As part of its ongoing effort to enlighten colleagues and peers with the latest perspectives of top PR professionals, Ketchum London teamed with the Public Relations Consultants Association, the largest public relations professional organization in the United Kingdom, to host a discussion by 37-year industry veteran Willard “Bill” Nielsen. The event, called Industry Insights Breakfast, was held at Ketchum London’s office on Oct. 13, 2006, and offered a privileged opportunity to hear the thoughts of a true giant in public relations.
Nielsen retired as Corporate Vice President of Johnson & Johnson in December 2004 after a nearly 16-year career with the company, for which he oversaw public relations for a diversified “family” of 200 operating companies with more than 115,000 employees in 57 countries. He joined Johnson & Johnson in 1988, following an 18-year agency career, first with Carl Byoir & Associates, from 1970 to 1986, and then with Hill & Knowlton. He has also recently served as a special consultant to the Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson.
Nielsen continues to be active in the leadership of PR professional organizations. He served two terms as a president of the Arthur W. Page Society and was inducted into that organization’s Hall of Fame in September 2003. In addition, he is a past chairman of the Public Relations Seminar. He also chaired the board of the Institute for Public Relations Research and Education and served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Global Public Affairs Institute. He continues to serve on the Board of the Arthur W. Page Society and on the Committee of the Public Relations Seminar, and is a member of the Wisemen, the National Press Club, the Foreign Press Association and the Public Relations Society of America.
Below is a summary of Nielsen’s remarks.
“You have chosen a great career in a wonderful business,” he began as he addressed a gathering of PR professionals from a range of U.K. agencies. “I tell young people all over the world, the best place to start your career is in an agency. Where else will you get the diversity, the opportunity and the sheer challenge?”
People with agency experience make the best corporate clients, he said, largely because of the skills and mindset they develop in the fast-paced, highly focused environment of professional services firms.
“An agency foundation will set you up for a very lucrative future on the corporate side,” he said, “and consultancies should actively look within their own ranks for the next generation of client talent as actively as they look for their own future leaders – everyone will win.”
His views in other areas of the agency business were not as rosy, however.
“Purchasing or procurement departments have their place in well run companies, but they can ruin the value that clients receive from consultancies by too much bean-counting,” he said. “They want to turn advice and counsel into commodities, and that’s not good for business.”
Further, he said agencies are contributing to what he calls a “growing wedge” between clients and their agencies. “Because of holding company pressures, agencies feel compelled to create ‘products’ or packages of ‘goods’ that diminish their value to clients. They’re seen as hawkers rather than as advisors.”
“My advice,” he added, “is to get into the heads of your clients – into their offices or cubicles if you must – and understand the world from their eyes, and then give them your best advice. That’s valuable – far more so than a service or product or methodology.”
And for the industry at large, he suggested a return to a values-based orientation to guide the conduct of businesses and agencies that advise them. J&J’s well-regarded credo has served the company extremely well “in good times and bad,” he said, and added that “it is the role of the agency to know, live and even police the values of its clients.”
His comments echoed views he shared earlier in the week as the Institute for Public Relations International Distinguished Lecturer at an event held at the Reform Club in London. In his speech, “Sustaining Trust in Today’s Business Environment,” he called for the PR industry to adopt a statement of values that can define the practice now and in the future. He suggested a set of principles that would include a commitment to transparency and well informed publics, integrity when it comes to representing clients, respect for high journalistic standards, and support for the PR profession with a personal commitment to character and integrity.
“And most importantly,” he advised, “go out there and enjoy yourself. You’re on the front end of important, exciting, creative stuff, and you’re paid to have fun – so go out there and do it.”
Keywords :