1 EDELMAN AND THE RISE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS and the Rise of Public Relations by Franz Wisner designed by Eight Communications 1 EDELMAN AND THE RISE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS Copyright © 2012 by Daniel J. Edelman, Inc. All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for Wisner, Franz Edeman and the Rise of Public Relations Designed by Eight Communications ISBN 978-0-9787522-0-0 2 EDELMAN AND THE RISE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTENTS INTRODUCTION BY RICHARD EDELMAN 4 1 THE TOUR BEGINS 7 2 BYLINES AND BATTLEFIELDS 14 3 THE BIRTH OF THE BUSINESS 22 A4 RECIPE FOR DISASTER, SUCCESS . AND CHEESECAKE 30 5 OPPORTUNITY UNCORKED 38 6 THE BIG IDEA 46 7 BRANCHING OUT 55 8 GROWING PAINS, GAINS 63 9 OVER THE WALL 73 10 EDELMAN PLUGS IN 81 11 NEW LEADERSHIP, NEW CHALLENGES 90 12 BETTING ON THE FUTURE 100 13 PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT 110 EPILOGUE 120 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 124 3 EDELMAN AND THE RISE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS INTRODUCTION The story of Dan Edelman, my father, is in many ways the story of modern public relations. It’s an all-American tale about a son of immigrants, a child of the Depression, a young man who was part of the wave of men and women who served their country in World War II and then returned home to help create the most powerful economy the world has ever known. My father’s calling was a line of work that quenched his insatiable thirst for news and knowledge; it was a relatively new profession, with limitless potential for a bright, industrious communicator with a dream to start his own business: the burgeoning field of agency public relations. Ever the entrepreneur and iconoclast, Dan Edelman built his firm and helped pioneer the public relations industry on his terms. While most agency founders chose New York, he put down his roots in Chicago. He created the television media tour while others focused on radio and print. He helped take modern public relations to China and the rest of Asia. While nearly every major P.R. firm sold out to advertising conglomerates, Dan remained true to his belief that public relations should be practiced independently. Being a private enterprise meant you could focus on client service instead of shareholder returns. Dan did all this with an indefatigable work ethic, ready charm, and humility. He nourished relationships and turned clients into lifelong friends. My father was never showy or fancy. He drove his old blue Buick until it gave out, and wore his impeccably tailored suits almost until they were shiny. While he was proud of his Jewish roots, back in his day, Jews had to be better than others to get ahead. Faith shaped Dan’s steadfast belief in ethics. For Dan, 4 EDELMAN AND THE RISE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS there was no gray, only black-and-white. Ethics and a sense of doing things “right” affected everything he did, including his business, where transparency and candor were, to him, of paramount importance. In business and in pleasure, Dan has always been in it to win it. He loved sports, especially tennis. He was Rafael Nadal long before Nadal was born, run- ning after every ball. To say that Dan was fiercely competitive and attuned to the finest details to gain an edge over an opponent is an understatement. But he took victories in stride and learned from setbacks. My father’s life had a hum to it – like that of steady machine drum churning through information and weaving together random pieces of data or opinions to form a whole piece of cloth. Dan maintained voluminous files on every cli- ent or prospect. His desk was stacked high with papers and periodicals – a veritable mad scientist’s lab – but he knew where every item was. Dan usually ate lunch at his desk – a sandwich, an apple, and a cookie. But he ate only half of the cookie, because he wanted to maintain the same slim figure for his daily weigh-in. He dictated into a tape machine or wrote longhand with a blue or black felt tip pen. He kept his secretary typing away at the IBM Selectric all day, churning out his famous “Dan-o-Grams,” which critiqued work product, prod- ded the underperforming, or gave encouragement to a lonely son at camp, away from home for the first time. He regarded public relations as a higher form of communications than advertis- ing because it encouraged dialogue with consumers and relationship building with opinion leaders. His visionary gift was exemplified in his early recognition of the importance of two-way communications, which are now made even more effective through social media. To this day, a signature Edelman campaign has an interactive public service element. Dan believed that outstanding client service and brave ideas were fundamental to long-term relationships. “Every Edelman person is an account executive on client assignments,” he would say. And “It is great to be the biggest P.R. firm, but we must always strive to be the best firm.” INTRODUCTION BY RICHARD EDELMAN 5 But even with all his successes – and setbacks – family mattered most. As I write this, Dan’s partnership with his wife and our mother Ruth is close to 60 years old. Hers was a busy life, out most nights, pushing the children to excel in school, managing the summer house in Charlevoix, Michigan, with guests nearly every weekend. To this day, she and Dan hold hands, deeply in love. Dan has always been fiercely proud of his children. My brother, John, became the founder of Edelman’s human resources department, and now serves as the first managing director of the firm’s Global Citizenship and Sustainability Initiatives program. My sister, Renée, who shares Dan’s love for journalism and attended Columbia Journalism School just as he had, is now a top public relations professional in the firm’s technology division. Dan has also been an inspiration to my three daughters, holding them to the same high personal and professional standards demanded of all members of the Edelman family. My relationship with my father was complicated. He cast a long shadow and expected that I make the most of myself. When I was in my early teens, our tennis matches often resulted in a racquet thrown in frustration as I lost, yet again, to a superior strategist. Only when I began to work at Edelman did I begin to understand his relentless drive for perfection, his sense that success could evaporate unless you tried to do your best every day. We have been partners in building a great global enterprise, different in our operating styles but identical in our objective. I have called him every day wher- ever I am to brief him on the business, listening carefully to his advice. In 1996, he told me that he was proud of my achievements and that it was time for me to take over the firm – high praise from the founder of a company and creator of a profession . and from a father and a mentor. There will never be another Dan Edelman – indomitable, ever modest, always resilient, ready for the next challenge. His story inspires us all. Richard Edelman 6 EDELMAN AND THE RISE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS CHAPTER 1 THE TOUR BEGINS On an icy Chicago afternoon in February 1949, Toni Company CEO Neison Harris barged into the office of Dan Edelman, his young public relations manager. Dan could see from his boss’s demeanor that something was terribly wrong. The hard-charging chief executive of the home permanent maker explained that the famous Toni Twins – the company’s spokesmodels and stars of its “Which Twin has the Toni?” advertising campaign – had been arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during a publicity tour that Dan had organized. A state board of cosmetology inspector, Enola Shumate, had – following an in-store promotional appearance – thrown them in jail for practicing salon procedures without a license. Dan’s seemingly brilliant idea – a groundbreaking, 20,000-mile, 76-city media tour to boost sales of the No. 1 home permanent kit and stave off fast-encroach- ing competition – had come to a crashing halt. “Well, what are you going to do?” demanded Harris. A MOVE TO CHICAGO New to the company, the industry, and the city, the lanky and bespectacled Dan had recently asked himself the same question many times. 7 EDELMAN AND THE RISE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS A year earlier, he had been an entry-level publicist “I said I’d do it for 90 days, but I said I wanted to re- at Musicraft Records in New York, a jazz label turn and live and work in my hometown, New York.” owned by his brother-in-law, Irving Felt. The But he didn’t return to New York. He quit Gottlieb company’s talent roster included well-known and went to work directly for Toni. entertainers Sarah Vaughan, Duke Ellington, and Dizzy Gillespie. Dan spent his days writing liner The 28-year-old Dan struggled early on. For start- notes, schmoozing with D.J.s, and arranging ers, he knew nothing about Chicago, and less about artist appearances. the workings of corporations like Toni and its par- ent company, Gillette. What’s more, he had no ex- He also had helped with the production of a perience in consumer sales to women or the beauty 15-minute NBC radio show starring up-and-com- market as a whole. The only thing he knew about ing Musicraft crooner Mel Tormé and sponsored hair was that he no longer had much of his own.