Spin the Agencies of Record

“There are no second acts in American lives.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

North Carolina’s French/West/Vaughan is the PR AOR for former trial lawyer, senator and presidential/vice presidential candidate John Edwards, who announced his return to the law business this week by launching the firm Edwards Kirby five years after his political career came to an end.

F/W/V CEO Rick French says his organization “probably would not have made this [client] public had it not been reported [by a local CBS affiliate]” after interviews appeared in The New York Times, the National Law Journal and other publications.

That coverage made executives “less concerned about talking with the trades about the issue”, hence the subsequent PR Week report on the signing and F/W/V’s plans to avoid “‘delving into the gossipy nature’ of Edwards’ background” by focusing targeted outreach efforts on business reporters who would, in French’s words, “create context for the story” by raising awareness of the new firm and its work with plaintiffs...