Byoir, Carl

Carl Byoir created and ran, until his death in 1957, one of the largest and most successful public relations firms in United States history. The firm was unique in many ways, with little employee turnover and remarkably few client departures. There also was no new-business solicitation because Mr. Byoir (as everyone in the business called him) felt the firm would acquire new accounts by virtue of its reputation.

Other unusual characteristics of the organization captured the attention and loyalty of clients and bonded the employees. Today, long after the company's sale to Foote Cone and Belding and then to Hill & Knowlton in the mid-1980s, the unique techniques of Carl Byoir & Associates are spoken of as “The Byoir Way” by practitioners. This was, in fact, the name of the firm's elegant (and only) brochure, produced in 1977.

As an example of Byoir's business plan, all accounts were charged a uniform annual retainer fee no matter what the size of their programs. At one point, for example, Byoir represented a tiny one-product firm that made stainless steel screw settings for space capsule heat shields. The company paid the standard annual fee of $36,000 plus the hourly charges of a few Byoir specialists who served the business from time to time.

The firm also represented the Minneapolishoneywell Heat Regulator Company (now Honeywell), which was Byoir's biggest client, with 22 staff members serving the account full time. Honeywell also paid the $36,000 fee.

“That will represent our profit,” Mr. Byoir said. Operating costs, ranging up to well over $3 million a year in salaries and costs at Honeywell, were presented monthly in voluminous, highly detailed invoices, at no markup.

Another Byoir characteristic was the practice of permanently installing staff executives in client headquarters offices. At one point, 3 Byoir people worked full time at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, 17 were located at various Honeywell locations (including one in Iran), and 6 were deployed around the country for the Road Information Program.

These workers were supported by a system of departments in the New York City headquarters devoted to such specialties as research, television, women's interests, business news, and the like. Reflecting its news heritage, Byoir employed an editorial director, a former wire service editor, who personally cleared every piece of news and feature copy before it was released to the news media.

The firm had strict requirements about the news backgrounds of employees, and most applicants had to show proof of having experienced at least four years in a newsroom.

The combination of news savvy and close client contact brought much success to the Byoir organization, represented in part by the company's skill in winning dozens of PRSA Silver Anvil awards. It also brought a collegial atmosphere that still exists long after the Byoir brand has more or less disappeared. Reunions of Byoir alumni are commonplace, and strong friendships among former staffers endure.

Most importantly, the Byoir firm, working with and in the interests of its clients, made monumental contributions to public understanding of the business function and to the documented successes of hundreds of industrial companies, associations, and public causes.

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