SourceWatch needs your financial support to survive and thrive. If you've found this information on the people, organizations, and issues shaping the public agenda helpful, please make a tax-deductible donation now.

Ruder Finn

From SourceWatch

Jump to: navigation, search


This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation. Help expose the truth about the tobacco industry.

Ruder Finn (RF) was founded in 1948 and employs approximately 600 people in 15 cities around the world.

Contents

History

In December 2004, O'Dwyer's PR Daily reported that Ruder Finn had been appointed to promote El Al's "status as Israel's national carrier and handle communications regarding the privatization of the airline."[1]

O'Dwyer's reported that the account win was attibuted to RF's "RF's strong commitment to Israel" where it opened an office in 1977. Its offices "in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv serve clients such as General Electric, Pfizer and the Museum of Tolerance," O'Dwyers reported.

Further chapters in RF's history

Ruder Finn pushing islamophobic film

On 14 December 2008, "Facing Jihad" conference which was touted as "a summit of European lawmakers who are united in their shared belief that Islam today poses a serious threat to Western civilization".[2] The conference was hosted by Member of Knesset Dr. Arieh Eldadheld and "co-sponsored by the Ariel Center for Policy Research". It was held at the at the Begin Center in Jerusalem.[3] Speakers included the notorious Geert Wilders, Arieh Eldad, Robert Spencer, Itamar Marcus, Daniel Pipes, Shlomo Sharan, John David Lewis, among others. During the conference the film Fitna was shown, it was distributed to all conference participants, and it was announced that the film would be shown in several European parliaments. The registration address for the conference was Ruder Finn Israel.[4] On its website, Ruder Finn Israel lists the conference as one of its 2008 projects. (Ruder Finn Israel also has Ariel Center for Policy Research as one of its clients).[5]. Ruder Finn Israel is also actively distributing Fitna; one can obtain a free copy of the film by asking Lisa Lidor at lisa@ruderfinn.co.il[6]

The International Free Press Society (Italy) and A Way for Oriana announced that they would host Geert Wilders to present the film Fitna in Rome.[7] The registration to see the film inculded this:

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Elie Klein
Ruder Finn for the IFPS
212-593-5886
kleine@ruderfinn.com
Twitter: facingjihad

Further confirmation of Ruder Finn's involvement in the distribution for the Fitna film and the Facing Jihad conference can be seen in this press release by IMRA. Again, the return address is: Matthew Krieger, Ruder Finn Israel; Tel. (+972) (0) 54-467-6950 matthew@ruderfinn.co.il

Clients

On its website Ruder Finn have a comprehensive listing of both past and present clients, though it doesn't distinguish between the two.[2]

"Ruder Finn clients include world organizations, blue chip companies and brands as well as Fortune 1000 companies," its profile submitted to O'Dwyers PR Daily states.

Staff

Income and Employee Totals

Ruder Finn earned $99,303,000 in net fees in 2006, up 8.2% on the previous year. The firm has 593 employees. It is the second largest independent PR firm in the U.S. after Edelman. [8]

PR Week ranked Ruder Finn as the number three PR agency in the United States in 2008, with 2007 revenue of $76,450,000, a 8% decrease from the previous year's total revenue of $83,150,000. The ranking also notes its staff total of 350 (2006 total: 424), with $218,429 in revenue per employee.[9]

PR Prizes

Prize 1993

Ruder Finn was awarded the Silver Medal of the Public Relations Society of America in the category "crisis communication". NB: This related to its work assisting Croatia/Bosnia sell the war in the Balkans to the American public and evoke a US reaction – bombing Serbia .

Prize 2004

Ruder Finn was again a winner of the 2004 Silver Anvil Medal of the Public Relations Society of America in the "Public service: Associations/Nonprofit Organizations" category for work for SeaWeb, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The project was undertaken jointly by Fenton Communications and Ruder Finn. The project was titled Caviar Emptor: Let The Connoisseur Beware.

Contact details

Ruder Finn
301 East 57th St
New York, NY 10022
Phone: 212/593-6400
Fax: 212/593-6397
Email: rfnewyork AT ruderfinn.com
Web: www.ruderfinn.com/about_main.asp

References

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ↑ "Info", Facing Jihad website, accessed February 2009.
  3. ↑ "Facing Jihad", Facing Jihad website, accessed February 2009.
  4. ↑ The return email of the conference registration was to a Ruder Finn email address: Gabriella@ruderfinn.co.il
  5. ↑ Ruder Finn Israel, "2008 Clients", Ruder Finn Israel website, accessed February 2009.
  6. ↑ just send an email request for the film Fitna to that address for verification
  7. ↑ announcement (13 Feb 2009) NB: After the event the registration details were removed. The orignal can still be seen in the google cache.
  8. ↑ "2006 Worldwide Fees of independent Firms With Major U.S. Operations", accessed June 2007.
  9. ↑ "2008 Agency Rankings," PR Week, 28 April 2008.

External links

Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ruder_Finn"
Personal tools

Be a SourceWatcher!

Enter your e-mail address to get the Center for Media and Democracy's free weekly e-newsletter.