Platform picking up the pieces for fragmented media market.

Henry Eshelman sees a wave of consolidation coming to the public relations industry and he's put himself on its crest.

Last month, he sold his Los Angeles-based agency Public Eye to Platform Media Group, which he calls a new type of media conglomerate.

"Whenever things consolidate, it provides opportunities for the small fish," said Eshelman, now a principal at PMG. "You can see the cycle in the recording industry, where the small labels support new acts, then the big companies buy up the small labels, the talent feels they get no love, they defect or start their own small labels, new groups crop up, and the whole cycle starts all over again."

The impetus for the current reconfiguration is the increasingly fragmented media environment. A hit television show, for example, now can have seven lives: first-run broadcast, syndication, the Web, mobile, podcast, DVD, and international sales. Established PR agencies simply can't get their arms around this complex reality, according to Aaron Kaufman, chief executive at PMG.

"If you look at the current TV upfronts, the number of platforms has grown," Kaufman confirmed. "There's pressure from marketers to surround the consumer with their message. We want to fracture the message and surround the consumer with the pieces."

To accomplish that, Kaufman has assembled PMG, a collection of PR agencies and allied marketing entities. Kaufman describes his acquisitions as "a Legion of Super-Friends," a reference to a classic comic book in which a group of heroes is assembled, each with a particular skill.

So far, Kaufman has hooked up Eshelman's company, a specialist in corporate branding; Mantra Media, a New York-based PR agency; Faya LLC, a digital design studio; and Siri Garber's Platform Public Relations, a Hollywood boutique agency focused on up-and-coming celebrities.

Other strategic thinkers have tried to assemble a PR dream team, but approached it from the perspective of a big fish eating small ones. Instead, PMG consists of a string of small shops without a dominant corporate parent. Kaufman acquired the companies with financial backing from Spackman Group, a $1.4 billion private equity fund based in Hong Kong, but generally works with a ground-up, rather than top-down management style. "Our goal isn't to be the biggest PR firm; it's to be a new kind of company," he said.

For Eshelman, PMG marks his second time through the PR consolidation cycle, During his 18 years at BWR, which became a subsidiary of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, he lived through an attempt by a large PR conglomerate to absorb Hollywood agencies.

The project derailed because the corporations believed that buying up these boutique agencies would grant them instant access to the celebrities, but Hollywood doesn't work that way. Eshelman remembers clients in New York requesting price quotes for celebrity appearances without specifying the type of person they wanted. Operatives were dispatched to check on availability without knowing so much as the gender, age or appeal of the personality they were supposed to locate.

Hollywood PR works in the opposite direction. "If I want Brad Pitt, first I narrow the focus as much as possible," said Eshelman, "so if his guy says yes, then we have a deal."

PMG provides a perfect laboratory for meshing different corporate cultures, he believes. "If I had a lesson or advice, it would be that you have to be connected to these subsidiaries by a rubber band, not an iron rod," Eshelman explained.

Glam factor

While media platforms and consumer attention has fragmented in recent years, the structure of traditional PR agencies hasn't changed to reflect the new realities. "The conglomerates have lots of agencies, but not one that can start at the beginning of the process and follow it," said Kaufman.

PMG's competitive advantage lies in its ability to start with the disparate media options and work backwards to the client's brand. Each medium--events, online, broadcast, outdoor, print--allows one more point of contact between the brand and the consumer.

National Lampoon Inc., a client of PMG, illustrates the approach. Although National Lampoon has a TV network for colleges, a unit that develops feature films, a campus events tour and a comedy Web site, it wants more contact with 18- to 24-year-old males, its core audience. The company called PMG's Eshelman for advice. "What I like is their ability to help us to take a 360-degree view of the marketplace." said Barry Layne, executive vice-president.

Name game

The assumption by PMG of the Platform name, which formerly belonged to Garber's Hollywood boutique, speaks to the importance celebrities and name recognition play in the company's strategy. A well-known personality maintains continuity for a brand in an otherwise cluttered media atmosphere.

Garber believes PMG has come together at a time when celebrities and brands both feel dissatisfaction with the status quo.

"We'll see a turn in the next years as A-list clients start leaving the big companies," she predicted, suggesting that celebrities realize their value to brands but want to profit from it in ways that fit their image. For example, Eshelman believes the practice of "gifting events," in which upscale brands hold parties and shower attending celebrities with free products, has peaked in popularity. It has made some celebrities appear like moochers, always trying to get freebies. From the brand's perspective it sends the message that celebrities don't have to pay for the merchandise.

To create more natural venues for celebrities to market brands, PMG eventually plans to produce content for films, TV, events and the Internet. Garber added that the company might even go into fashion and cosmetics. Financial backing for these ventures would come out of Spackman's deep pockets, according to Kaufman, who is continuing to look for acquisition targets headed by entrepreneurs with niche talents that can fill out the company's portfolio of services.

It's clear that Eshelman's faith in a business plan built on smaller components hasn't completely extinguished the hyperbolic flair of a PR veteran. When discussing the company's long-term plan to expand into Asia, where Spackman is based, Eshelman returned to his "think big" roots.

"Our plan is basically first Asia, then Europe and then the world," he said.

By JOEL RUSSELL

Staff Reporter