Bell Pottinger

BPP Communications Ltd.
(trading as Bell Pottinger Private)
Private limited company
Industry Communications
Founded 1998 (London)
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Key people
 Mark Smith (Chairman)[1]
David Beck and David Wilson
(Joint Managing Directors)[2][3]
Services Public relations
Revenue £41.6 million (2014)[4]
Number of employees
 278 (2014)[4]
Subsidiaries Pelham Bell Pottinger
Website bell-pottinger.co.uk

Bell Pottinger Private (legally BPP Communications Ltd.; informally Bell Pottinger) is a British multinational public relations and marketing company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was the largest UK-based public relations consultancy measured by 2010 fee income.[5]

Bell Pottinger offers services such as lobbying, speech writing, search engine optimisation to clients including companies, governments and rich individuals. It was the largest UK-based public relations consultancy measured by 2010 fee income.[5]

Lord Bell, who advised Margaret Thatcher on media matters, was a co-founder of Bell Pottinger,[6] which, until July 2012, was a wholly owned subsidiary of Chime Communications plc. In June 2012, Lord Bell and Bell Pottinger CEO James Henderson completed a £19.6m MBO from Chime, with Chime retaining a 25% stake in the business.[7]

The firm has been described as having "the most controversial client list" in the PR industry.[8] It has been criticised numerous times for edits that the company has made on Wikipedia pages that involve or are about their clients. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the company was hired by the Pentagon to work in Iraq, making fake terror and news-style videos, against the interests of al-Qaeda for the reported sum of $540m.[9]

In 2017, following a sustained social media campaign and an internal investigation, Bell Pottinger fired a lead partner, suspended 3 other employees and apologised for sowing racial animosity in South Africa, as part of a contract with the controversial Gupta family.[10][11]

History

Bell Pottinger's origins go back to 1985, when Bell and Frank Lowe founded Lowe Bell as a subsidiary of Lowe Howard-Spink. Bell and Piers Pottinger bought out Lowe Bell in 1989, and it was subsequently floated in 1994 as Chime Communications plc but retained the name Lowe Bell on some of its subsidiary companies. In 1998, the subsidiaries were renamed as Bell Pottinger after Frank Lowe demanded that his name be removed.[12] In 2000 the Bell Pottinger Group acquired Harvard Public Relations and QBO, which was renamed Bell Pottinger Public Relations.[13] In 2001 Bell Pottinger acquired MMK in Germany and also The Smart Company, which was merged into Corporate Citizenship when the Group acquired it in 2007.[14][15] In 2003 Resonate, a consumer public relations company was set up.[16] In 2004 Bell Pottinger Communications USA was launched and in 2005 Bell Pottinger Middle East was launched with offices in Bahrain in 2009.[17][18] In 2009 Bell Pottinger Change & Internal Communications was launched[19] and Ptarmigan in Leeds was acquired by the Bell Pottinger Group. In 2010 Pelham Public Relations, a financial public relations business, merged with Bell Pottinger Corporate and Financial.[20]

In May 2012, it was reported that Lord Bell had agreed a £20m deal to buy most of the Bell Pottinger branded PR businesses from Chime, with Chime retaining a 25% stake in the venture and a seat on the board.[21] The MBO was completed on 30 June 2012 with BPP Communications (Bell Pottinger Private) trading as an independent business from 1 July 2012.[22] Chime retained the Good Relations group of PR businesses, including Harvard, Corporate Citizenship, MMK and Ptarmigan, and some UK regional offices formerly branded as Bell Pottinger were rebranded to Good Relations.[23]

Bell Pottinger Private acquired Centreground Political Communications Limited, founded by former Tony Blair adviser Darren Murphy, in June 2014.[24] In September that year, the company launched a new service aimed at the luxury sector.[25]

In August 2016, it was announced that Lord Bell was quitting as Bell Pottinger chairman to set up an advisory firm, Sans Frontières. He retained a 7% stake in Bell Pottinger.[1] He later (July 2017) claimed that he had left the company partly due to concerns over its "smelly" activities for a South African client, Oakbay Investments.[26]

The Bell Pottinger Group had been ranked number one in the PRWeek and Marketing magazine league tables.[27][28]

Operations

Bell Pottinger has offices in London, North America, the Middle East and south-east Asia. It offers consumer, corporate and financial, healthcare, technology, industrial, public affairs, public sector, corporate social responsibility, internal communication, crisis and issues management services.[29]

The Bell Pottinger Private Group includes Pelham Bell Pottinger, Bell Pottinger Public Relations, Bell Pottinger Sans Frontières, Bell Pottinger Public Affairs, Bell Pottinger Middle East (offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi),[30][31] and Bell Pottinger USA.[32]

Bell Pottinger donated £11,900 to the Conservative Party in the twelve months to September 2011.[33]

In 2012, the company planned to enable clients to attempt to influence European Union legislative processes by organising participation in "European Citizens' Initiatives", a mechanism intended for grassroots involvement.[34]

Notable clients

Bell Pottinger clients include:

Other clients include:

  • Acacia Mining
  • Adgorithms
  • Aggreko
  • Arbuthnot Banking Group
  • BCA Marketplace
  • Be Heard Group
  • Bellzone Mining
  • BioPharma Credit
  • Bloomsbury Publishing
  • Carillion
  • Cenkos Securities
  • Central Asia Metals
  • Cineworld Group
  • Clipper Logistics
  • Coinvestor
  • CYBG
  • D&D
  • Fresnillo
  • GCM Resources
  • Global Invacom Group
  • Greybull Capital
  • GVC Holdings
  • Hansard Global
  • Hays
  • Imperial Brands
  • Indus Gas Ltd
  • JSC KazMunaiGas Exploration Production
  • Juridica Investments Ltd
  • Kibo
  • Lookers
  • Mitie
  • NewRiver REIT
  • Non-Standard Finance
  • Phoenix Spree Deutschland Ltd
  • Playtech
  • Portmeirion Group
  • Premier Oil
  • Primary Health Properties
  • Qatar Airways
  • Quarto Group (The), Inc.
  • Rentokil Initial
  • Ripple
  • RM Secured Direct Lending
  • SafeCharge International Group Ltd
  • Sandell Asset Management
  • Secure Trust Bank
  • Severfield
  • Shore Capital Group Ltd
  • Smith (DS)
  • SOCO International
  • SRT Marine Systems
  • St James's Place
  • The Property Franchise Group
  • Trevor Hemmings
  • UNITE Group
  • Utilico Emerging Markets Ltd

Past clients include:

Criticism

In 2011 Bell Pottinger was caught on camera boasting that it had direct access to high-ranking British politicians, including then Prime Minister David Cameron, and could influence these officials.

On 6 December 2011, the British national newspaper The Independent ran a front page story based on covert filming by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism which the paper claimed revealed executives from Bell Pottinger boasting of ways in which they burnished the reputations of countries accused of human rights violations.[87] Posing as representatives of a fake investment body linked to the Uzbekistan government, the journalists had filmed a presentation at which Bell Pottinger executives explained techniques used on behalf of their clients. At one point, Tim Collins of Bell Pottinger—who has close connections with Prime Minister David Cameron, Edward Llewellyn, and Steve Hilton—had referred to "dark arts".[88]

It was also reported that senior executives at Bell Pottinger told the undercover reporters that they had written a key speech given by the Sri Lankan President to the United Nations, in which he had described military action against Tamil Tiger separatists as "humanitarian".[89][90] During a meeting with reporters, David Wilson—the chairman of Bell Pottinger Public Relations—had stated: "We had a team working in the President's office. We wrote the President's speech to the UN last year which was very well received... it went a long way to taking the country where it needed to go".[89]

One of the techniques specifically mentioned by Collins was the use of search engine optimization to alter Google results.[91] He said:

And where we want to get to – and this will take time, this is where David's team are magical – is you get to the point where even if they type in "Uzbek child labour" or "Uzbek human rights violation", some of the first results that come up are sites talking about what you guys are doing to address and improve that, not just the critical voices saying how terrible this all is.[88]

In the recording, the executives claimed to have access to or relationships with numerous senior British politicians, including Prime Minister David Cameron; the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne; David Cameron's former Director of Strategy, Steve Hilton; James Arbuthnot (chair of the Defence Select Committee); and MP Rory Stewart.[88]

Collins also claimed that Bell Pottinger had been involved in David Cameron raising a matter with the Chinese government on behalf of a Bell Pottinger client, saying:

…Just as a final example just for you... I'm not saying we can always do this but just as an example of what we can sometimes do. Three weeks ago, we were rung up at 2.30 on a Friday afternoon by one of our clients, Dyson... They rang up and they said look, we've got a huge issue, and that is that a lot of our products are being completely ripped off in China, to the point where they're not just completely duplicating the product... (The) Chinese government won't take it seriously, it's half past two on a Friday afternoon. On Saturday, the Chinese Prime Minister is coming in for a UK visit – can you please get the UK to raise it?...And I'm pleased to say that on the Saturday, David Cameron raised it with the Chinese Prime Minister and showed him the photos of the products. I'm not saying we can do that all the time but that is an illustration of what, if you have the right message – David Cameron, yes he was doing it for Dyson, yes he was doing it because we asked him to do it, he was doing this also because he thought this was also in the UK wider national interest. This was something where there would be a UK proper interest. But in terms of very fast turnaround and getting things done right at the top of government, if you've got the right message, yes, we can do it.[88]

The allegations of Bell Pottinger directly influencing the British Prime Minister and other senior Government figures on behalf of private sector clients led to calls from the opposition Labour Party for the Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell to launch an investigation, and from the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency for the immediate introduction of a statutory register of lobbyists.[92][93]

Editing Wikipedia

In December 2011, it came under public scrutiny after managers were secretly recorded talking to fake representatives of the Uzbek government[94] and violating Wikipedia rules by removing negative information and replacing it with positive spin.[95][96]

On 8 December 2011, the UK national newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that some Wikipedia user accounts allegedly linked to Bell Pottinger had been suspended. Its report stated that "Further claims published in the Independent today suggested that the company made hundreds of alterations to Wikipedia entries about its clients in the last year, some of them adding favourable comments and others removing negative comments. Alterations were said to have been made by a user – traced to a Bell Pottinger computer – who used the pseudonym 'Biggleswiki'".[97] Among the articles edited by "Biggleswiki" was the Wikipedia entry for Dahabshiil,[98] a funds transfer firm. On the same day, The Independent reported that Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales had described Bell Pottinger as "ethically blind", after it had admitted altering Wikipedia pages relating to its clients.[99]

On 9 December 2011, The Independent published further allegations, including that Bell Pottinger had targeted the Wikipedia entry of Gordon Brown's sister-in-law, the environmental campaigner Clare Rewcastle Brown, and the South African arms manufacturer the Paramount Group.[100] On the same day, it was reported that a parliamentary investigation into lobbying firms, including Bell Pottinger, and their links with ministers, would be launched, and that an internal investigation had begun at Bell Pottinger.[101][102]

In response to the articles published on 6 to 9 December 2011, Bell Pottinger lodged a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) against the Independent, claiming that the information about its activities published by the newspaper had been obtained through subterfuge and was not of sufficient public interest to merit the Bureau of Investigative Journalism's undercover investigation.[103] However, in its ruling, the PCC agreed with the Bureau that there was a "broad public interest in exploring the relationship between lobbying and politics" and that it would not have been possible to obtain details of the techniques used by the lobbying company through other means.[103] The Bureau of Investigative Journalism's editor, Iain Overton, welcomed the PCC's ruling, saying: "During our undercover filming Bell Pottinger executives explained to us that one of the PR tools they used to attack news stories was to make an official complaint to the PCC. True to its word, Bell Pottinger went on the offensive following our exposé claiming foul".[104]

In June 2014, Bell Pottinger was a notable absentee from a group of major agencies which publicly pledged to abide by Wikipedia's rules[105] and end the practice of amending their clients' Wikipedia pages.[106]

'State Capture' in South Africa

Bell Pottinger was also reported to have manipulated Wikipedia on behalf of its clients in South Africa in 2016. The company worked for the Gupta family-owned Oakbay Investments in a South African political controversy, affecting the company's relationships with other agency customers.[107][108] In late February 2016, several internet-based sources were altered to be more favourable to the Guptas. These included activities in Wikipedia, Twitter, chat rooms, blogs and on news articles related to the Gupta family.[109][110] It was considered (by the Mail and Guardian) that these alterations were part of "a concerted online counter-propaganda campaign launched on behalf of the Gupta family".[109] After emails from servers associated with Gupta newspapers were leaked,[111] Bell Pottinger was reported to have been involved in substantial editing of the Wikipedia page about the Guptas; a Bell Pottinger employee was said to have emailed much of the content to a Gupta account for it to be uploaded.[112][113]

After Business Day reported that Bell Pottinger had taken on Oakbay Investments as a client, Investec stopped using Bell Pottinger's services in March 2016.[79]

In December 2016, it was reported that South African billionaire Johann Rupert had also dropped Bell Pottinger as the PR agency of Richemont. Rupert ended the contract after accusing Bell Pottinger of running a social media campaign against him, to divert attention away from persistent 'state capture' allegations leveled at the Gupta family.[80][114] In February 2017, Rupert alleged that Bell Pottinger had maliciously altered his Wikipedia page.[115]

'White Monopoly Capital'

On 19 March 2017, the South African Sunday Times alleged that Bell Pottinger was behind a social media strategy, using fake bloggers, commentators and Twitter users, in an attempt to influence public opinion and sow racial division in South Africa, as well as targeting media and personalities that were opposed to the Gupta family.[116] The aim of the campaign was to portray the Gupta family as victims of a conspiracy involving 'white monopoly capital'[108][117] to deflect accusations and evidence of their client's involvement in corruption and state capture,[118] and to suggest that ‘white monopoly capital’ is actively blocking transformation in South Africa.[118]

The allegations were denied by Victoria Geoghegan, a partner and director at Bell Pottinger.[116][108] On 12 April 2017, it was reported that Bell Pottinger had dropped the Gupta family as a client,[82] having previously been paid around £100,000 per month,[119] reportedly citing "threatening" social media attacks and "insulting" allegations that it had incited racial tensions.[120]

Pottinger's involvement with the Gupta Family was further highlighted in June 2017 when South African newspapers The Citizen and Sunday Times published several emails, allegedly between South African President Jacob Zuma's son, Duduzane Zuma (and a close Gupta comrade) and Bell Pottinger, pointing to a ‘dirty’ public relations smear battle.[121][119][122] They proposed that Hamza Farooqui (MD of WorldSpace in South Africa, and a partner to Gupta associate Salim Essa) would blame the former South African Deputy Finance Minister, Mr Mcebisi Jonas, of dishonesty and corruption. This alleged ‘dirty’ statement was formed by Bell Pottinger employee, Nick Lambert. The statement was earmarked for release soon after Mr Jonas said that he was offered a bribe by a Gupta family member to betray his boss, Pravin Gordhan. Mr Jonas denied this bribe and instead made a public announcement. The ‘dirty’ statement was never released after legal concerns were raised by Bell Pottinger's Victoria Geoghegan. Nick Lambert, senior advisor at Bell Pottinger, was also said to have prepared "key moments" for a speech by ANC Youth League leader Collen Maine. The speech included a quote "Those who want to disrupt the State of the Nation speech must prepare themselves for a civil war." Bell Pottinger initially denied any allegations of wrongdoing.[123]

Bell Pottinger founder Lord Bell was said to have "left his own firm with key staff members, in apparent disgust over the plan";[119] Bell confirmed in July 2017 that the Oakbay actions had been a factor in his August 2016 departure.[26]

In June 2017 the South Africa's Democratic Alliance criticised the country’s tourism board for working with Bell Pottinger "at the same time as the Guptas were paying them [Bell Pottinger] to sow division in South Africa" (the tourist board contract had been terminated, with the board denying this was for political reasons).[124] The Democratic Alliance also complained about Bell Pottinger's actions to two UK PR bodies, the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.[125] DA spokesperson Phumzile Van Damme said Bell Pottinger tried to divide and conquer South Africans by abusing racial tensions in a bid to keep controversial South African President Jacob Zuma and his party, the African National Congress (ANC), in power despite ongoing reports of "State Capture" by the Gupta family.[123] On 4 July, the PRCA acknowledged receipt of the Democratic Alliance's complaint,[123] and on 13 July said it had also received written observations in response from Bell Pottinger.[126]

On 30 June 2017, Bell Pottinger announced that it was hiring Herbert Smith Freehills to review its dealing with Oakbay Investments in light of the allegations made against Bell Pottinger that it intentionally aggravated racial tensions in South Africa in an effort to deflect attention away from its client.[124] On 6 July 2017 Bell Pottinger CEO James Henderson issued an apology[127] and announced that it had "dismissed the lead partner involved [in the Oakbay portfolio] and suspended another partner and two employees so that [they] can determine their precise role in what took place."[128][129][110] This came following initial findings from the Herbert Smith Freehills investigation.[128] The dismissed lead partner was Victoria Geoghegan.[130][131]

The phrase ‘white monopoly capital’ has been used many times by South African politicians. It is not known who or what the phrase actually refers to[132] and its existence is disputed (by former South African finance minister Trevor Manual, for example).[133][134] However, activists including Pieter Bosch Botha and Black First Land First argue that, despite Bell Pottinger's campaign, 'white monopoly capital' does exist in modern day South Africa.[135] Black First Land First founder, Andile Mngxitama, even blamed 'white monopoly capital' for a severe storm that hit Cape Town in June 2017.[136]

Propaganda

It was revealed on October 2, 2016 that the Pentagon paid British PR firm Bell Pottinger $540 million to create fake terrorist videos, fake news articles for Arab news channels and propaganda videos.[137][138]

An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism revealed the details of the multimillion-pound operation. Bell Pottinger is understood to have been funded some $540 million from the US Department of Defence (DoD) for five contracts from May 2007 to December 2011, according to The Times and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.[139][140] Lord Bell confirmed Bell Pottinger reported to the Pentagon, the CIA and the U.S. National Security Council on its work in Iraq.[141]

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