When a story is pitched to a journalist or even a member of the Twitterati, there’s a good chance it was helped along by the team on the 7th floor of One Prudential Plaza in Chicago.
That’s where Cision, a leading public relations technology firm, has set up shop this year, linking brands to print, broadcast and online reporters in the evolving digital media landscape.
Cision provides software and services for PR firms and corporate clients to promote story ideas across traditional and social media, allowing firms to publish releases and track brand mentions in news stories. The company has more than 100,000 clients worldwide.
Bolstered by acquisitions and backed by funding from Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR, Cision is expanding its reach and reinventing itself for the digital age, where connecting with an influential blogger may be no less important than with a mainstream reporter in getting a story told.
“If you look at some of these individuals that have a quarter million people following them, if you’re a brand talking about an issue or a product in their stream, it’s just as effective as getting an article placed for a brand to tell their story,” said Peter Granat, 45, CEO of Cision.
The company started as a Swedish press clipping service in 1892 but also has deep roots in Chicago. Cision bought Bacon’s Information, a venerable Chicago-based media directory long known as the public relations industry bible, in 2001.
GTCR acquired Cision last year, relocating its headquarters from Stockholm to Chicago. The company has been on an M&A tear, merging with PR software firm Vocus last year, and adding social media analytics company Viralheat to its portfolio in March.
The October acquisition of London-based media intelligence firm Gorkana Group for a reported $200 million, is on hold pending review by British regulators over concerns it may be anti-competitive. Cision cannot fully integrate Gorkana and may have to divest of some British assets before getting final approval, Granat said.
With the combinations and the acquisitions, Cision generates about $370 million in annual revenue and has 2,000 employees in nine countries. The Chicago headquarters is home to about 300 employees, including software developers, salespeople and analysts, whose space has an open floor plan, adjustable desks, a snack bar and the requisite high-tech ambience.
Granat joined Cision in late 2003, when the company acquired Boston-based PR technology firm MediaMap, where he was senior vice president of sales. He has since risen through the executive ranks at Cision in various roles and was named CEO in 2013. He has been based in Chicago for most of his tenure, other than running the European division out of London from 2009 to 2011.
Granat sat down for a Tribune interview recently from Cision’s Chicago offices. What follows is an edited transcript.
Q: Your software gives brands a platform to pitch stories beyond traditional journalists. How does that work?
A: Our software tools ingest the Twitter feed as well as other social feeds. We have the Twitter handle, we’re pulling in your tweets, seeing what you write about. We might have your background. We have all of that online and a quick place to access it and look at how I build a relationship and place my client’s brand.
Q: How does a brand build a relationship with a social media influencer?
A: You would follow them, start to comment on them, maybe hashtag them, start to engage with them. You would share a piece of content that they published. Just like the old days of building a relationship offline, you try and build that relationship and connection online. Someone who has a big following can be even more influential than a reporter.
Q: More brands are publishing their own content in a bid to engage consumers directly. How important is social media to the success of that strategy?
A: We have clients like Cisco, for example, that create content around the industry and publish that on some of the sites and properties that they run. If they can get individuals that have a big following in that category to share that story, it drives traffic back to the Cisco blog. We identify who those individuals are in our software.
Q: Federal Trade Commission rules require bloggers to disclose compensation when endorsing or reviewing products. Do brands commonly compensate bloggers for promotion?
A: Some do, but most do not. It’s their currency of being able to share information around a particular subject matter that’s unique. Like a traditional reporter, getting a scoop, a unique piece of content, also drives a blogger.
Q: Your company started by tracking press clippings. How have the metrics for determining the success of a story evolved?
A: For large brands, we create custom dashboards looking at the number of impressions and multiplying it as it gets shared across social. We also look at the sentiment of their coverage, and then we’re benchmarking them against other brands.
Q: When and how does the Gorkana deal become finalized?
A: Hopefully we’ll have this done by June and move forward with the integration of Gorkana within the overall portfolio. We’re providing information to regulators and offered up some remedies around competition. That might include divesting of our previously owned Cision UK and Vocus UK, which are smaller entities than Gorkana.
Twitter @RobertChannick
