Golin CEO: the future is about integration and speed

Newsroom 10/06/2015 | 10:53

Fred Cook, CEO of Golin, started in the PR industry as an account supervisor in the global PR firm’s Los Angeles’s office before moving to Chicago 11 years ago to become the agency’s third CEO. Before joining the corporate ranks aged 36, he had been a cabin boy on a Norwegian tanker, peddled fake Italian leather goods to unsuspecting tourists, run a rock-and-roll record company, started a service chauffeuring drunks home from bars, worked as a doorman at a five-star hotel, been a supply teacher in some of Los Angeles’s worst schools and winged it as a novice tour guide. BR talked to him after the Romanian launch of his book, Improvise.

By Romanita Oprea

You have recently opened offices in Russia and Turkey. Why now, especially with the political climate being so unstable?

We are a little unconventional as a company, so we do not always follow someone else. We like to do things our own way. We felt the timing was good. Russia is an important market; I think it will continue to be one and I am sure that over time the current issues in the political environment will abate and it will be in a good place.

The second part of the answer is that we have worked with our partner there for more than ten years – this is not a new relationship. We have a successful business and we are confident that it will continue to grow. I can say the same thing about Istanbul – we’ve been working with our partner there for four years. It is rebranding as Golin right now, there as well, as we believe a lot in that market.

Both those countries are multicultural – European and Asian at the same time. How do you see this combination working in PR? Do the cultures bring different perspectives and issues?

That’s what makes it so interesting. We are in a business that is about communicating with individuals. There are cultural, political and economic differences in every country. We are very sensitive to that, even when working for global clients. You have to make the message relevant to the people in that particular region, which is why we rely on people like Monica Botez and Hortensia Nastase in Romania, because they live here and understand the country and the cultural sensitivities.

So we make sure that if we do something for a certain client, it makes sense in that market. What works in US is not going to necessarily work in Moscow or Istanbul. That is what makes working in a global environment so exciting. All of our clients are global. McDonald’s is our oldest client and two thirds of its sales are outside the US. So it’s very important to understand the global landscape.

In the advertising sector, Russia did not feel the economic crisis, and clients did not cut budgets as they did in the rest of Europe. Was it the same for the PR industry?

It depends on the client. Even in the US some clients go up, some go down, whether because of the economic situation or their business. But, overall, our business in Russia continues to be healthy and grow.

Do you consider being part of a big communication group a significant advantage on the market?

Here they have the concept of “the big band” that they are all part of and I think that is increasingly the way clients will want to operate. They don’t want ten different agencies for each media channel; they want one group that can do everything for them. We are in a transition right now. It’s not happening everywhere, but I think that the future is going to be much more integrated and much faster. Because with the speed that we are working at these days it’s impossible to produce results with ten agencies.

Groups and networks are consolidating their business locally and incorporating more agencies under their roofs. How do you see this trend evolving both in Romania and worldwide? And will small and medium-sized agencies just disappear?

I think that a lot of them will be purchased by larger companies, because they want a content creative shop or a little digital design shop. A lot will be merged into the bigger firms. But there will probably always be a market for specialists doing something really unique that big companies can’t do and doing it really fast. I think that you’ll see a lot of small content companies or advertising companies whose specialty is creating something in a few hours or a commercial in a day – something that big agencies are unable to do. If they provide a service that is unique, they will survive.

In your book you say that the best advice you can give a teenager is to improvise. Does that apply beyond the communication industry?

I make a distinction between improvising and pretending that you know how to do a certain thing. It’s a very important distinction. I speak to a lot of colleagues and today’s students are scared and have a rigid view of their careers. They have to take the exact same steps in order to get the perfect job the day they graduate. My advice to them is to experiment with life, try new things, get outside your comfort zone: the more experiences and ideas you have, the better for your life and career in the long run.

I think this advice applies to everyone, whether you are an attorney, a banker or a doctor. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have to be good at what you do, that you are faking it. It just means that you have broader experience and you are open to new ideas. Even in the medical world some of the best medicines that have been created have been brought about by improvising, almost by accident. If you follow the same path and you are not open, you will never come up with anything new. So I think that all new ideas come from people who are willing to improvise, willing to think a little differently, and those ideas are important, no matter what business you are in.

What was the best advice that you received when you were younger?

I don’t know if it was advice exactly, but my father always encouraged me to travel. He was always excited about new counties and other cultures. When I was 21 I traveled around the world for three years and it was probably the most valuable experience I have ever had. I think that he was the one who gave me the idea that this could be important. For me it has been the most rewarding and most influential experience of my life.

 

 

 

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