Freud Communications Limited is a public relations firm based in London. It was founded in 1985 by Matthew Freud. He is the great-grandson of the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who himself was the uncle of Edward Bernays, the Austrian-American pioneer of public relations.
Overview In 1994, Freud Communications was acquired by the independent British advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers (AMV), for approximately £10 million. In 2001, Matthew Freud, along with several partners, repurchased the company for a similar amount. The buybac occurred in the same year that AMV as acquired by the US-based communications group Omnicom.Hopkins, Nic (2005) Matthew Freud, The Times, June 17, Friday p. 55Ford, Emily (2010) Freud may break away from Publicis, The Times Thursday November 25, Page 63.
In June 2005, the French Publicis Groupe (then the third largest communications firm in the world) acquired a 50.1% stake in Freud Communications. In 2006, Freud purchased advertising agency DFGW. Sweney, Mark (2011) Matthew Freud to buy back PR agency for the second time, The Guardian, Sunday 13 March (Accessed April 2013)Andrews, Amanda (2011) Matthew Freud buys back his PR firm from Publicis, The Telegraph 15 Apr (Accessed April 2013)
Freud Communications also operated a United States office in New York City, until its closure in February 2009.
In 1999 Leapman reported in The Times that Freud Communications had offered an Internet brand management service to its clients. This would "scour the Net for references to its clients" and if they were criticised, "the agency would use rebuttal tactics to minimise the potentially negative impact of online inaccuracy".Leapman, Michael (1999) Trade Digest The Times, June 11, Friday In 2007 PR Week ran a story documenting the use of WikiScanner to track anonymous edits and link them to organizations through their IP addresses; it found that "Freud Communications' London office was caught making Wikipedia edits on behalf of clients."Tool draws attention to firms' Wikipedia edits, Shah, Aarti PR Week, 31 August 2007 (Accessed April 2013)
In 2011, Freud Communications had a turnover of around £40 million per year. It has a staff of more than two hundred and was ranked by PR Week in their ranking system as 6th in the UK.PR Week:Top-150-league-table 2011 (Accessed April 2013)
Clients Baby Cow Productions Formula E Lewis Hamilton Mindhorn Mo Farah Working Title
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