This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 65.107.199.34 (talk) at 22:14, 2 November 2006 (→External links). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 22:14, 2 November 2006 by 65.107.199.34 (talk) (→External links)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Ruder Finn is an United States public relations firm.
Founded in 1948 by David Finn and William Ruder, Ruder Finn is a privately held, family-owned communications agency with over 450 employees. The leader in many areas of public relations, Ruder Finn has a strong global presence in healthcare, technology, consumer, interactive, media, arts and culture, and environmental programming.
Originally called Art In Industry, Inc., their first client as Ruder & Finn was Perry Como. His success that year led to other celebrity clients, including Dinah Shore, Frankie Laine, The Mills Brothers, Jack Lemmon and Rosalind Russell.
External links
Bill Ruder and David Finn were childhood friends who, in 1948, decided to start a business which would focus on what was then an innovative concept. The idea was to interest the business community in fine arts programs as a way of achieving corporate public relations benefits, and in the process provide new sources of support for contemporary artists. They originally called their company Art In Industry, Inc. and had their first office in a tiny space that was the linen closet of the Lombardy Hotel at 111 East 56th Street in Manhattan. They were both 27 years old.
A prominent lawyer friend, Jack Katz, was impressed by the comprehensive presentation they had put together for Art In Industry and suggested that they apply their creativity to other fields as well. He helped them get their first client (for what they then decided to call Ruder & Finn Associates) to promote the records of a young singer named Perry Como. At the end of the first year of working together, Perry Como won first place on the "Billboard" poll of the most popular recording artists and he took out a full page advertisement thanking Bill Ruder and David Finn for their fine work. Subsequently Ruder Finn had many other top entertainment figures as clients, including Dinah Shore, Frankie Laine, The Mills Brothers, Jack Lemmon and Rosalind Russell. That was the beginning of what later became a broad-gauged public relations firm.
The founders never lost the original commitment to the arts and over the years they have been credited with having given important impetus to the whole concept of corporate involvement in the cultural world. A key element of the firm's tradition, this role is today carried on by its division, Arts & Communications Counselors.
Over the years Ruder Finn grew rapidly as a leader in a variety of special areas of public relations. It devoted considerable energy to pioneering health care marketing activities, developing a premier position in science programming. Today the firm has one of the world's largest dedicated health care groups with considerable depth and breadth of agency expertise. It also has a strong global presence in technology, engineering and environmental programming. Other major specializations in the company include Corporate Relations, Public Affairs, Government Affairs, Professional and Financial Services, Investor Relations, Consumer/Product Marketing, Lifestyle Marketing, High Tech, Visual Technology, Design/Publishing, Crisis Communications, Travel/Hospitality, International. It was the first public relations firm to develop a field network of affiliates around the country and later around the world. It was also the first to develop a public relations research facility, Research & Forecasts, Inc., a full-fledged design division and a publications division.
In 1960, Bill Ruder was appointed by President Kennedy as Assistant Secretary of Commerce and took a two-year leave of absence from the firm. He later wrote a book with co-author Ray Nathan entitled A Businessman's Guide to Washington (MacMillan). In 1980 he formed his own personal consulting firm while continuing to be a stockholder in Ruder Finn and a member of its board. His office is located in the New York headquarters of the firm.
David Finn became one of the leading writers on public relations and business. His books include Public Relations and Management and The Corporate Oligarch. His articles have appeared in The Harvard Business Review, Harper's, Fortune, Marketing News, The Saturday Review, Across the Board, Reader's Digest and other publications. He has also won recognition as a photographer with over 50 books of his photographs published, from the sculpture of ancient Egypt to the 20th century sculpture gardens in the mountains of Japan. His work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, the Art Gallery of Toronto, the Yale Center for British Art and in a number of galleries in the U.S. and abroad.
Ruder Finn's New York headquarters is today the second largest in the city. It also has major offices in Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, Raleigh, Paris, London and the Pacific Rim. At various times during its history the firm has had wholly-owned offices in San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, St.Louis, Atlanta, New Orleans, San Juan, Milan, Rome, Geneva, Toronto, Jerusalem, Stockholm and Tokyo. Today the firm's policy is to have wholly-owned offices only where clients can be served best by a full-service staff. Special assignments are handled in cities throughout the world by partners and affiliates. The Ruder Finn Field Network in the U.S. alone today includes affiliates in 100 cities.
Clients of Ruder Finn have included many Fortune 500 corporations as well as small and mid-sized growth companies, trade associations, colleges and universities, visual and performing arts institutions, foundations, professional firms and non-profit organizations. The firm has worked at every level of city, state and federal government, and for many foreign governments including Argentina, Colombia, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Thailand and Zaire.
As a privately held, family-owned company, management is committed to remaining independent and to running the firm very much in the spirit of a partnership. Its aim is to provide an environment in which top professionals can achieve their own personal goals while providing a valuable service to clients. Ruder Finn's commitment to independence assures its employees and its clients that it will give the highest priority to the values which are basic to its tradition. Management believes that the staff deserves to be the primary beneficiaries of the firm's success and that management's responsibility is to maintain good business practices and assure effective performance for clients. Continued growth provides opportunities for professional development and long-term security for the firm.
Early in its history, Ruder Finn recognized that ethical behavior is not something that can be decreed but rather requires continuous self-examination. As a result, Ruder Finn established an Ethics Committee to consult with outside scholars to study the ethical aspects of issues which arise in the course of the practice of public relations. Many decisions in the areas of human resources, client acceptance and staff assignments have been made as a result of discussions in Ethics Committee meetings.
The offices of Ruder Finn are surrounded by works of art and the walls of its conference rooms are lined with quotations from different sources combined with photographs of sculpture reminding the staff that original thinking is one of the firm's hallmarks. A series of portfolios of these "Thoughts & Images" have been published over the years for the benefit of clients, friends and in some cases for sale to the public.
Strategic planning skills in public relations require a knowledge of a client's business, an awareness of social, economic and political trends and a capacity to develop a perspective on future trends. Ruder Finn's background as an intellectual and cultural leader in the field of public relations, combined with its extensive involvement with the top management of major corporations, its unique research capability and its strong marketing orientation, has enabled the firm to function at the highest level of strategic planning for its clients.
Ruder Finn has the most comprehensive executive development program in the public relations business. Between thirty and forty interns are selected each year for a 4-month training program in which there are regular classes as well as work assignments. Five hundred to six hundred applications are received each semester from individuals with undergraduate degrees as well as M.A., M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees. Interns also include young executives who have had work experience in other fields and would like to change to public relations. The firm usually hires the top individuals from this program for its permanent staff.
There are many specialists at Ruder Finn who have extensive experience in different fields. There are also a number of subsidiary divisions which represent key elements of the company's structure.
Arts & Communications Counselors is the largest organization of its kind in a public relations agency. It provides services for corporations sponsoring arts programs as well as for museums and arts groups.
Ruder Finn Design is one of the most outstanding design facilities in any public relations firm and represents Ruder Finn's commitment to visual as well as verbal communication.
Visual Technology produces VNRs, video and film features, hologram and laser displays and other projects involving cutting edge technology.
Public Relations Production (PRP) is responsible for all of Ruder Finn's extensive printing and mailing services, maintaining client mailing lists on computer tapes and producing and distributing an enormous volume of printed materials each year. PRP is also a Specialty Advertising Agency, a prime source of advertising specialties and premium gifts.
Over the years members of the staff have written many articles and given speeches at important occasions. Reprints are available for members of the staff as are a series of brochures describing Ruder Finn capabilities in different fields. Case histories of work done for clients in a variety of fields are also available.
Each year the firm presents Paul Zucker Awards for staff achievements that exemplify the values which are part of our tradition. Paul Zucker was executive vice president of the firm until his tragic death at the age of 43 in 1967 and these awards carry on the dedication to excellence and integrity which his accomplishments represented.
Thus Ruder Finn looks to the future with a sense of history about its origins and a feeling of excitement about the opportunities that lie ahead. The quality of services rendered by the firm increases as new people join the staff and bring their individual experiences to bear on the way public relations at Ruder Finn is practiced. Management's long term goal is to encourage initiative by all members of the staff as we explore new horizons, keeping in mind that continuity of commitment is central to the firm's character and key to its future direction.
Category: