Pam Talbot and the Development of Modern Public Relations
There are seven women who are integral to my life: my mother, my sister, my wife, my three daughters and Pam Talbot. Now that Pam has elected to retire from her job as President and CEO of Edelman US, to move to a consulting role at Edelman, it is time to take stock of her many contributions to the profession and to our company.
For the past thirty years, Pam and I have worked together at Edelman for my father, Dan Edelman. In that time, our company has grown beyond anything we could have dreamed possible, from $6 million to $415 million in fees, from six offices to fifty offices. Without her, none of this would have been possible. When I think about Pam, I am reminded of the comment by French Revolution leader George Danton, who said, “De l’audace, encore l’audace, toujours l’audace,” which translated means, “We have to dare, to dare again, always to dare.”
Pam’s career mirrors the development of modern public relations. She took the art of marketing PR to a new level, beginning by linking the media tour to the political season--who could forget Mayor Ed Koch leading the cheers for Morris the 9-Lives Cat on a NY City campaign stop on the feline’s presidential bid in 1988. Pam recognized the potential for the convergence of classic consumer marketing with health care and technology. For example she helped Microsoft introduce its line of CD-ROM based games through a bus tour (the Explorasaurabus) around America. Her recognition of the power of environmental stewardship led her to broker a deal for long-time client HJ Heinz’ StarKist Tuna with Earth Island Institute on the adoption of a dolphin-safe fishing standard, leading to endorsements from celebrities such as actor Ted Danson. Her sense of the consumer mood persuaded Microsoft to hold the first major public event in New York City after 9/11 with a spectacular midnight Times Square launch of XBOX. She recognized the need for consumer clarity on nutrition amidst the confusion on the web, partnering Kraft with Tufts University on a Nutrition Navigator. With the rise of a “person like you” as the most credible spokesperson, Pam played a central role in the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, which provides a platform for ‘real’ women to tell their stories about self-image.
She has been the most valuable executive in the firm, always willing to take on the most difficult management challenges. She convened a global task force to confront Edelman’s reputation as a “hit and miss” firm, and then implemented the Quality program. This has provided regular client feedback on our performance and lowered client turnover. The Global Client Relationship Management initiative, begun three years ago, has allowed Edelman to deepen its ties with its largest clients as we serve more of them throughout the globe. She has been a tireless proponent of creativity, advocating concepts that have social purpose or just great publicity value. She has been a mentor to many of our brightest young people who will now attempt to fill her shoes; she always takes time to advise on career and personal issues, as a friend as well as boss. Her excellent stewardship of Edelman US has allowed us the capital to invest abroad while continuing to grow the domestic business.
As this is a blog, I want to share a few stories about Pam and me. When we went out to Minneapolis to visit a few companies, in true Edelman style, we took taxis, not limousines. By the time we reached our last appointment at General Mills, we realized that between us we had $20. We had to ask for cab fare from the prospect, Craig Shulstad, the PR director, so we could get home. For three years, we traveled the West Coast on a Trust Barometer tour, four stops in four days, pretending to be political candidates. As we slumped in our seats on the flights, we talked about the possibility that public relations could evolve from a “Talk only” to a “Talk and Listen” business providing content that improved the continuing on-line discussion. Pam was the bridge between me and my father as we achieved the generational passing of the torch over the past decade and served as the liaison between the Edelman family and our employees, pushing for better health benefits, a more predictable bonus plan and stock for key people. She also helped me to evolve as CEO, to get beyond the Winston Churchill concept of “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often,” to recognize that a strategy needs time to mature. Our skills and styles have been so different yet so complementary, perhaps a lesson to those in business who seek to recruit only those in their own image and who blindly follow orders.
To watch Pam at her desk, handling incoming calls on client issues, then smoothly shifting back to a conversation with me about company strategy, is to watch a master at work. Pam--we thank you for all that you’ve done to date, and we dedicate ourselves to continue the work that you begun.
