Edelman: A Family Affair

Before reading the biography, Edelman and the Rise of Public Relations, I wasn’t sure what I would get out of the book.  Would it give me a better grip on the father of PR? Would it inspire me to follow the agency path?  As an inspiring public relations student and professional, reading the pages of Edelman’s story truly reinforced my desires to work in an agency setting and in the public relations field.  I have concluded the book with a better understanding of Dan’s impact on the profession and its place in the future.  Edelman has left behind an empire and legacy that lives on through one of the most successful PR agencies in the world and no doubtable through his eldest son Richard.

Dan and Richard had very different management styles at Edelman.  Dan relied on his journalism background and could never let go of the paper world.  He had his secretary print out all his emails and he responded to them all with a pen and paper.  Richard on the other hand embraced the pyramid management structure and saw business hierarchy differently.  Before Dan turned the firm over to Richard, Dan needed to be sure Richard could manage multiple offices and multination regions.  Richard shook up the European division by turning them into profit driven offices and even shut down some operations.  Richard was able to turn Edelman into a modern profit motivated firm that kept his father’s foundations and values.

With the effects of 9/11 and an economic downturn, Dan was fairing much better than most his PR competitors and was please he chose to keep Edelman independent.  With the 50-year anniversary of the firm, Richard used this milestone to make new innovations to the company.  The changes held great risk if they failed but promised a new strategy for cooperation (and PR firms they worked with) to fix the way they communicated with the world.  With the changing world of internet, news outlets, cooperate responsibility, and influence of nongovernmental organizations, Richard found a new and inventive way for businesses to engage consumers.  He encourages business to not just sell to customers but to form a relationship.  With the new trust Barometer, Edelman was able to show results of the story telling media style. 

By completing two blog posts, I was only able to provide a snippet of my own narrative to the Edelman story.  I only showed a glimpse on the epic legacy of Dan Edelman and his progressive and successful PR agency.  With Dan’s passing he has passed on his knowledge on ethics and business to his eldest son and other Edelman family members.  Having Edelman as family owned and operated gives it a perspective and advantage that other public PR agencies lack.  Dan Edelman will forever be remembered as the pioneer of Public Relations who paved the way for soon to be PR processionals like myself.

Alyssa Barford is a junior at DePaul University with a major in Public Relations & Advertising and a minor in Communications & Media Studies.  She is a current PR intern at the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago and will soon be the summer PR intern at Reynolds Communication Group.  She also is currently in charge social media for of a nonprofit start up called GLXi.  Alyssa hopes to work in agency, entertainment, or nonprofit PR. She can be reached at alyssabarford@yahoo.com or follow her at @AlyBarford.