This month witnessed a landmark in the history of PR Week, with the
dollars 6 million launch of a US sister title. When PR Week was first
published in 1984, such an eventuality seemed unimaginable. But that was
before the magazine had grown to become the leading PR title in both the
UK and continental Europe. The US launch is the next logical step in its
global expansion.
The decision to launch the US edition of PR Week on 16 November was
taken by its publisher, Haymarket - Britain’s largest privately owned
magazine company - in what is its first weekly magazine launch in the
US. Haymarket founder and non-executive director Michael Heseltine said
at the announcement of the launch: ’The decision to launch a US magazine
for the PR industry was born out of numerous suggestions received from
leading members of the US industry.’
The US PR market is the largest and most advanced in the world with all
top ten world-wide consultancies based there and deriving the majority
of their income from the home market. It is Haymarket’s belief that the
PR market in the US will continue to expand and grow in influence, an
opinion reinforced by research which shows that 76 per cent of US CEOs
believe public relations is more important to their business than five
years ago. The internet poll, conducted by Impulse Research Group
exclusively for PR Week, also shows that of the 250 US company bosses
interviewed, 76 per cent said they would turn to PR above other
consultants for advice if they had a reputation problem.
PR Week publisher Stephen Farish says there has been a very positive
reaction from the PR industry to the new publication. ’We have had a
very enthusiastic reaction from both agencies and senior in-house PR
people to the idea of launching PR Week in the US,’ says Farish. ’The PR
business in the US is tremendously vibrant, and yet it does not have a
weekly magazine serving that market in the way that PR Week serves the
industry in the UK. Our editorial mission in the States is to help the
business ’put PR on the map’ by championing the cause of PR as an
essential management discipline. This appears to have struck a chord
with the people who work in the business here.’
However, Farish maintains that outside of the industry, PR is not given
the credit it deserves. He is not alone in this surmise. Chairman and
CEO of Young and Rubicam Peter Georgescu is quoted in the first issue of
the magazine as saying : ’PR is one of the most underrated,
under-utilised brand techniques. And the crime is that it’s very
cost-effective.’ It is clear that PR Week has a tough job ahead, but the
current climate - given the results of the Impulse survey - couldn’t be
more favourable.
Farish was one of a small contingent of PR Week stalwarts to cross the
Atlantic in September to set up the US operation. He was joined by PR
Week advertising manager Rupert Heseltine, advertising director Julie
Moore and Adam Leyland, former editor of Press Gazette, and now the
magazine’s editor-in-chief. The new headquarters, on New York’s Fifth
Avenue, is home to 25 staff, including news editor Jonah Bloom, features
editor Susan Fry Bovet and reporters Larry Dobrow, Kelly Holman, Claire
Atkinson and Matthew Boyle.
However, this is only part of the picture. asLeyland explains: ’We have
full-time reporters in San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, together
with stringers in Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis,
Atlanta, Memphis, Fort Lauderdale and Hawaii, with more to come in
Miami, Detroit and Cincinnati.’
Many of the editorial elements familiar to UK readers have been
transplanted to PR Week US. Each issue carries the latest US and
international news.
There is also a media page, plus the Platform piece, Campaigns, News
Analysis and the Big Question. However, there are some important points
of difference.
A new opinion piece, Inside the Beltway, has been established, written
by PR Week’s Washington correspondent Steve Lilienthal, who looks at
lobbying issues in Washington DC; a ’Letter from Europe’ column written
by PR Week UK editor Kate Nicholas, and two new features - Questions and
Answers and www.Launching.Com - appear on the back page. The former is a
light-hearted look at the ’winning strategies’ of an industry figure,
while the latter turns the spotlight on innovative web site
launches.
The front page of the launch issue features a story about Mike McCurry,
Bill Clinton’s former press secretary and his likely next career
move.
The Media page leads on the LA Times’ decision to implement an austere
job-cutting programme, on the same page, Media Watch analyses news
coverage of Newt Gingrich’s decision to resign from the Republican
Party. The Profile is of Tom Bell, chairman and CEO of Young and Rubicam
Advertising; while the Analysis focuses on the Association of PR Firms’
(APRF) bid to become the voice of all US PR agencies. On the features
side, there is in-depth coverage of the role PR played in the recent US
congressional elections.
Elsewhere in the magazine, internet monitoring is put under the
spotlight, with tips on how to monitor a company’s reputation
on-line.
Given the maturity of the PR market in the US, it is perhaps surprising
that PR Week is the first high-frequency title of its ilk. The size of
the US market is an important factor - while the UK PR industry revolves
around London, across the Atlantic each state city has a highly
developed industry.
Leyland says: ’The PR industry in the US is far bigger than it is in the
UK, yet the only weekly-based offerings are thin newsletters.’ He adds:
’The gap is greater than at any point in the past because companies are
increasingly questioning the value and cost-effectiveness of advertising
at a time when the media is proliferating to the point of
absurdity.’
So how does PR Week intend to fill the void? ’By providing a depth and
breadth of weekly news, analysis, profiles and features that the other
titles simply don’t offer, and by interpreting and analysing the
techniques, tactics and trends that are affecting public relations over
here,’ explains Leyland.
- The launch of PR Week US coincides with the launch of a new
international web site, covering both titles. The web site can be found
at www.prweekuk.com and www.prweekus.com
PR Week has 25 staff based at 220 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10001, USA
Publisher Stephen Farish (1) 212 251 2611
Editor-in-chief Adam Leyland (1) 212 251 2613
News editor Jonah Bloom (1) 212 251 2606
Features editor Susan Fry Bovet (1) 212 251 2612
Reporter Larry Dobrow (1) 212 251 2602
Reporter Kelly Holman (1) 212 251 2603
Reporter Claire Atkinson (1) 212 251 2604
Reporter Matthew Boyle (1) 212 251 2605
San Francisco reporter Susan Arthur 415 824 0663
Washington reporter Steve Lilienthal 202 232 9113
Advertising director Julie Moore (1) 212 251 2385
Ad manager Rupert Heseltine(1) 212 251 2386
James Maxwell
Ketchum
’More global business originates in the US than anywhere else, and it
will be great to be able to track opportunities and trends via PR
Week.
As part of a leading US group, we will enjoy reading of our colleagues’
triumphs, and it will mean we are far better briefed on their market. It
is a bold move by Haymarket, but it will pay off.’
Lesley Brend
The Red Consultancy
’PR Week UK is always hungrily devoured as soon as it arrives in the
office because it satisfies the basic human need to know who’s doing
what with whom. I imagine the US version will be a ’must read’ too but
in a different way - something you take home with you in your briefcase
to study what trends you can apply from the US market.’
Michael Murphy
Shandwick
’My US colleagues are excited about the launch and so are many of us who
work in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Shandwick has a culture which, we
believe, makes us the most global of public relations companies. Our
people operate with a worldwide perspective day-in day-out and adding PR
Week US to our stable of ’must reads’will be essential to ensure that we
keep up with industry and client trends.’
Nick Deluca
APCO
’All the big global agencies have US parentage and the investments,
acquisitions and movements of those firms often shape the face of the
whole industry, throughout the world. We obviously liaise very closely
with our colleagues in Washington, but having a broader view of what is
happening outside the Beltway, in New York, on the other coast and in
the regional capitals will be very useful. More insight into what is
happening with the big US companies, such as the further integration of
public affairs and public relations functions, might reveal trends
coming our way.’
Peter Hehir
Countrywide Porter Novelli
’I have been urging PR Week to go to the States for two years. The
initiative, together with the setting up of a US version of the PRCA,
will have fundamental consequences for the industry there - all for the
good.’
Tari Hibbitt
Edelman PR Worldwide
’Without a doubt, PR Week US will be an essential read for me, just as
its UK counterpart is. It will help me keep even more tabs on what my
friends, competitors and prospects are doing or admitting to thinking,
wherever they are in the world! Hopefully there will be a tad of the
British way of looking at the US PR industry, and just a touch of
irreverence to keep this business in perspective.’
