WHPR @ 40
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS IN BUSINESS
This year Wilson Hartnell Public Relations celebrates its 40th year in business. Established as a company in its own right in 1972, WHPR first saw the light of day as a small division of Wilson Hartnell Advertising, one of the most successful Irish advertising agencies of the 1960s and 1970s.
Michael Maughan, chairman and co-owner of Wilson Hartnell Advertising saw the opportunities presented by the fledgling PR industry. He initially set up WHPR as an in-house division but soon decided to create a standalone company.
In those early days, WHPR was all about consumer PR - new product launches, sponsorships and promotions. While servicing some of the advertising agency clients WHPR swiftly moved to expand the business by acquiring its own client base, a policy that has been a major feature of its success over the past 40 years.
A merger with independent consultancy, Michael O'Reilly & Associates in 1975, saw WHPR add a thriving corporate and financial dimension to the business.
While that merger was relatively short-lived, the corporate/financial dimension of the business continued to expand giving WHPR a strong foothold in both consumer and corporate areas - strengths it has maintained to this day.
The Wilson Hartnell Group was acquired by Ogilvy & Mather in the early1980s and while the advertising business assumed the Ogilvy name, such was the strength of the Wilson Hartnell brand it was agreed by the new owners that the WHPR name would remain, an acknowledgement of the brand's lasting success.
Today that 40 year old brand is still very firmly ensconced at top of the public relations industry in Ireland.