Forming a new trade association from scratch would be a challenge in any industry, but it’s a whopping headache in the P.R. business.
Public relations executives have never been particularly unified about anything, especially when it comes to things like ethical standards and political stances. The nation’s dominant P.R. association, the Public Relations Society of America, has long been so split by infighting and apathy that a whole generation of P.R. executives is barely aware of its existence.
But Jack Bergen and the other founders of the national Association of Public Relations Firms think the industry is ready for a powerful trade group that will police ethical standards, improve the reputation of the industry as a whole and help agency heads run their businesses.
So far, the fledgling association has 60 member agencies, including nine of the 10 biggest P.R. companies in the country. But Bergen acknowledges that attracting the small and mid-sized, independent agencies is proving a challenge especially in Los Angeles and throughout the West Coast.
So far, only two L.A.-based agencies have signed on as members: Century City-based Rogers & Associates and Beverly Hills-based entertainment specialist Bragman Nyman Cafarelli. The others appear to be either biding their time to see whether the group turns into anything, or simply turned off by the notion of trade associations.
“You’ve got to ask yourself, what did (the PRSA) ultimately do for the business? You’ve got to wonder if this is just another version of the PRSA under another name,” said Lee Helper, president of West L.A.-based Bender, Goldman & Helper. “It seems like just another take on an organization that has not really succeeded in helping the industry overall.”
While the PRSA’s membership is made up of individual P.R. executives, the APRF members are firms. To attract the smaller companies, dues are set according to a sliding scale member agencies pay 0.065 percent of their U.S. revenues, or a minimum of $2,500 a year or maximum of $50,000.
Just the fax, ma’am
This may come as a surprise to some direct-marketing agencies, but sending unsolicited ads by fax is against the law. And some fax marketers may be forced to pay the price.
A class-action lawsuit was recently filed in L.A. Superior Court on behalf of everybody in California who has ever received an unsolicited ad via fax. Only 13 companies and individuals are so far named as defendants including the Westin Century Hotel & Plaza in Century City, which apparently faxed its ad to the wrong lawyer but the list of defendants is likely to expand as more “victims” join the suit.
A little-known federal law passed in 1991 called the Telephone Consumer Protection Act makes it illegal to send unsolicited faxed advertisements. Those receiving such ads are entitled to sue for actual damages the cost of paper, toner, machine wear, etc. borne from receiving the fax or $500 for each violation, whichever is more.
The two plaintiffs are attorney Barry Kaufman, who has a private practice in Century City, and Kathleen Wood. Kaufman launched the suit after getting fed up with the dozens of fax ads he was receiving every month.
“The law is designed to prevent businesses from shifting advertising costs onto the consumer, which is what these companies (the defendants) are doing,” said attorney Nicholas P. Connon of downtown L.A.-based Cochran-Bond & Connon LLP, which filed the suit on behalf of Kaufman and Wood.
Daring the market
With Wall Street turning manic depressive, the market for public offerings has all but dried up but that isn’t discouraging a quirky marketing firm in Studio City from testing the IPO waters.
Genesis Media Group Inc. has concentrated mainly on infomercials, print ads and telemarketing in its five-year history. Last year, 86 percent of its revenues were generated from just two product lines, the best known of which were audio and video products related to the best-selling tome “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.”
Lately, the company has been jumping into e-commerce, especially as it relates to retail kiosks. These interactive stations are placed in malls, and allow shoppers to call up information about stores, wedding registries, and other data, as well as to order products.
Genesis Media is looking to raise more than $17 million through its offering, with an initial offering price of $11 per share. The proceeds will be used to pay down debt and fund expansion, with $2 million to be set aside for expanding its network of kiosks. The company currently has three kiosks operating in malls, and Chief Executive Ramy El-Batrawi plans to increase that to 300.
Possibly confusing investors is the fact that there is another company, whose stock trades on the OTC Bulletin Board, called Genesis Media Group Inc. El-Batrawi said that company, a post-production and soundtrack firm based in Culver City, plans to change its name soon.
Calls to the Culver City company were not returned.
News Editor Dan Turner writes a weekly column on marketing for the Los Angeles Business Journal.
