Spinning Back to Earth
By Deborah Branscum

January 29, 2001

Unhappy with your PR agency? Now's the time to shop around.

Less than two years ago Forrester Research proclaimed public relations well worth the monthly retainer of up to $50,000 some agencies demanded—but the landscape has changed.

...The good news for clients is obvious: "The huge minimums have dropped, the demand for 90-day cancellation clauses has been dropped. And installing vice presidents who have maybe one year of experience? PR agencies don't do that anymore," says Shelley Harrison, CEO of Launch Pad, a San Francisco company that manages marketing for startups. "Reality has sunk in and business is almost back to where it should be."

...Which is not to say all earlier excesses are forgiven. Harrison, for example, has been keeping a list of the naughty and the nice. The naughty is longer. "Everybody got fat and happy over the last couple of years, right? Everybody did," she says. "But nobody flaunted it more and nobody took more advantage of their clients than the PR agencies. They were dripping with arrogance." Harrison insists that ad agencies, graphic designers and all manner of other pros were sweetness and light compared to some spinmeisters she met. "I have in my mental list all the PR agencies that were rude and nasty. There were a lot of them."

Maybe so, but agencies can't afford to be perceived as rude any more. It's become tougher to find new business at the same time it's harder to pitch technology stories successfully. Skittish reporters are demanding more proof than ever that the new tech company on the block can deliver on its promises...

©Copyright Fortune.com