Tech Firms
This was a very good year to be a tech PR firm. A
sampling of seven midsize tech PR agencies showed that
they increased their revenues an average of 26% in 2006.
The reason for this is apparent to anyone watching
the industry: the market — on both coasts —
is experiencing a second, if more moderate, Internet
boom compared to the heady days of the late 1990s, with
Web 2.0 startups, social networking sites, and a large
influx of venture capital.
"This is definitely a rising tide lifting all boats,"
says Todd Defren, CEO of Shift Communications, with
offices in San Francisco and Boston. "There is less
money floating around, so the budgets aren't that big,
which is a good thing. The revolution is real this time.
The Internet is here to stay."
Richard Cline, president of Voce Communications, opened
a San Francisco office in 2006, a second location to
his Palo Alto, CA, headquarters. "Money really hit the
streets this year," he adds. Lewis PR had one of the
region's most high-profile new-business wins, with Linden
Lab, producer of online virtual world Second Life, which
itself has become the home-away-from-home for many PR
firms.
Atomic PR had a milestone year, with growth at more
than 42% and the opening of a Los Angeles office. Key
account wins were top Internet names, including Sigma
Designs, BitTorrent, which underwent a major content
launch, business networking site LinkedIn, and Photobucket.
Atomic CEO and cofounder Andy Getsey says the new
wave of tech clients appreciate agencies with specializations
who learned from the first Internet decline.
"The agencies that came through the dot-com crash
intact are providing a caliber of thought and level
of service, and managing their businesses better than
ever before," he says. "And they are bringing their
clients more value than before, too."
Agency executives say this growth is much more measured
— and more thoughtful.
Eastwick Communications principals Barbara Bates and
Elaine Cummings say their biggest challenge this past
year was keeping their agency culture intact while keeping
pace hiring to service new business. Because of its
intense focus on culture, Eastwick says, it has a low
turnover rate of 12%.
"Growth for growth's sake is not a goal at Eastwick,"
Bates points out. "Our growth has been really healthy."
Getsey says the Bay Area is seeing strength across the
tech category, in embedded systems, storage, security,
enterprise applications, and other divisions. There
have been additional spikes in clean tech, social networking,
marketing– related tech, and nonprofit.
Ironically, the tech–industry boom is costing
some agencies their accounts, as their clients get bought
— and this will continue. Getsey says, "You'll
undoubtedly see an uptick in M&A activity because
the economy is strong and the industry is in growth
mode." |
