Global PR giants buy-up the little guys

A sign of the growing importance of blogs and social media is the recent spate of hirings by the global PR firms. The latest is Richard Edelman's announcement that Steve Rubel is leaving mid-size New York agency Cooper Katz to join Edelman as a Senior Vice President. Edelman has previously snapped up Phil Gomes and Guillaume du Gardier, while Weber Shandwick has hired Jeremy Pepper.

Josh Hallett is asking who will hire Josh Hallett?

The same thought occurs to me. Last year I was approached via a resourcing consultant (headhunter to you and me) and asked to consider joining one of the big agencies. I didn't pursue it beyond the initial phone call as I knew it was never going to be a fit. They wanted me in London, which is a deal breaker, well except for more money than it would be sensible to pay me!

Although I LOVE running my own small consultancy I probably would consider the right offer - mainly because with the backing of the right agency I could do a lot more to move forward many of the ideas I have about how the public relations profession should really be embracing blogs and social media.