The story
Founded by Daniel Edelman in 1952.1
1952–1960s: Early years
Edelman public relations was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1952 by former journalist Daniel J. Edelman, as Daniel J. Edelman and Associates. The company started with three employees and grew to serve 25 accounts by 1960.
Edelman's founder, Daniel Edelman, is credited with inventing the corporate media tour for his work with his previous employer, Toni Home Permanent Co. He toured the country with "The Toni Twins", a set of twins, where one used a professional salon and the other used Toni's home hair-care products. When Edelman started his own firm, Toni became Edelman's first client. Toni was followed by Sara Lee, a small cheesecake company at the time, and a bowling equipment manufacturer, Brunswick Corporation.
Edelman opened the Manhattan office in 1960. From 1962, Edelman worked with Finland to improve its image, in part through the Finnfacts Institute founded by the company. In 1966, it promoted Californian wine for the California Wine Institute.
In 1977 Edelman secured the landing rights for Concorde. The New York office grew from $1 million to $20 million in revenues from 1979 to the late 1980s under the leadership of Daniel Edelman's son, Richard Edelman.
By 1981, Edelman had five international offices and it opened six more over the following decade. Some former employees and industry experts said its focus on financial growth led to high turnover and client service issues as a result. There was also an unsuccessful attempt by some employees to start their own firm with some of Edelman's clients.
1990–2000
Richard Edelman was named Global CEO of the eponymous firm in 1996. He took over for his father Daniel J. Edelman, who remained Chairman of Edelman until he died in 2013 at the age of 92. In the 1990s, offices were opened in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain, South Korea, China, and Belgium. In the United States, a Silicon Valley office was opened in 1992 to serve technology clients, and in Sacramento, California, in 1994. It also opened offices in Florida, Georgia, and Washington. The firm grew to $70 million in revenues by 1994.
In 1995, Edelman was the first public relations firm to have a website and began web-based projects for its clients. By the early 2000s it grew to $210 million with about 25% of revenues coming from Europe. In September 2010, Edelman acquired a Houston-based firm, Vollmer public relations.
2000–2020
In 2000, Edelman published its first edition of Trust Barometer. In 2002, the firm shortened its name from Edelman Public Relations Worldwide to Edelman.
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In 2004, Edelman collaborated with the advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather to create Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. Edelman conducted public relations and market research for the campaign, which included approximately 3,000 interviews with women in 10 different countries.
In 2005, Edelman took over marketing and public relations management for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women campaign.
The 2008 edition of the Go Red for Women campaign ran by Edelman came in third among disease awareness campaigns at the 2009 Clio Awards.
By 2012, it had established the Edelman Digital division with about 600 staff and about half of its work was social media-related. In April same year, the firm introduced its Business and Social Purpose division. Later in June 2012, the firm worked with Symantec to promote the Norton brand of antivirus software. It also introduced the Employee Engagement Connections Index in October alongside opening a new office in Turkey.
In January 2013, the firm launched The Daniel J. Edelman China Group. In May 2013, Edelman expanded into South Africa by acquiring Baird's Renaissance, which had previously been affiliated with Edelman for 20 years.
Edelman launched a joint venture with United Talent Agency in 2014 that resulted in the formation of a unit called United Entertainment Group (UEG).
In 2015, the firm moved into Colombia by acquiring Position Comunicaciones. In the same year, Edelman worked on REI's OptOutside, a Black Friday campaign during which REI closed its stores and encouraged its customers to spend the day outdoors. OptOutside won the Titanium Grand Prix at the 2016 Cannes Lions Festival.
Equifax hired Edelman for crisis control after the October 2017 privacy breach.
In January 2018, it was reported that India's Tata Group account, which had been handled by Edelman (in association with Rediffusion) since 2011, was moved to Adfactors PR.
In 2019, PRWeek recognized the Campaign for Real Beauty as its Best U.S. Campaign of the Past 20 Years.
2020–present
In 2022, Edelman surpassed $1 billion in global annual revenue, making them the first $1 billion PR agency. That year also marked the firm's 70th anniversary. On October 1, 2022, it inaugurated the Edelman Museum, a space within its Chicago offices. In the same year, Edelman worked with Vaseline on the See My Skin campaign, which sought to build an image database that would make it easier for medical professionals to diagnose skin conditions in people of color. See My Skin won two awards at the 2022 Cannes Lions Festival and was a silver award winner at the Clios.
In 2022, Edelman was the largest public relations firm in the world by revenue,
Edelman's Streetcode campaign with HP was recognized at the 2023 Global SABRE Awards, where it received a Platinum SABRE for best public relations campaign of the year.
From Wikipedia’s article on Edelman (firm), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4