MOMENTUM
It’s now about 18 months since Colin Byrne took over as head of Weber Shandwick’s EMEA operations, and given the state of the region’s economy one could make the case that Tim Sutton’s decision to move to Asia was spectacularly well-timed. Nevertheless, there are signs that the “one Europe” strategy that Byrne heralded when he took over is paying off, with more and more clients working across multiple offices so that the top 40 clients now account for more than half of regional revenues, a significant increase. Overall, however, revenues have been flat over the past 12 months, although things have been picking up since the second quarter of 2010. HP was the biggest new business success of the year, but the firm also picked up assignments from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, EDF, GlaxoSmithKline, Mars, sanofi Aventis, Siemens, Staples and Yahoo! And the firm has successfully grown some of its major clients, including Nestle and Nespresso.
REGIONAL REACH
The U.K. headquarters office continues to contribute about half of Weber Shandwick’s EMEA region revenues—the proportion is actually up slightly as the continent suffered more from the economic downturn of the past 12 months—and has strength across the board, with the healthcare and technology practices growing in double-digits and the consumer practice also turning in a solid performance. As for the continent, Italy has been leading the way in terms of growth (a double-digit revenue increase over the past 12 months), while offices in the Netherlands (with a new consumer-focused Amsterdam office supplementing operations in The Hague) and Brussels have also been making a healthy contribution and Weber Shandwick continues to be among the leading multinationals in key markets such as Germany and Spain (where the consumer business is strong). Other developments include the relaunch of an international consulting offer in Switzerland, focused on international headquarters business, and the expansion of the firm’s Eastern European affiliate network.
GLOBAL REACH
With 19 offices in the United States, Weber Shandwick can match its competitors when it comes to its regional footprint. There was growth in several key markets during 2009: New York, the firm’s flagship office, which has strength in consumer, corporate and healthcare; Minneapolis, which serves as headquarters for some of the firm’s biggest financial services and government accounts; Chicago, best known for its impressive consumer and food and beverage expertise; Dallas, where the American Airlines account is based; and Washington, D.C., where Weber Shandwick’s own expertise is supplemented by the Powell Tate and Cassidy operations. After a decade of hugely impressive growth, from nowhere in Asia-Pacific to one of the region’s three or four largest networks, Weber Shandwick experienced a tough year in 2009, with revenues were down about 9 percent across the region. But perhaps the most significant development of 2009 saw Weber Shandwick move decisively to address is most obvious weakness, hiring Tyler Kim to open an office in Korea, taking the number of owned offices in the region to 17.
EXPERTISE
The healthcare practice has been a strong contributor over the past 12 months (double digit growth in London and in Europe), adding more than a dozen new clients while growing its Celgene, Eli Lilly and Pfizer business. The firm also has a robust public health capability, working on education initiatives for NGO clients. The consumer practice continues to thrive, offering strength in food and beverage, consumer health, consumer technology and automotive categories. The corporate practice, under new leadership following the departure of Michael Prescott, had a difficult 2009 but bounced back in 2010, while the public affairs practice has been thriving in London and other national capitals (Berlin, The Hague) while going through another leadership transition in Brussels. And the technology practice works with some of the firm’s largest clients, including HP, Microsoft and Juniper Networks. The SLAM youth marketing operation has been another success story, with fees up in the double digits, a Cannes Lion for its Fight Cervical Cancer campaign, and new business from Boohoo.com, W Hotels and Zippo, while the sports PR group (which works on Olympic and World Cup bids and other sports business issues as well as sponsorship support) has been growing at an impressive rate. Finally, Weber Shandwick is now doing ?4 million in pure digital revenue, with a 28-strong team delivering award-winning work for the likes of GSK, Aldi, Citroen and Microsoft.
TALENT
Since Colin Byrne was named chief executive of Weber Shandwick’s European operations, and despite the difficult economic environment, things have been going well, with a strong and stable leadership team supplemented this year by some impressive additions. The appointment of Bassat Ogilvy veteran Melendy Britt as creative director and Cohn & Wolfe’s Rose de la Pascua as executive VP for continental Europe, allowed the firm to expand its offer in Spain, where it has launched a food and beverage group and a brand experience practice. Other significant additions included Matty Tong, formerly of Lowe, as EMEA planning director (leading a team of a half-dozen planners in the region); Thomas Coops as managing director of the financial practice in the U.K.; Alison Dunlop, formerly of Chandler Chicco, as director of healthcare; Allison Hunter as head of healthcare in Geneva; Citigate Dewe Rogerson veteran Ana Costillas as head of EU public affairs; Rachel Friend from Sainsbury as managing director of consumer in the U.K.; and at the end of 2010 former Cohn & Wolfe U.K. chief executive Fiona Noble as second in command to Byrne.
CULTURE
Global downturn notwithstanding, Weber Shandwick continued to make an impressive investment in professional development in 2010, offering more than 150 individual training courses over the past 12 months, with an emphasis on the new inline communications, methodology, digital expertise, and the Future Leaders Academy, designed to help the firm retain its most promising young talent. The firm increased the number of webinars on offer to employees, with topics ranging from “how to sell more to your clients” to “creating a culture of innovation and creativity.” The payoff was a turnover rate considerably lower than industry averages in most markets.
INTELLECTUAL LEADERSHIP
The most significant development of the past 12 months was the introduction of Weber Shandwick’s new “inline” communications approach, a way of integrating digital and social media and more traditional activity in a coherent and consistent manner. The approach was developed in Europe and has now been rolled out, aiming to give employees the tools they need to assess the most appropriate mix of channels (from print and television publicity to advertising to employee and customer-driven word-of-mouth) for each client and to develop campaigns that put the company’s story at the centre and the use the various channels to initiate conversations, create compelling content, build community, and connect with key stakeholders. The approach was launched with a survey of 6,000 European consumers that found online advocacy to be the most influential source of information.)
CAMPAIGNS
Weber Shandwick began its relationship with Nespresso providing corporate counsel, with a focus on sustainability issues, in a single market, and now provides corporate and consumer PR across 14 countries, supporting the George Clooney advertising campaign with traditional and social media and helping to introduce new products. Similarly, the firm has grown its Fit for Work assignment with Abbott into a major multinational coalition focused on improving the quality of working life for people with musculoskeletal disorders. In the U.K., the firm has worked with GSK to leverage fashion and entertainment platforms to raise awareness of cervical cancer and (a SABRE-winning effort) with the Equality & Human Rights Commission to celebrate the success of Muslim women, while The Hague led stakeholder outreach for Staples following its acquisition of Corporate Express and Madrid introduced the new Opel Meriva by positioning it as the first car with a “nanny” on board. The sports practice, meanwhile, worked on projects ranging from international communications support for the England 2018 World Cup bid to litigation PR for Sheffield United in a lawsuit related to its relegation to the second tier of English football.
BRAND
The launch of inline communications and the survey that accompanied it generated plenty of coverage in the U.K. business and trade press and across the continent (36 stories in seven EMEA markets) and provided a platform for the firm’s leadership to talk about the more central role PR is playing in the marketing mix. The firm’s chief reputation strategist Leslie Gaines-Ross returned to the region for an eight-day, seven-city tour that including numerous events and media interviews on the impact of the economic collapse and recovery on corporate reputation. In London, meanwhile, the firm’s public affairs practice took advantage of the general election to raise its profile, with an Inside the Election blog and frequent punditry on national news programmes. Finally, the firm launched a regional newsletter and relaunched its website, and continued to win more awards—45 across the region in the past 12 months—than any other firm in the region.
THE FUTURE
Overall, Weber Shandwick can be satisfied with the way its “one Europe” strategy has been progressing, with a better balance and closer working relationship between the powerhouse U.K. operation and its developing European business. The firm sees a growing opportunity in the consumer space, with its inline methodology opening the door to a more central, strategic role in brand-building, while its healthcare practice continues to expand beyond the U.K. Challenges, meanwhile, include further developing its presence in the Nordic region and in the Middle East, where the firm would presumably like a wholly-owned presence.