Fleishman-Hillard

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Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, based in St. Louis, Missouri, is one of the world's largest public relations agencies, with a global network of offices as well as offices in 22 cities in the United States. It is a part of Omnicom Group Inc.


Contents

[edit] History

According to the F-H firm's website: "In 1946, in St. Louis, Missouri, Fleishman-Hillard founders Alfred Fleishman and Bob Hillard tapped out the beginnings of a business on the keyboards of their manual typewriters... For the next twenty-some years, the firm served a mainly regional client base, until 1974 when John Graham was named president. Under his leadership, Fleishman-Hillard has undergone the most dynamic period of domestic and international expansion. Fleishman-Hillard grew from two offices in St. Louis and Kansas City, to over 80 offices located throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Australia, and South Africa."[1] The company was acquired by Omnicom Group in 1997. In July 2006, Dave Senay stepped into the role of President and Chief Executive Officer, with Graham moving into the new Office of the Chairman. [2] The latest office to adjoin the FH network has been FH Moscow.

[edit] U.S. Government PR Contracts

According to the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform Minority Office, Fleishman-Hillard received the following amounts per year, for federal PR contracts: [3]

  • $39,000 in 1998
  • $33,589,000 in 1999
  • $2,344,000 in 2000
  • $5,011,996 in 2001
  • $23,903,419 in 2002
  • $3,433,690 in 2003
  • $8,686,529 in 2004

The firm's federal work has included the Social Security Administration, on the “Ticket to Work” program for disabled and blind Social Security recipients; Library of Congress; Environmental Protection Agency; Department of Defense, to introduce “managed care” to 8.3 million current and former employees, at a time of “rising medical costs” and “decreasing resources”; and Office of National Drug Control Policy, to “debunk the misconception that marijuana was harmless."

Video news releases Fleishman-Hillard (and its subcontractors Gourvitz Communications and Harbour Media) produced for ONDCP were found to be in violation of the ban on covert government propaganda.

[edit] Political Action Committee

According to the Center for Responsive Politics database, Fleishman-Hillard federal political action committee had raised more than $79,000 as of October for the 2004 election cycle, with 47% of the donations given at that point going to Democrats, and 53% to Republicans. In the 2002 election cycle, the PAC gave 48% of the $59,800 raised to Democrats, and 52% to Republicans. In 2000, 44% of the $40,900 raised went to Democrats, 56% to Republicans. In 1998, 45% of the $37,250 raised was given to Democrats, 55% to Republicans. [4]

[edit] Capabilities

In a listing on its website of PR companies with a crisis management capability, the American Meat Institute described F-H in the US as having "managed crises for the oil, railroad, airline, meat, poultry, produce and high-tech communications industries. Fleishman currently is on retainer for the Partnership for Food Safety Education." [5]

The Holmes Report writes: "Fleishman-Hillard has better national coverage than any of its competitors, with 34 domestic offices. With more than 400 employees, the St. Louis headquarters continues to rank among the largest concentrations of PR talent on the planet, and to handle a wide variety of consumer, business-to-business and corporate clients."

Holmes also notes: "Fleishman-Hillard has been getting more and more deeply involved in the biotechnology sector, helping the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Council of Biotechnology Information communicate the benefits of the technology to consumers and opinion leaders."[6]

[edit] Clients

According to O'Dwyer's PR Report, in mid-2004 F-H clients included:

  • the state of Illinois, "to handle PR and public affairs to prevent the closure of Scott Air Force Base in the southern part of the state" [7];
  • Novell, Sun Microsystems and J.D. Edwards, in a San Francisco-based "effort to use customer outreach programs to add their voice to clients' PR, sales and marketing efforts"[8];
  • Great Plains Airlines, a short-lived St. Louis-based service that declared bankruptcy after four months[9]; and
  • Circuit City, a $1 million account. [10]

Other clients include:

  • Democratic Party of Japan [11]
  • HBOS, the UK’s biggest mortgage and savings bank; [12] (Sub req'd)
  • Quickie Manufacturing Corporation [13]
  • AtheroGenics Inc [14]
  • Marriott Hotels and Ritz-Carlton Hotels [15]*Mexicana Airlines [16]
  • National Association of Insurance Commissioners [17]
  • California Grown [18]
  • Egypt [19]
  • San Joaquin County [20]

In August 2004, PR Week reported that the Chicago office of F-H were advising PepsiCo with a campaign to respond to concern about rising levels of obesity. The campaign was promoting the company's "Smart Spot" on a range of products which it claims contribute to a healthy lifestyle.[21]

In May 2004, San Francisco Chronicle reporter David Lazarus questioned whether codes of conduct were broken when Marc Bien, who he interviewed with the understanding that Bien was Vice-President of Corporate Communications for the telecommunications giant SBC Communications, was actually found to be an employee of F-H.[22] Lazarus wrote, in a follow-up article on a possible strike at SBC: "I quoted an SBC spokesman the other day defending the company's use of hundreds of outside contractors -- a contentious issue in the contract talks with union members. Turns out, according to internal SBC documents, that the spokesman, Marc Bien, himself is a 'nonemployee' who is actually on the payroll of public- relations powerhouse Fleishman-Hillard. He is, in other words, an outside contractor, as are dozens of other Fleishman employees who assist with SBC's corporate spin. What makes the case unusual, though, is that Bien, who has appeared in this column many times representing SBC's position on a variety of matters, bears the title of SBC vice president of corporate communications. His business cards say as much, and he works in the firm's San Francisco office. Internal documents show that about a half-dozen SBC vice presidents are in reality Fleishman employees. Yet they present themselves as SBC executives."[23]

[edit] Fleishman-Hillard and UK politics

In April 2005 Kevin Maguire wrote of F-H distributing a glossy brochure to their clients sketching the likely changes that could be expected under a Labour government led by Gordon Brown. "Warning multinational bosses that the next Labour premier's philosophy is built on - wait for it - equity, the booklet predicts Brown will centralise power around himself," Maguire wrote. [24]

In June 2005, Kevin Bell, Fleishman-Hillard UK CEO, spoke at a one-day conference in London called ID Cards: Towards Procurement and Implementation. The title of his talk was "Achieving public acceptance". [25]

[edit] Self-image

Some of the ways that Fleishman-Hillard describes itself include statements similar to the following:

Differentiates itself by its rate of growth, steadfast commitment to employees, and tireless dedication to client service.
Corporate belief: dedication to client service, guided by agency principles, inspire rate of growth.
Commitment to our employees has resulted in the highest client-retention rate in the business. FH emphasises technology tools for staff, as well as the training and support, and what they need in order to thrive in a challenging, fun, and creative environment.
Goal: "To make ourselves as valuable to our clients as they are to us."

The bottom line quote from the agency:

"Our clients come first. To be sure that each client's needs are met, we rely on interoffice collaboration. By relying on practitioners throughout the agency, clients benefit from specialized and local counsel from experts in their field and regardless of geographical boundaries."

Some cornerstones of the company's corporate philosophy:

Respect for the individual
Personal success is measurable and attainable
Teamwork is everything
Fleishman-Hillard requires a personal commitment
Existing clients come first
Quality service is the first and foremost in everything we do

Fleishman-Hillard was rated 'International Agency of the Year 2005' by the Holmes Report. In 2004, for the 12th consecutive year, Fleishman-Hillard was ranked by clients of other agencies as having the industry's highest reputation for quality ; in comparison with the 37 firms measured in the survey, Fleishman-Hillard ranked first in brand awareness among clients of other agencies for the 3rd year in a row (Thomas L Harris / Impulse Research Survey).

So far, as at February 2007, the firm has been awarded 87 Silver Anvils from the PRCA Silver Anvil Award Program, 76 Sabre Awards, 27 CIPRA Awards. The Dublin office, Fleishman-Hillard Saunders, has received 26 PRCA Awards since 1996, including a Supreme Award for Excellence in Public Relations in 2000.

[edit] External links

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