1. Overview 2. Players 3. PR services 4. PR and government 5. PR and the media 6. PR and the public 7. Further resources

Public relations and lobbying industry
an overview

By Corporate Watch UK
Completed April 2003

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2.0 Players

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2.1 In-House PR departments

Almost every sizeable company and public institution now has its own in-house PR or public affairs department.

At best the in-house PR dept plays the useful role of filtering incoming requests for information and ensuring that company employees are not taken advantage of by unscrupulous journalists.

On the other hand the PR department provides a line of defence for a company in controlling information flow. By ensuring that enquiries are only handled by media trained staff, it provides a way to prevent information from slipping out.

This in itself can be the cause of considerable frustration for investigative journalists and researchers. The PR department provides a barrier between the people within an organisation who may have the information experience and the external researcher. It prevents interviews from occurring and can work against transparency and public accountability.

2.2 Large PR companies

The Top Ten PR companies in 2001 were the following, ranked by revenues [13]

1 Weber Shandwick Worldwide $426,572,018

2 Fleishman-Hillard Inc. $345,098,241

3 Hill and Knowlton, Inc. $325,119,000

4 Incepta (Citigate) $266,018,371

5 Burson Marsteller $259,112,000

6 Edelman Public Relations Worldwide $223,708,535

7 Ketchum, Inc. $185,221,000

8 Porter Novelli $179,294,000

9 GCI Group/APCO Worldwide $151,081,645

10 Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide $145,949,285

Many of the largest PR companies are now owned by large conglomerates such as WPP, Omnicom, and Interpublic Group. These super-companies bring together PR, lobbying, advertising and marketing companies to provide "integrated communications services" for their corporate clients.

Weber Shandwick Worldwide
A subsidiary of the Interpublic Group, Weber Shandwick Worldwide was formed as the product of the mergers of Weber Public Relations and Shandwick Worldwide in late 2000. Weber Shandwick recently merged with BSMG to become the largest PR operation in the world. WSW has been heavily criticised for its work for the Japanese Whaling Association[14] and its work for New Zealand logging interests[15]. Its known current clients include:[16]

Agilent Technologies, American Airlines, Archer Daniels Midland Co., Avaya, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Burger King, California Fluid Milk Processor Advisory Board, Campbell Soup Co., Coca-Cola Co., Dairy Management Inc., Dunkin' Donuts, DuPont, General Electric Co., Hewlett-Packard, Ingersoll-Rand, Ingram Micro, Interbrew, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, Inc., Lawson Software Inc., Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education, Marriott International, MasterCard, Mentor Graphics, Merck, Microsoft, National Pork Producers Council, Nestle S.A., Ocean Spray Cranberries/Ocean Spray Int'l Inc., Pfizer, Pharmaceutical Research & Mfrs. of America, Pharmacia, Philips, PMC-Sierra, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Siemens, Sprint, TMP Worldwide, Toshiba, Unilever, Unisys, Verizon Wireless.

2.3 Conglomerates

WPP Group

WPP began in 1985 when Martin Sorrell bought the UK-based manufacturer, Wire and Plastic Products, to use as a shell company with which to make further purchases. The company soon shortened its name to WPP Group and began its continual spending spree. In quick succession WPP acquired Young & Rubicam (owners of Hill & Knowlton), Ogilvy Group and a host of other companies.[17]

WPP now owns 18 public relations companies including three of the top ten - Hill and Knowlton, Burson-Marsteller and Ogilvy PR Worldwide - as well as the largest PR company in the UK, Bell Pottinger (which it acquired as part of the Chime Communications Group). WPP also owns some of the largest advertising agencies including Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and J Walter Thompson. WPP also owns a clutch of other communications firms in marketing investment and consultancy. Altogether the WPP group now comprises around eighty companies involved in marketing, advertising, public relations and lobbying. WPP's total turnover in 2001 was in excess of £20billion[18].

Omnicom

The Omnicom Group is the second largest corporate communications conglomerate behind WPP. It owns three of the world's largest PR companies, Fleishman-Hillard, Ketchum and Porter Novelli Worldwide together with a host of advertising, marketing and specialist communications companies. In 2001 Omnicom reported revenues of $6.9 billion[19].

Interpublic Group
The third major communications group is the Interpublic Group, comprising around fifty companies[20]. Its major PR company is the world's largest, Weber Shandwick Worldwide, and it also owns the "the world's largest and most geographically extensive advertising agency network," McCann Erickson Worldwide.

Total revenues in 2001 were $6.7 billion[21].

Bringing together all these different kinds of communications companies, the conglomerates represent a new era in corporate communications. The services of previously independent lobbying, PR, marketing and advertising companies are being integrated into a comprehensive battery of image and influence peddling. "The power to manipulate democratic political processes through managing public opinion, which Hill and Knowlton demonstrated 10 years ago [before the Gulf War - see H&K profile], is trifling compared to the potential power now residing in integrated conglomerates like WPP and Omnicom."[22]

2.4 Some smaller players

The PR industry is far from dominated by big multinationals. As companies can depend greatly on individual talent and contacts, there is always the opportunity for small companies to start up. The PRCA [see below] claims to have 125 member consultancies, approximately 70% of the UK PR sector.[23]

Below are a few brief profiles of some prominent smaller PR outfits.

The Rendon Group
Founded by the enormously well connected John Rendon, a one-time aide to President Carter, The Rendon Group (TRG) has also done extremely well out of contracts for Republican administrations. TRG has taken quite a number of military related contracts.It was a part of the notorious Citizens for a Free Kuwait propaganda campaign in the run up to the 1991 Gulf War [see Hill & Knowlton Profile]. After the Gulf War it accepted a contract from the CIA to stir up anti-Saddam Hussein elements inside Iraq and brought together dissident groups to form the Iraqi National Congress (INC), which now provides much of the 'evidence' of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. After the World Trade Centre bombing TRG accepted a new contract for the Pentagon to help shape its communications strategy.[24]

2.5 Industry Bodies

Council of PR Firms
The Council of Public Relations Firms is a leading industry body for the PR industry. Its membership comprises 122 PR companies including all of the top ten companies and two-thirds of the top fifty[25]. Dubbed the "Coalition of Big PR Firms", the CPRF has been heavily criticised by O'Dwyers for favouring the big PR agencies and using highly suspect research methods.[26]

Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
The Public Relations Society of America, headquartered in New York City, is the world's largest professional organization for public relations professionals, with nearly 20,000 members, organized into 117 Chapters nationwide[27]

International PR Association (IPRA)
The IPRA was founded in 1955 by a group of European and American PR executives. The IPRA is today the most prominent international body for PR practitioners. The IPRA conducts research into various aspects of the industry and aims to assist its members with professional development. Amusingly, the IPRA aims to promote a "charter of media transparency".[28]

PR Consultants Association (PRCA)
The PRCA is the trade association for PR companies in the UK. It was founded in 1969 and now 70% of UK PR companies are members. The PRCA conducts governmental lobbying for the needs of the UK industry and also speaks for the industry in the UK media.[29]

Institute of Public Relations
Whilst the PRCA is an association of companies, the IPR, set up in 1948, is the main professional body for individual PR practitioners in the UK. About half of its 7000+ members work in PR companies and the other half in the in-house PR departments of companies or other organisations. Like the PRCA, it lobbies government and speaks publicly on behalf of the industry. It also provides professional training.[30]

The IPR has made efforts to improve the reputation of the PR business. However, Paul Kafka, of Fidelity Investments and former of the IPR's City & Financial Group, considers it an uphill struggle: "Those who are making serious money out of the status quo will probably oppose change tooth and nail, even if they pay lip service to such aspirations in public."[31]

2.6 Front Groups

"Put your words in someone else's mouth… There will be times when the position you advocate, no matter how well framed and supported, will not be accepted by the public simply because you are who you are. Any institution with a vested commercial interest in the outcome of an issue has a natural credibility barrier to overcome with the public, and often the media"
Merrill Rose, Exec Vice-President, Porter Novelli.[32]

One of the most effective tools of PR is to use third parties to get a message across. With many controversial issues in which a company may become embroiled the company will gain little credibility when presenting its own case. Monsanto's disastrous 'Food, Health, Hope' UK advertising campaign of 1998, is a case in point.

An apparently independent third party with the same message may command much greater credibility. Often media interviews will be arranged with academics or representatives of industry funded "non-profit research institutes".

The obvious PR value of this approach has given rise to a multitude of industry funded 'think tanks' and pressure groups, such as the two profiled below:

Agricultural Biotechnology Council
The Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC) is a front group formed to help gain public acceptance for GM crops. It was formed by six companies with major interests in the acceptance of GM crops in the UK; Bayer CropScience, BASF, Dow AgroSciences, Dupont, Monsanto and Syngenta.[33]

Set up in February 2002, as the UK arm of European group, Agricultural Biotechnology in Europe, the ABC has apparently achieved little more than publishing a web site, a handful of press releases, and a few quotes in the press. This may be why they have recently decided to ditch Weber Shandwick as their PR company and hire Lexington Communications to conduct "issues management and public affairs [lobbying]"[34] for them.

Cato Institute
The Cato Institute[35] is a highly influential Washington D.C.-based non-profit group, claiming an "independent posture" it will not accept funding from governmental sources. It has about 90 employees, 60 'adjunct scholars', 16 fellows and a number of interns. Revenues in 2000 were nearly $13m[36] It has published materials downplaying the dangers of tobacco smoking and taken money from R.J Reynolds and Phillip Morris[37], defended biotech and accepted sponsorship from Monsanto, and published such erudite titles as "Climate of Fear: or Why We Shouldn't Worry About Global Warming" whilst accepting sponsorship from such 'non-partisan' benefactors as the American Petroleum Institute, ARCO, Amoco and Exxon[38]. The Cato Institute commands regular media appearances and access to legislators

Details of a range of (mostly American) industry front groups are presented on the web sites of PR Watch and the Center for Science in the Public Interest[39].

Waste Watchers
Waste Watchers was a German front group pushing for "responsible waste management", meaning incineration of waste. They charged the environmental movement with irresponsibly causing waste to pile up by opposing the construction of incinerators. Indeed it charged environmentalists with "irrational" and "antisocial" inclinations and accused Erhard Schulz, the CEO of Friends of the Earth Germany, of accepting bribes.

Waste Watchers was eventually exposed as being involved with Tetra Pak, the producers of the famously difficult to recycle drinks cartons. Waste Watchers' spokesman Manfred Geisler-Hansson's previous employment had been as head of Tetra Pak's press office. He denied financial connnections between Tetra Pak and Waste Watchers, but did admit that Waste Watchers was "co-operating" with industry.

Waste Watchers collapsed after further industry links were exposed and Erhard Schulz won a libel case against them.[40]

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