Old firm reunite in PR business

Two of the public relations industry's longest serving practitioners, Cedric Allan and Malcolm Boyle, have got together in a new PR business.

The two, who have been working in the industry since the early 70s, have formed Allan Boyle Associates Ltd. They say it will offer clients the "benefits of senior communications professionals offering personal service."

Too often, they say, clients only see senior people during the initial stages of a project. Thereafter it is handled by junior staff.

"There is a demand today for experienced people who can handle strategic projects and know what they're doing," Mr Allan says.

"There's an expectation from clients that the senior person they meet initially will actually do the project, and since Malcolm and I actually like doing PR rather than running factories, that's where we're coming from."

Mr Allan says for that reason, almost all of the staff at Allan Boyle Associates Ltd will be senior people. Among those who have or who are joining the consultancy are the public affairs manager of Auckland City Council John May, former Tradenz marketing manager Sue Warren, Jane Clement, who has had a career in both inhouse and consulting positions in Australia, and long-time local practitioner Tony Edmonds.

The company has already picked up significant new business, Mr Allan says, including Challenge Petroleum, HIH Insurance and Genesis Energy. It has also handled the recent Force Corporation/Ihug merger.

The firm is also launching a new operation which will specialise in executive placements in the PR industry.

"With the time that Malcolm and I have spent in the business, we have got to know vast numbers of people in PR in New Zealand, Australia and Asia," Mr Allan says. "As a result, we're forever being asked by clients and recruitment consultancies to share that knowledge with them, so we've decided to turn that into a commercial business."

Allan Boyle Associates Ltd is the fourth major public relations business for Mr Allan, who in the 70s was one of the founding shareholders of Allan Fenwick McCully. The two others in that firm were Rob Fenwick who is now a prominent environmentalist and businessman, and Murray McCully who went on to become a National Government cabinet minister.

After the sale of that business in 1985, Mr Allan set up Phoenix Public Relations which he sold in 1996, and then formed Cedric Allan Associates.

Mr Boyle worked in corporate PR and with Allan Fenwick McCully before starting Baldwin Boyle Group with Brenda Baldwin in 1981. He sold out his shareholding in that company last year and has since split his time between several corporate PR projects and the Auckland Warriors, which he bought in partnership with Graham Lowe and Tainui two years ago.