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Public Relations and the Advertising Industry

The public relations industry, the same as advertising, is concentrated in the hands of few dominant firms. Still, the striking element about corporate public relations is that PR firms are tightly related to advertising companies. Nine out of the ten biggest international PR agencies have close ties with the advertising industry. Also, looking at the largest acquisitions involving U.S. PR firms from 1997 to 1999 it is apparent that money coming from advertising agencies has played an important role.

Table: Top 10 PR Firms 1998

Rank 1998	PR Firm	Advertising Agency Related	1998 Net Fees (in U.S. $)	1997 - 1998 % Change
1	Burson-Marsteller	yes	258,417,000	4.2
2	Hill and Knowlton	yes	206,000,000	8.9
3	Porter Novelli Int.	yes	183,050,000	23.6
4	Shandwick	yes	170,300,000	7.3
5	Fleishman-Hillard	yes	160,692,000	19.1.
6	Edelman PR Worldwide	no	157,840,530	18.1
7	Ketchum	yes	125,248,000	29.6
8	BSMG Worldwide	yes	118,963,000	93.0
9	Weber PR Worldwide	yes	83,166,000	36.2
10	GCI/APCO	yes	79,667,957	28.4

With many PR agencies sold to advertising companies, the advertising industry's influence further increases; enabling them to offer their clients not only advertising services, but also know-how in marketing, public opinion, crisis and issues management and political lobbying.

Table: Acquisition of PR Agencies (1997 - 1999)

Acquired Company	Buyer	Buyers Industry	Estimated Purchase Price (in millions of U.S. $)
International PR	Interpublic Group of Cos.	Advertising	230
Fleishman-Hillard	Omicom Group	Advertising	85
Ketchum	Omnicom Group	Advertising	60
Dewe Rogerson	Incepta	Advertising	40
Financial Rel. Bd.	BSMG/TN	Public Relations	33
Weber PR	Interpublic Group of Cos.	Advertising	15
Alexander	WPP Group	Advertising	15
Charles Barker	BSMG/TN	Public Relations	15

Source: Odwyerpr.com.

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NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington on 4 April 1949, creating NATO (= North Atlantic Treaty Organization). It was an alliance of 12 independent nations, originally committed to each other's defense. Between 1952 and 1982 four more members were welcomed and in 1999, the first ex-members of

COMECON became members of NATO (the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland), which makes 19 members now. Around its 50^th anniversary NATO changed its goals and tasks by intervening in the Kosovo Crisis.

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