Trusted Partner or Satellite Office?
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Multinational public relations firms maintain satellite offices around the world, often with uneven credentials and experience. Those satellite operations may not offer clients as much value as a global network of smaller agencies with proven experience in their local markets.
The Holmes Report, a leading journal about the public relations profession, recently published a lengthy article that discusses the benefits of global networks such as Pinnacle Worldwide, which features 60 firms – including CFM – in 36 countries in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
The report notes that large firms offer clients international reach, but an affiliation of smaller agencies in a global network can provide a viable alternative. "Some of these networks also have formidable reach and experience," the report says.
A qualitative difference is that smaller, independently owned firms typically are run by seasoned professionals with strong reputations in their own local market earned through years of quality work. The same isn't always true of the satellite offices of multinationals.
Consistent quality from office to office?
"The question of whether clients can trust the quality of a network of independent firms assumes that offices of global firms deliver the same level of quality office to office. I don't think that's a safe assumption," explains David Marriott of Gogerty Stark Marriott in Seattle, who is the president of Pinnacle Worldwide.
"We live or die by how well we deliver results in our market for local and regional clients," says Pat McCormick, CFM's partner who oversees the firm's public relations practice and is active in Pinnacle Worldwide, "not by business that gets referred to us from world headquarters."
Global networks offer smaller firms an opportunity to serve their local clients better. "Smaller, independent public relations firms may still do most of their work in domestic markets, but increasingly they need an understanding of the international environment, if only to offer existing clients an alternative to the big multinational agencies," according to the report.
That alternative includes a network of partners and peers with common commitment to follow best PR practices, regardless whether they are in Des Moines or Dubai. "We think of Pinnacle members anywhere in the world as trusted partners," says McCormick. "We know our partners on a first-name basis and have spent time with each of them in places from Bucharest to Sydney."
Aggregating special talents
Another advantage of global networks is aggregating specialized talent and skills that no single small firm could afford.
"Pinnacle Worldwide partners include some of the best PR counselors on crisis communications in the world and have handled some of the most sensitive issues," McCormick says. "Some of our partners are trailblazers in the fields of cause marketing, public engagement and word-of-mouth marketing."
"It isn't a coincidence that many Pinnacle partners are asked by publications to write about public relations or by universities to teach effective communications," he adds. "When you turn to a network such as Pinnacle, this is the level of talent that you get."
A final difference is that small firms and their client projects are overseen by owners, while satellite offices of multinational firms are run by managers.
"Owners have a greater stake in ensuring client success," McCormick says. "Their name is on the door, and their reputation is on the line."
Visit CFM’s Valued Partners page to learn more about Pinnacle Worldwide.
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