ABSTRACT
This article traces the international development of public relations agencies beginning in North America and Europe and later in Asia and the Pacific. In the beginning much of this growth focused on Hill & Knowlton and Burson-Marsteller efforts in Europe, first in Switzerland and later in the United Kingdom and other countries. Soon Edelman entered the scene. Outside of the American influence, the paper traces the considerable global success of Eric White and his Australia-based operations plus the work of Tim Traverse-Healy in the U.K., Jacques Coup de Frejac in France, and Tokyo-based Taiji Kohara in Japan and the Asia-Pacific. Kohara founded the International Public Relations (IPR) network that at one point had offices in 43 countries. Today all of the world’s major PR firms have an international presence. The paper also explores the role played in international expansion by global holding companies, especially WPP, Omnicom, and Interpublic. The article also focuses on some of the major personalities in the international expansion of PR firms including John Hill, Harold Burson, and Dan Edelman.
