Trade Associations (and Hill & Knowlton'S Role In)

Trade associations have played a major role in the history and practice of public relations because they offer to their sponsoring corporate members an opportunity to pool financial and intellectual resources to work together to set industry standards, to engage in research and policy formation, and to set intra-industry standards of performance without violating antitrust guidelines.

Trade associations are formal organizations constituted by members of a specific industry, such as the chemical manufacturers, or industrial function, such as the National Association of Manufacturers. These formal associations can create a joint stonewall of opposition against all threats experienced by the members. Or, in a more ethical and proactive mode, these associations help the member organizations to set operating standards, lobby public policy issues, develop and communicate issue positions, implement standards of corporate responsibility, and cooperate on behalf of the public interest. Such associations must not set prices or otherwise create a monopoly that would breach antitrust and fair practices legislation. Thus, the focus of trade associations is more on public policy and reputational matters than on marketing strategies and pricing.

Trade associations grew in popularity and power as similar industries matured to realize that although they had to maintain competition, they were faced with similar challenges such a strikes, regulation, legislation, and public criticism. Leaders in the trade association movement realized the virtue of setting standards of ethical performance and holding members to these standards to reduce the likelihood that their actions would lead to a legitimacy gap. Mutual interests led to mutual aid, but such initiatives could not be seen as dominating the public policy forum. One primary virtue of a sound trade association is its ability to speak for an industry or function with a single voice. Another is to set high, self-imposed, and self-policed standards of operation.

Under the leadership of John Hill, Hill & Knowlton became one of the major agencies working for an impressive array of trade associations. Hill & Knowlton believed it could serve an industry best by counseling it in its entirety instead of merely serving one member. On many occasions, Hill & Knowlton served an individual client's needs and interests by also working for the industry. No clearer case of this practice exists than its long-term counseling and communication activity for the steel industry through the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

Hill did not innovate the concept of a trade association, but he and his agency leaders raised the art of public relations service to industries to a high level. Ivy Lee was one of the pioneers in this regard, working for the Anthracite Coal Operators during a hotly contested labor strike. On Lee's advice, the American Petroleum Institute (API) was formed in 1919. API's influence continues nearly a century later as petroleum policy continues to evolve. Pendleton Dudley provided professional service to the American Meatpackers Association, which was formed (1906) to deal with issues raised by muckrakers such as Upton Sinclair in The Jungle. Carl Byoir served the interest of the Eastern Railroads against Pennsylvania truckers, which in turn had the professional services of David Charnay's Allied Public Relations Associates. Lee & Ross, the firm of Ivy Lee (sustained after his death) and Tommy Ross worked for the Copper and Brass Research Association (42 major copper companies) and the Cotton Textile Institute.

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