- Edelman, already the biggest public-relations firm, has been vying to become the first $1 billion PR agency, a task made more difficult by the pandemic.
- It has poached leaders from advertising giants like Leo Burnett, McCann, and Wunderman Thompson.
- It’s also doubling down on services like corporate reputation, crisis communications, employee engagement, and business marketing.
- Business Insider identified Edelman’s top 22 power players based on conversations with current and former Edelman employees, publicly available information, and other news.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Edelman, the largest public-relations agency with $892 million in revenue in 2019, is pivoting its business toward creative and other areas to win market share from the advertising industry — a difficult task in the best of times, let alone during a pandemic.
As an independent business, Edelman is an anomaly in an industry dominated by holding companies. The agency credits a lot of its success to its independence, which gave it the ability to invest in digital after the 2008 financial crisis.
Edelman also has been raiding top ad agencies like Leo Burnett, McCann, and Wunderman Thompson to hire execs like Judy John, Lee Maicon, and Yannis Kotziagkiaouridis.
The firm also has longtime agency vets like global chief client officer Lisa Sepulveda, who manages the top 48 client leaders and their businesses, representing 60% of the firm’s revenues.
At the same time, Edelman has shoveled resources into corporate work, which includes reputation, employee engagement, and its newly launched business-marketing unit, by hiring prominent fixers like the Chevron vet Dave Samson. Insiders say corporate now makes up about half of Edelman’s revenue, up from one-third a few years ago.
The pandemic led Edelman to lay off 390 employees. But in a previous interview with Business Insider, CEO Richard Edelman said the agency would rebound by doubling down on its creative business, with one in three employees working in either digital, research, experiential, or creative.
These are the 22 power players at Edelman who are helping the agency make that transition as it weathers a recession.
Business Insider used publicly available information and original reporting to pick these executives based on their seniority at the firm, the accounts they work on, and their level of responsibility. Scroll down to read about them all, listed alphabetically.
