The WPP announcement this morning that places Burson into WPP Creative is a significant change in strategy that makes PR a support element for the larger creative agencies of Ogilvy, VML and AKQA. It is a further elaboration of a strategy initiated a decade ago by John Seifert, former CEO of Ogilvy, when he placed Ogilvy PR into a package of services instead of its previously independent status.
The WPP approach is one of three used by holding companies for PR units. The Publicis concept is multi-local, with MSL reporting to country managers, so that MSL is in fact a collective of local firms. The OMC concept is PR as a combination of brands in smaller markets under the OPR flag, with Golin, Weber and Fleishman as stand-alone in large markets. The WPP idea is PR as a key part of bespoke holding company teams such as WPP Open X which services Coca-Cola, while also servicing its own clients. These structures will orient PR firms within holding companies towards brand PR in support of advertising creative.
This leaves the reputation management and corporate segment of the business wide open for Edelman and advisory firms such as Brunswick and FGS. It also misses the opportunity in Earned First communications where an earned idea becomes the driving force in marketing, like Edelman’s Endless Runway for eBay which has exploded the high end second use clothing category. We are investing behind our Earned Flywheel, which will benefit both corporate and brand clients with a process that utilizes synthetic customer profiles to speed the creative process and deliver tangible sales or reputation results. This approach sets us apart from holding companies that continue to invest primarily in paid-first models.
We are not interested in playing second fiddle in an orchestra. We believe our role is to lead in the communications world, with trust as our guiding light. We operate at the speed of culture, partnering with creators as news makers not as channels for paid content delivery. We work with clients taking action like Women For Change, whose Unburied Casket campaign drew attention to South Africa’s femicide crisis.
We want our clients to operate as poly-nationals, with local identity, connectivity to community and commitment to local supply chain while reaching all stakeholders including employees, shareholders and communities, not just consumers. We work across brand and reputation for clients needing public affairs sensibility in evaluating marketing initiatives. The smart client will reevaluate marketing spend in the coming years to commit a higher portion of investment to earned media as the main driver of LLM search. If you want to join the revolution instead of watching industry consolidation, contact me.
Richard Edelman is the CEO.
