Edelman Public Relations
Background
Edelman Public Relations is a well-known marketing public relations firm that has been in the industry for over 50 years. Edelman is responsible for creating a number of publicity techniques, such as media tours, environmental public relations, and the first firm to utilize public relations for building consumer brands. In addition, they were the first public relations company to use a toll-free hotline for customers and created the first "do not call" list for direct marketing.
Edelman has represented and worked with a variety of companies, such as M&M Mars, Sara Lee, Dow Chemical, Roche, and Mobil. Their innovation and success led to their expansion into the worldwide market, and today they have offices in New York , Los Angeles , London , and many others, with offices expanding into Europe, Canada , Central America, and Asia .
History
Edelman Public Relations was founded in October of 1952 by Dan Edelman, a public relations executive who had previously enjoyed success with designing and creating a campaign for Toni Home Permanent Kits (Toni was later acquired by Gilette). He developed the first product media tour by touring 12 sets of identical twins around the country and asking, "Which twin has the Toni?" The success of this project led him to open his own company, Edelman Public Relations.
Edelman Public Relations enjoyed immediate success with clients that included Sara Lee and Papermate. In addition, they began using celebrity spokespeople and had actor Vincent Price help to promote the California Wine Institute. Their successes in marketing allowed them to branch into other areas of public relations, including crisis management, health, public affairs, and technology.
Industry "Firsts"
Edelman Public Relations is responsible for creating a number of trends within the public relations industry that are now standard practices. Some of these include:
- Toll-free consumer help lines. The first consumer help line was initiated by Edelman in 1981 with the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line.
- Over-the-counter medications. Edelman developed the standard for transferring prescriptions to over-the-counter products in 1984 with Advil.
- New forms of public relations. The company established environmental PR with Dolphin-Safe Tuna for the StarKist company in 1991.
- Introduction to new markets. Edelman was one of the first PR firms to bring modern PR to China by introducing products for M&M Mars and KFC in 1992.
- Web integration. Edelman was the first public relations firm on the web in 1995 and created online crisis management in 1996.
Awards
Edelman Public Relations has received a number of awards and accolades throughout their existence for a variety of things, including:
- Winner, Editor's Choice for 2006, "Large PR Agency of the Year"
- Winter, Editor's Choice for 2006, "Corporate Branding Campaign of the Year" for General Electric's "Ecomagination-Green is Green"
- Winner, "Consumer Campaign Launch of the Year," Unilever-Dove's "Dove Campaign for Real Beauty"
Acquisitions and Partnerships
Edelman Public Relations expanded into a number of other communications arenas in order to provide more comprehensive services through the acquisition of a number of companies over the years, including Blue, an issues advertising firm; First&42nd, a management consulting firm; and have partnered with entertainment industry figures, including the former COO of Creative Artists and an executive from United Talent Agency. In addition, Edelman has established their own in-house divisions and services, including Strategy One, a research firm, and Bio Science Communications, responsible for medical publishing.
www.edelman.com
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