MOMENTUM
If “flat is the new growth,” as public relations agency leaders grew fond of claiming during a difficult 2009, then GolinHarris narrowly missed out on a very good year, with revenues down about 1 percent. That comes on the heels of three years of double-digit growth, which means the firm has solidly outperformed its peer group over the past few years. The firm was helped by the fact that several key clients, including McDonald’s and Nintendo, continued to perform well during the recession, while the firm also continued its work with Florida Department of Citrus, Mattel, Nestle, Texas Instruments, Dole, Dow Chemical, Toyota and others. And there were some important new business successes, as the firm was added to Unilever’s global agency roster and to Wal-Mart’s North American roster, and picked up new assignments from Playtex, Boehringer Ingelheim, Johnson & Johnson, and Schwan’s.
REGIONAL REACH
GolinHarris is still a powerhouse in its Chicago headquarters market—one of the two top firms in the city, with strong capabilities in consumer, corporate and healthcare—and it has strengthened the rest of its North American operations considerably over the past five years. Always among the strongest of the multinationals in L.A., where the giant Nintendo account is based, its California presence also includes offices in Orange County and San Francisco. In New York, the firm is still undersized compared to some of its peers, but now has the quality to compete with any of them. The same can be said for Washington, D.C., where the firm has invested considerable resources in recent years. And the Atlanta operation is impressive too. Other offices include Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Richmond and Seattle in the U.S., plus a Canadian operation in Toronto.
INTERNATIONAL REACH
Despite the fact that GolinHarris is still not on the “A-list” for most multinationals seeking comprehensive regional support in the Asia-Pacific region, the firm continued to grow at a steady pace in 2007 and 2008, and—market conditions notwithstanding—was able to outperform most of its peers in 2009, helped by continued stability among its largest clients (Dell, Dow, McDonald’s and Wrigley). Its localized “zones of excellence” model—in Asia, it has such zones in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan—seems to be serving it well. Each of those offices is a significant player in its local market, serving a mix of multinational clients and local leaders. What momentum GolinHarris has in the EMEA region continues to be provided by its flagship U.K. operation, which has been performing with zest and vigor for the past four years now. Last year was no exception. While the pace of progress was slowed somewhat by the economic downturn, significant new business wins included the British Science Association, Glenfiddich, and Unilever. But The U.K., for all its growth and good work, remains a midsized operation—slightly more than 50 people—while the firm’s continental presence is still puny in comparison to its multinational peers, despite a new Paris office.
EXPERTISE
While GolinHarris remains best known for its work in the consumer space, which accounts for almost a third of revenues and in which it remains one of the industry leaders, it has been expanding its corporate communications capabilities (now about 30 percent of revenues), and 2009 saw a realignment of the corporate practice, placing agency veteran Scott Farrell in charge of three specialist groups: Change (focused on corporate responsibility); geoimpact (sustainability); and Engage (activist engagement). Keith Burton continues to read an employee communications unit that ranks among the industry’s best. Another of the most significant developments of the past few years has been the emergence of public affairs practice, led by Lane Bailer in Washington, D.C., differentiated by its embrace of digital platforms, which over the past year has begun to expand globally. The firm partnered with an IPG sister company to create Octagon PR, a sports specialty that is working with Anheuser-Busch and Sprint and assisting with the Korean 2022 World Cup bid, and reassigned Zandra Zuno to lead and grow Confianza, its Hispanic marketing unit. And of course, the firm continues to be a significant player in both the healthcare and technology sectors.
TALENT
President and chief executive officer Fred Cook has built up a strong, capable and stable leadership team that includes chief client officer Ellen Ryan Mardiks; global corporate practice leader Scott Farrell; Insidgedge president Keith Burton; and regional managing directors Lane Bailey (in Washington, D.C.), Judy Johnson (L.A.), Jennifer Cohan (New York) and Gary Rudnick (Chicago). The most significant additions to the North America team were Tim Scerba, a veteran of the Latin American public relations arena, who joined as senior vice president of corporate communications; and Susan Brophy, who was named senior VP of U.S. national media relations.
CULTURE
Golin has always been known for its collegial and collaborative culture, but the firm has not been “over-encumbered by process,” in Cook’s words, something it sought to address with the launch of a new client service initiative, under the “Gold Standard” banner. The process focuses on five key dimensions of client service excellence—quality, ideas, drive, character and partnership—and includes a guide for employees designed to reinforce the skills, attitudes and behaviors needed to keep clients not just satisfied but delighted. The new “Get Real” thought leadership and marketing initiative was launched internally with a video-sharing site that encouraged employee contributions. The firm also marked the 80th birthday of its founder Al Golin by staging the first annual Al’s Day, a worldwide community service initiative, with local offices choosing their own non-profit partners. And finally, Golin re-launched its intranet, ALVIN, with a fresh design.
INTELLECTUAL LEADERSHIP
One of the qualities that makes public relations even more valuable in the social media age is its authenticity, and GolinHarris is making a play to “own” that issue (hopefully in the same way Edelman has used its 10-year research commitment on trust) with an initiative it calls Get Real, creating what it describes as “a 12-step program for authentic change.” The firm also introduced The Brand Story, a rigorous new strategic planning process using proprietary research tools to develop unique insights and create strong brand platforms. On the social media front, meanwhile, Golin’s Idil Cakim authored a book, Implementing Word of Mouth Marketing, designed to help companies identify online influencers, engage them, and transform them into advocates.
PROGRAMS
In a turbulent economic environment, one thing agencies can still control is the quality of their work for clients, and GolinHarris picked up more than 60 industry awards in 2009, suggesting that it was able to keep that quality extremely high. After a salmonella scare and a massive peanut butter recall, longtime client the National Peanut Board turned to Golin to turn around declining sales, and by the end of the year peanut butter sales were up 13.5 percent year-on-year. Another crisis-related assignment involved support for Matrixx after an FDA warning about its Zicam brand, For Dow, meanwhile, the firm built on its corporate reputation assignment to work with four or five business units and support the chemical company’s commitment to World Water Day and Live Earth. And for Kaiser Permanente, Golin is now providing healthcare, corporate and public affairs counsel.
BRAND
The firm’s Get Real initiative extended to its branding, with a new ad campaign highlighting “real people, real stories” that is refreshingly different from the advertising of many of its peers. Long known for stellar client service, Golin sought to formalize its approach under the “Gold Standard” banner. It seems to be paying off. “Even in this difficult economy, I would rather cut every vendor we have than let GolinHarris go,” says Terri West, senior VP at Texas Instruments, while Kaiser’s Diane Gage Lofgren praises the firm’s “strategic thinking, knowledge of the market conditions, great execution, and ability to consult on internal communications issues in addition to providing leadership on external campaigns.”
THE FUTURE
While GolinHarris has been growing at a steady pace in recent years, outperforming the majority of the multinationals with which it competes, the fact is that it remains one of the smaller full-service agencies, and even if it continues to turn in good numbers it isn’t going to have the network of offices or the critical mass of a Burson-Marsteller or a Fleishman-Hillard any time soon. That means it has to be more creative and forward-thinking than its peers, and under Fred Cook’s leadership it has been able to accomplish that, constantly scanning the horizon for changes in the business and communications landscape. As long as it can keep up its current form, it will provide an interesting alternative to the giant global firms.