Public relations agencies grew employment in the past year by focusing on healthcare and government work as business with real estate and automotive clients declined.
The 32 largest public relation agencies in the county by employment increased local jobs 5% to 392 people in the past year, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
Total employment at the agencies rose 4.5% to 420 people.
The growth, surprising to some in the industry, was driven by healthcare and government clients as automakers and real estate companies cut spending amid downturns in their industries.
“In public relations you have to be more of a jack of all trades,” said Rebecca Rose, director of creative and client services at No. 7 Costa Mesa-based ASG Renaissance.
Still, the rate of growth at the agencies slowed from a year earlier, when the firms on our list posted a 10% rise in employment.
Irvine-based PainePR Inc. led the list again this year with 40 local workers, up by seven people, or 21%, from a year earlier. The company, part of Canada’s Cossette Communication Group Inc., has done more targeted marketing with blogs and posts written on behalf of clients on MySpace and other sites.
“We had to take a leap of faith that this blog thing was really going to take off,” said Daryl McCullough, chief executive of PainePR.
The agency also has been doing marketing to moms for Procter & Gamble Co., McCul-lough said.
No. 2 Costa Mesa-based Idea Hall jumped from last year’s No. 5 spot by hiring three people, an 18% increase to 20 local workers.
Idea Hall, known for real estate work, helped offset the sector’s downturn with other clients, including Chapman University in Orange and Santa Ana-based SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union. It’s also gone into Hispanic public relations with work for Baby Loony Toons, the cartoon characters from Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. Entertain-ment Inc.
Even with real estate’s woes, the industry still is a source of work for Idea Hall and others on the list.
“Last June I hired two business development people and put out a plan specifically to diversify and grow in real estate,” said Rebecca Hall, Idea Hall’s chief executive.
No. 3 Maples Communications Inc. in Mission Viejo added one worker, a 6% gain, for a total of 19.
Three companies,Tustin’s Echo Media Group, the Irvine office of New York-based Hill & Knowlton Inc. and Tustin’s WunderMarx Inc.,each tied for the No. 4 spot with 18 workers.
In all, 11 firms reported hiring in the past year. Six saw declines. Ten reported no change. Figures for five agencies are Business Journal estimates.
Surprised by Hiring
Some public relations executives said they were surprised by the number of agencies that reported hiring, saying they don’t know of anyone who hasn’t been directly affected by the economic downturn.
It’s tough out there for any agency with a consumer focus, said Melinda Morgan Kartsonis, chief executive of No. 14 Irvine-based Morgan Marketing and Public Relations LLC.
The shop specializes in restaurant marketing and is hoping for a fourth-quarter pickup after rough second and third quarters.
Newcomer No. 20 Santa Ana-based Douglas Strategic Communications added four people to its eight-person staff.
There were three other newcomers: No. 13 Global Results Communications, up four people to 14, and No. 29 Rancho Santa Margarita-based Comm Strategies and No. 29 Newport Beach-based Estey-Hoover Advertising and Public Relations Inc., both flat at six people each.
Most clients have cut their marketing spending and are closely watching what they do spend, according to Kim Long, founder and president of Echo Media Group.
“The trend is that clients have less time to spend in strategic planning stages,” she said. “They don’t have a three- to six-month window anymore.”
Public Relations Coup
Some agencies have benefited as clients cut more advertising dollars than public re-lations, where they can get results for less money, according to McCullough of PainePR.
For agencies focused on real estate, architectural and engineering firms have remained active, said Jessica Spalding-Thompson, president of No. 7 Irvine-based Amies Communication Inc.
Cities also are a source of work, she said.
“Public sector and government work has been a big part of what we do and we’re working with cities in terms of their brands and repositioning them,” Spalding said.
Agencies focused on automotive also have had to dig deeper.
ASG Renaissance has been working for the National BioDiesel Board in Washington, D.C., a trade association for companies working on alternative fuel vehicles.
The agency has worked for Ford Motor Co. and its former unit Jaguar Land Rover North America LLC, now part of India’s Tata Motors Inc.
ASG Renaissance is looking at opening a New Jersey office with the move of Jaguar Land Rover’s U.S. headquarters from Irvine to Mahwah, N.J.
