On 1 October 1988 – 35 years ago – Douglas Wright founded Wrights. A lot has changed in communication over that time. Here he reflects on the history of the company, its achievements including some landmark campaigns, and its future.
Can you take us back to the beginning? What inspired you to start Wrights 35 years ago?
DW: Public relations and communication were in 1988 very much a subset of advertising. The challenge of trying to get your message out without spending the big bucks was left to PR people. It was the more cost-effective alternative. This was before online influencers or widespread paid advertorial existed, so you really needed to be creative and quite strategic to win any coverage. I knew editorial communication had a lot more power with consumers than advertising. There was research evidence that people gave a credibility factor to articles they saw on television, heard on radio, saw in the paper. PR had a lot more to offer and if executed properly, people would be prepared to pay more for it. The obvious course of action was to go out and try it on my own.
And you put your name on it.
DW: Yes, that was interesting putting my name on it. I actually went to a branding expert. I hadn’t given a lot of thought to the name of the business. The expert said you need a hero and “that’s obviously got to be you”. I wasn’t really in favour of using my name. He said you’ve got to talk about what you do, which is marketing communications. And you talk about your audience. So, we became Wright Business Marketing, trading as Wrights. Now it’s where most of our business comes from, people knowing and respecting the name.
Reflecting on your journey, what is Wrights’ proudest achievement?
DW: The number of people who have worked for me in 35 years and had their start in PR and have gone on to do terrific things in PR and communication and with their lives. While I don’t keep in contact with them all, I do follow their careers. There are literally hundreds of people who have started their career with Wrights. The company at one stage had three offices and 30-odd employees. Without a doubt, the firm’s proudest achievement is the number of people who’ve managed to get their start here and have gone on to be quite influential and very successful in the communication game around Australia and the world.
How has the public relations landscape evolved since the company’s inception, and how did you adapt to these changes?
DW: The obvious answer would appear to be technology but that’s the wrong answer. PR has evolved to become far more important for very good reason. Corporations, organisations and governments give far more credibility to reputation than they did 35 years ago. Quite often reputational impact was an afterthought, but now with online exposure and the way in which indiscretions can be revealed very quickly and widely, it’s far easier to be caught out. Thankfully, behaviour has largely improved, gained more importance and with good governance formally recognising reputation comes as a result of behaviour. Public relations has advanced from being seen as trying to cover things up to trying to influence the behaviour in order to protect and enhance reputations.
What do you believe sets Wrights apart in the competitive world of PR?
DW: We listen and then we act strategically. We listen to what the real issue is, and we keep asking questions and delve deeper and get to it. Quite often a client may not see what the real issue is. They see what they think it is, or see what they’ve been told it is, but if you ask the right questions and keep listening, you’ll get to the bottom of it. It’s a bit like being a therapist to some extent. When you get to the bottom of an issue you can think about a strategic approach. So, listening and acting strategically with a single objective is what we have always tried to do.
Can you share any key lessons or strategies that have contributed to the company’s longevity and success?
DW: Our key messaging workshop is a major strategy where we assess the environment in which the client is working. We determine with the client senior management team all the factors that are going to affect the client and then we tailor our communications to consider all those factors. If, as a consultant, you are not fully aware of the circumstances surrounding your clients’ operations then it’s almost impossible to deliver an effective communication plan. You need to be aware of the business plan and understand the marketing plan before you can write a communication plan. At a senior level you must insist on having access to the Chairman and the CEO. It’s almost impossible to do a good job for a company if you aren’t comfortable moving around the board and the C-suite, and they’re not comfortable with you. You shouldn’t be dealing with a client where anyone on the C-suite doesn’t know who you are. All those relationships are essential. And that’s why Wrights succeeds, having those relationships and building trust.
Over the years, what have been some of the most impactful campaigns or projects that Wrights has been a part of?
DW: Going back 35 years there have been hundreds if not thousands of campaigns over that time. We launched the Spring Racing Carnival in Victoria. We helped bring all the racing clubs together to agree to have one Carnival and work together. We launched the first ‘face of the Carnival’. In 2000, no one had had a ‘face of the Carnival’. Another highly visible campaign was Shell which decided to get back into motorsport. I helped bring a collection of races around Australia together and called them the Shell Touring Car Championship which subsequently became V8 Supercars. Later Shell decided to go back into Formula 1 by entering into a sponsorship with Ferrari and they came to Wrights in Australia and asked us if we’d run their communication, so we opened an office in London. The launch of Bunnings and the sausage sizzle into the eastern market of Australia was quite sensational. And the launch of Australia’s first online bank, ING Direct. We effectively launched online banking and we asked the Deputy Treasurer to promote it. Being part of the Hungry Jack’s success story including the 50-year celebrations was a pleasurable highlight. Working with the Prime Minister to launch Job Network (now Centrelink) was memorable. And then there is all the stuff we can’t talk about, which is of course the nature of crisis and issues communication.
How do you foster a culture of creativity and innovation within your team to stay at the forefront of the industry?
DW: I try to get people into the moment. If they’re coming to a brainstorm, we ask them to forget anything else, don’t bring a computer or a phone, just their brain, their creativity and intellectual freedom. You encourage everyone in the room to have an idea and you listen and give it due respect. You need to believe everyone can have a good idea because if you don’t, you don’t listen to them properly, then you’re going to miss stuff. And they have to believe it too. Some of the best ideas come from the quietest person in the room and the person you might least expect to have the best idea. Open your mind and go in with a positive attitude that everyone in that room is capable of contributing something. And we’ve come up some fantastic ideas as a result of that.
Looking ahead, what are your aspirations and goals for Wrights in the coming years?
DW: It’s hard to differentiate between my personal aspirations and my business aspirations, and there’s always been a confluence of the two. I think the biggest thing I would love to be able to do is through good communication to help people differentiate the truth from disinformation. The truth has rarely been as under threat as it is now. It is so easy to misinform or just plain lie. We’ve politicians and corporate executives who refuse to answer questions and lie and get away with it because often the media is not doing its job. It becomes the job of professional communicators to do the job the media should be doing. The aspiration is for Wrights and firms like Wrights to gain respect as honest traders to fill the gap that’s been vacated by populist politicians, unethical and unskilled business people and some media that make poor editorial decisions.
