ICCO announces partnership with the Museum of Public Relations
LONDON, August 29—The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) announced today it has formed a partnership with the Museum of Public Relations, the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving the history of the PR field.
The agreement will enable ICCO members to collaborate with the Museum on a number of significant, first-of-a-kind programs, designed to preserve and promote the histories of PR in the countries ICCO represents. The programs include the creation of traveling exhibits, sponsorship of joint research and participation in conferences around the world.
“We believe that these programs will not only heighten visibility for ICCO around the world, but will also raise awareness for its members,” said ICCO President Maxim Behar.
The Museum, a non-profit educational institution founded in 1997, is housed at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York. It serves as the world’s primary repository for artifacts documenting the history of the profession. This includes: original materials from PR’s pioneers, such as, Edward Bernays, Ivy Lee, Paul Garrett, Arthur Page, and John Hill. It also features the world’s largest collection of PR-related films, photos and books—many more than a century old.
“The Museum fills a major gap in the worldwide PR community,” said Behar. “It provides knowledge of the true history of the profession, the legacy of the founders, and the major pioneers over the last century who helped the field become what it is today. This is why we are so proud that ICCO has become a partner with the Museum.”
The Museum and ICCO will soon begin planning for a major exhibition in New York celebrating International PR History—showcasing the various ways the field has developed across the world.
“While the Museum has become the world’s primary repository of PR history, it still, unfortunately, focuses mostly on the United States,” said Museum Founder Shelley Spector.
“This has to change. We trust our partnership with ICCO will help us become far more international in scope, while also working with members to preserve and exhibit their own histories of the field.”
The Museum has hosted more than 2000 students, scholars and practitioners since it opened at Baruch three years ago. Besides its physical exhibits at the college, the Museum also publishes materials on its website that are used in PR classrooms around the world. In addition, the Museum posts daily factoids related to the profession on its Facebook page, which has more than 8200 followers from 67 countries.
“Our partnership with the Museum aims to demonstrate that –while our business has changed tremendously over the years– the principles developed by our founders more than a century ago, particularly, transparency, integrity and ethics, are needed now more than ever,” said Behar.
“We are sure that all our members will benefit from the association with the Museum,” Behar said. “We encourage the entire ICCO network to participate in this most important effort and help preserve for future generations the history of our profession.”
About ICCO
The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the global voice of public relations consultancies, with membership comprising national trade associations, networks, and agencies across 55 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Australasia. Collectively these associations represent over 2,500 PR firms. ICCO’s major events include the ICCO Global Summit and the ICCO Global Awards, and ICCO is a proud sponsor of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and Young PR Lions. ICCO produces the World PR Report, an annual definitive study of the global public relations industry, and provides online training and qualifications across a range of levels and skill sets.
