was founded in 1952 by Daniel J. Edelman and is today led by his son President & CEO Richard Edelman
Richard Edelman
Richard Winston Edelman is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Edelman public relations company, a position he has held since September 1996...
. The firm is known for remaining private, despite an industry-wide trend towards consolidation, making it the largest private PR firm that exists today. It's estimated that 40 percent of the company's business is outside of the US.
Founding
Edelman founder Daniel J. Edelman was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1920. He graduated high school at 15, then enrolled at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Edelman had been drafted into the army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
, where he analyzed German propaganda. Following the war, he held a job at CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, then at a record company called Musicraft. During his time at Musicraft, Toni
Toni
Toni is a given name. In English, it is often female, the male version being Tony. In Finnish, it is a male name, a form of Anttoni. In Bulgarian, Toni [Тони] may refer to either a male or a female. Tony and Toni have no separate equivalents in Bulgarian since the Cyrillic alphabet has one letter...
, a hair care company, was sponsoring weekly radio spots for their product. Edelman packaged a Mel Tormé record to look like one of Toni's hair care products. The record made a strong impression on radio personalities who promoted the product on their shows because of the unique packaging. After the campaign's success Toni decided to hire Edelman on to their own PR staff in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
Daniel Edelman worked at Toni for three years. In 1952, Edelman told his boss he was planning to go into business for himself and was immediately fired. Soon after, Toni became a client of Daniel J. Edelman's new firm.
Early Beginnings & Growth
Edelman was founded with a team of three during the postwar boom. Their early clients included Sara Lee Co., ReaLemonReaLemon
ReaLemon is a brand of lemon juice from concentrate now manufactured by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. ReaLemon was created in 1934 by Irving Swartzburg. ReaLime was introduced later as a brand of lime juice from concentrate...
, and other consumer brands. By 1960, the firm had about 25 accounts, including the country of Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
.
Edelman retired as CEO in 1996 at the age of 76. His son and current CEO Richard Edelman
Richard Edelman
Richard Winston Edelman is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Edelman public relations company, a position he has held since September 1996...
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.
The 2000s
By the early 2000s, Edelman had about $210 million in revenue with almost a quarter of it coming from EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Industry consolidation among competitors however, made several conglomerate competitors much bigger.
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.
Noteworthy Clients
- Schering-PloughSchering-PloughSchering-Plough Corporation was a United States-based pharmaceutical company. It was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering as Schering AG in Germany. In 1971, the Schering Corporation merged with Plough to form Schering-Plough. On November 4, 2009 Merck & Co...
- United Parcel ServiceUnited Parcel ServiceUnited Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...
- MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
- KraftKraft FoodsKraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
- StarbucksStarbucksStarbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
- Walmart
- Royal Dutch ShellRoyal Dutch ShellRoyal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
Reports
The company's Insights group regularly publishes reports on issues relevant to PR and marketing professionals. They are most well known for the once-annual Trust Barometer, which in 2009 showed a 10 year low for trust in businesses.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.
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. 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. 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.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.Edelman helped raise donations for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a national memorial in Washington, D.C. It honors U.S. service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia, and those service members who were unaccounted for during the War.Its...
.
Controversy
Edelman has sometimes been criticized by activist groups for failing to provide disclosure or mismanaging promotions for clients including MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
and Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
.
Microsoft
In April 1998 the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
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
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. Documents obtained by the LA Times revealed that the plan included generating supportive letters to the editor, opinion pieces and articles by freelance writers. USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
responded to the astroturfing
Astroturfing
Astroturfing is a form of advocacy in support of a political, organizational, or corporate agenda, designed to give the appearance of a "grassroots" movement. The goal of such campaigns is to disguise the efforts of a political and/or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some...
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."
Wal-Mart
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
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
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
in a public relations campaign. Edelman responded by saying that they were working with bloggers and Wal-Mart in a "transparent" manner.
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 their glass roof and unfurling a banner. 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.