Could Vancouver’s biggest PR firm go the way of the dodo as the Wilcox Group – one of Vancouver’s most established PR firms – recently did?
Patti Schom-Moffatt, founder of Vancouver’s Edelman Vancouver (formerly known as Karyo Edelman Communications) is not hanging it up anytime soon, but acknowledges that had global giant Edelman not acquired the PR firm three years ago, it would be a much different company.
Schom-Moffatt told BIV last week: “I don’t think we would be out of business, but I think we would maybe be a 20-person firm plugging away and not attracting the talent we have.”
“These last two years for our industry were earth-shaking – earth-shattering to some.”
She was referring largely to industry changes brought on by the Internet and the growth of social media like Twitter.
Wilcox Group founder Mat Wilcox recently revealed she was closing down her firm and would become a social media consultant. Her reasons for making a change reportedly included challenges in monetizing social media and a waning passion for the work. She said her recent battle with cancer did not play a role.
She said that with Edelman, which is the largest PR firm in the world, the Vancouver firm has access to the intellectual property and resources needed to tackle the Internet and social media.
“There are people in Edelman whose full-time job is to give us instruction, advice and intellectual property about social media.”
See this week’s print edition of BIV to learn more about Wilcox’s new role as a social media consultant. An upcoming print edition of BIV will feature a profile of Schom-Moffatt.