Bell Pottinger mixes PR and search in digital comms initiative

Bell Pottinger Group gathered a mixed bunch of clients, its own people plus (as in my case) suppliers this morning to reveal their digital PR initiative it calls 'Search Relations'.

Hat's off to Chris Satterthwaite, CEO of Bell Pottinger parent Chime Communications, for having the guts to nurture this move. I think it's an example to the PR and search marketing industries, regardless of whether it is the birth of a genuine new agency or more of a marketing exercise.

Paul Mead, the managing director of Chime Group's search marketing agency VCCP Search and now the MD of Search Relations, explained how "opportunities are falling through the gaps between agencies". Thus the Search Relations remit, which is to combine the skills of PR and search people.

I asked Paul who becomes the lead agency when PR and search agencies work together and without hesitation he said it must be the PR agency. This, coming from the head of a search agency which was initially aligned with Chime's advertising brand VCCP, is proof if ever you need it that search and PR are more natural partners than search and advertising.

I'm not totally convinced the future is a new breed of integrated PR-plus-search agencies - I believe all PR professionals must learn digital media tactics, consult clients on digital strategies and work with search agencies as a matter of course. But  Bell Pottinger's Search Relations is a powerful symbol of how digital media has become a fundamental part of PR activity.

Paul put it well when he said: "PR is the lead agency, search just turbocharges the message."