Edelman (Public Relations Firm)

Daniel J. Edelman, a New York City native and Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University, formally Columbia University in the City of New York, is a private research university in New York City and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1754 by royal charter from King George II as King's College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in New York State and the fifth oldest in the United States. It was renamed Columbia College in 1784 and adopted the university name and moved to Manhattan's Morningside Heights in 1896. It has 17 schools and four affiliated colleges, with 35,978 students enrolled in fall 2025. Legal scholar Jennifer L. Mnookin became president on July 1, 2026.Open the full entry graduate, worked as a reporter and editor for newspapers in Poughkeepsie, New York; drafted into the Army during World War II, he analyzed German propaganda in a psychological warfare unit, and after the war he worked as a news writer for CBSCBSCBS is an American commercial broadcast television network. It was founded in 1927 as United Independent Broadcasters, renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928, and grew from a radio network into a television network under William S. Paley. With ABC and NBC it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks; it has been owned in turn by Westinghouse, Viacom, ViacomCBS and Paramount Global, has been owned by Paramount Skydance Corporation since 2025, and is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry radio before becoming a publicist for Musicraft Records. In 1947, the hair care company Toni transferred him to Chicago to become its public relations director.⁠[1][1][1][2]

On October 1, 1952, Daniel J. Edelman started his namesake public relations firm in a small office in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart; its first client was Toni, his former employer.⁠[2][3][3]

In 1966, the California wine industry hired Edelman to promote its wines, and Edelman retained movie star Vincent Price as a spokesman and booked him on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. In addition, Daniel Edelman pushed the concept of media tours using radio and television, and hired baseball great Nolan Ryan for Advil.⁠[3][1][1][1]

In 1996, Daniel Edelman’s son Richard Edelman succeeded his father as chief executive officer, while Daniel Edelman remained chairman until his death in 2013. Under Richard Edelman, the firm entered fields including digital, creative, performance marketing and advisory.⁠[4][4]

In September 2000, Edelman acquired the London, Hong Kong and Sydney offices of The Rowland Co., a Saatchi & Saatchi public relations business.⁠[5]

In late September 2006, two bloggers set off across America in a recreational vehicle, stopping in Wal-Mart parking lots and writing the blog “Wal-Marting Across America”; within weeks BusinessWeek reported that the RV, the gas and the blog entries were being paid for by a Wal-Mart public relations organization formed by Edelman. Because Richard Edelman had been promoting blogging on his own blog, Edelman drew perhaps even more criticism than Wal-Mart; guidelines of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), which the firm had helped create, explicitly opposed paid recommendations made without disclosing the relationship.⁠[6][6][6][6][6]

After several days of silence, Richard Edelman apologized on his blog on October 16 and recommitted to the code of ethics. In a subsequent interview he said the firm had been insufficiently transparent about the identity of one of the two bloggers because of staff who were insufficiently experienced, and that mandatory training had been held for the entire workforce in three regions.⁠[6][6][6][6]

Daniel J. Edelman died at a Chicago hospital on January 15, 2013, at the age of 92. The firm then had more than 4,500 employees in 66 offices worldwide, with clients including MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft is a technology company founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 and headquartered in Redmond, Washington, with businesses spanning Windows, Microsoft 365, Azure, enterprise software, artificial intelligence, gaming and devices.Open the full entry, Pfizer, Wal-Mart and Royal Dutch Shell.⁠[1][1][1][1]

The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer, released on January 14, 2024, was the firm’s 24th annual trust survey, sampling more than 32,000 respondents in 28 countries; one of its conclusions was that innovation had become a new risk factor for trust, with respondents saying by nearly a two-to-one margin that innovation was being poorly managed.⁠[7][7][7]

The 2026 edition, released on January 18, 2026, was the 26th annual survey, covering nearly 34,000 respondents in 28 countries. It found that society was sliding from grievance into insularity: seven in 10 respondents were unwilling or hesitant to trust someone with different values, backgrounds or information sources; only 32% believed the next generation would be better off; and business remained the only institution seen as both ethical and competent. Richard Edelman said insularity had emerged as the next crisis of trust.⁠[8][8][8][8][8][8][8][8]

The Edelman Trust Barometer, created by Richard Edelman, is an annual online survey published every January whose report covers a range of societal indicators of trust; the research is produced by the Edelman Trust Institute, and the 2024 edition consisted of 30-minute online interviews.⁠[4][8][8][7]

Edelman’s holding company is Daniel J. Edelman Holdings, chaired by Richard Edelman, who also serves as chair of the sister agency Zeno. As of January 2024, Edelman had about 6,000 people in more than 60 offices, and its specialty companies included Edelman Data x Intelligence (research and data), Edelman Smithfield (financial communications), Edelman Global Advisory (advisory) and United Entertainment Group (entertainment, sports and lifestyle).⁠[4][4][7][7]

Edelman: Official website: https://www.edelman.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[7]