PR firm Brunswick Group is scooping up execs from companies like Edelman and Grey as it tries to become the 'McKinsey of PR

<p><img src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5fd125b248a25900182627e8-1500/2020-12-09T143749Z_1_LWD0018SS2Q13_RTRWNEV_E_3015-USA-STOCKS-OPEN-DOORDASH.JPG" border="0" alt="doordash nyse ipo" data-mce-source="REUTERS/NYSE/DOORDASH HANDOUT"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>PR firm Brunswick Group has been well known for its financial communications, crisis, litigation, and public affairs work.</p><p>In recent years, it's been branching out to digital and creative services and pitching itself as the "McKinsey" or "Goldman Sachs of PR" to better compete with longtime rivals like CEO advisory firm Teneo and become less reliant on mergers and acquisitions work, which can be profitable but unstable.</p><p>Some Brunswick insiders say that bet appears to be paying off. The agency recorded <a href="https://www.provokemedia.com/ranking-and-data/global-pr-agency-rankings/2020-pr-agency-rankings/top-250">$324 million</a> in revenue in 2019 and had double digit growth in its largest market, the US, in 2020.</p><p>While other PR firms like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pr-giant-edelman-lays-off-390-employees-amid-coronavirus-2020-6">Edelman</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/weber-shandwick-began-furloughs-and-layoffs-read-internal-memo-2020-5">Weber Shandwick</a> have reduced salaries and laid off employees, Brunswick maintained staffing levels and pay, and has hired five partners since the start of 2021, including Deepali Bagati, who joined from The Medici Group; and Antony Dunkels, who came from Edelman.</p><p>Work last year came from <a href="https://www.google.com/url'q=https://www.businessinsider.com/top-public-relations-experts-in-the-technology-industry-2020-11'r%3Dtoptechpublicrelations2020-teaser%23ash-spiegelberg-partner-and-head-of-the-san-francisco-office-brunswick-group-30&amp;sa=D&amp;source=editors&amp;ust=1613168727289000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0wMK6iLQlmt_x7K8Hnur5k">IPOs</a> like Doordash and Airbnb and deals like Nvidia's proposed $40 billion takeover of ARM and Veolia's $4 billion hostile bid for Suez, according to financial intelligence platform MergerLinks, which collects deal and M&amp;A data.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ceos-of-edelman-bcw-and-fleishmanhillard-share-business-outlook-2020-10">It's also had strong demand for crisis work</a> like shareholder activist campaigns and ESG issues, and is said to be on track for another year of growth.</p><p>A former employee, former partner, and three current employees said Brunswick's diversification has borne fruitbut some also raised doubts that Brunswick can reposition itself as "McKinsey of PR."</p><h2>Brunswick has made big hires to strengthen its core and new business</h2><p>Brunswick has made a number of hires to support its expansion and boost its existing services.</p><p>In April 2020, it hired Jane Reiss, the former CMO of ad agency Grey, to lead MerchantCantos, Brunswick's creative arm, in North America.</p><p>It's also brought on senior advisers like retired Admiral Michael Rogers and Tim Griffin, lieutenant governor of Arkansas to take on consulting assignments.</p><p>To grow its public affairs work, it hired BCW vet Don Baer as a senior partner in Washington, D.C., in 2021.</p><p>The firm has also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-financial-public-relations-pros-edelman-fti-consulting-sard-verbinnen-2020-10#jonathan-doorley-partner-of-financial-situations-brunswick-group-4">hired</a> Jonathan Doorley, formerly of Sard Verbinnen &amp; Co., as a partner in 2017, and promoted Neal Wolin to global CEO and hired CNBC's Nik Deogun as Americas CEO in 2018 to strengthen its financial communications, public affairs, and media expertise.</p><p>"The beauty of the Brunswick platform is that it can open every door you need," said a current executive.</p><h2>Insiders say Brunswick may face retention problems</h2><p>Despite its recent growth, Brunswick's moves has raised questions among some insiders. One former partner questioned if the digital and creative expansion actually responded to clients' needs or was just another way for the agency to sell more services.</p><p>Some insiders also questioned if Brunswick could hold onto its new hires, saying the agency's compensation lags consulting firms like McKinsey and Teneo, which is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pr-industry-salaries-edelman-apco-worldwide-omnicom-wpp-publicis-teneo-2020-8">known for paying</a> its employees hefty six figure salaries.</p><p>"They say they're the McKinsey of PR, but they don't pay like McKinsey," said one former partner.</p><p>Partners used to be able to rely on Brunswick's profit-sharing program to bolster their compensation, but profits at the agency have slid from double digits to the mid-to-low teens after it shovelled resources into new businesses and offices, which now number 24 worldwide.</p><p>That decline, along with long-festering tensions between its US region and London, where Brunswick's founders are based, contributed to more than a dozen partners leaving in 2016 and 2017.&nbsp;</p><p>"They would call the US the territories like we were still a colony," said one former partner.</p><p>One Brunswick partner disputed the idea that the agency didn't pay its employees enough pay wasn't competitive.</p><p>But at the start of the pandemic, Brunswick also unsettled partners by saying it would pause their ability to sell their equity, according to former and current employees. Brunswick gives equity to partners that they can sell once a year on an internal market, and and it's unclear when it will let trading resume.</p><p>A former partner said not being able to sell that equity is a major blow to their compensation and could hurt the firm's ability to recruit and retain the execs it's hired.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brunswick-group-bulks-up-in-creative-digital-public-affairs-2021-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/melissa-maker-clean-your-home-quickly-cleaning-expert-2017-4">A cleaning expert reveals her 3-step method for cleaning your entire home quickly</a></p>
Click here to read full news..