{{Short description|British public relations firm}} {{Infobox company | name = Freud Communications Limited | logo = | type = | traded_as = | founded = 1985 | hq_location = [[London]], United Kingdom | area_served = | key_people = [[Matthew Freud]] | industry = [[Advertising agency|Advertising]]<br>[[Public relations]] | products = {{Ubl | Branding & identity | Consumer insights | Design | Digital | Marketing | Market research | Media planning and buying | Public relations | Relationship marketing }} | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | num_employees = 200 approx. | website = {{URL|freuds.com}} }}
'''Freud Communications Limited''' is a [[public relations]] firm based in [[London]]. It was founded in 1985 by [[Matthew Freud]]. He is the great-grandson of the Austrian [[psychoanalyst]] [[Sigmund Freud]], who himself was the uncle of [[Edward Bernays]], the Austrian-American pioneer of [[public relations]].
== Overview == In 1994, Freud Communications was acquired by the independent British advertising agency [[Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO|Abbott Mead Vickers]] (AMV), for approximately £10 million. In 2001, Matthew Freud, along with several partners, repurchased the company for a similar amount. The buybac occurred in the same year that AMV as acquired by the US-based communications group [[Omnicom]].<ref name="hopkins">Hopkins, Nic (2005) Matthew Freud, ''The Times'', June 17, Friday p. 55</ref><ref>Ford, Emily (2010) Freud may break away from Publicis, ''The Times'' Thursday November 25, Page 63.</ref>
In June 2005, the French [[Publicis Groupe]] (then the third largest communications firm in the world) acquired a 50.1% stake in Freud Communications.<ref>{{Cite news|last=JOURNAL|first=Aaron O. Patrick Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET|date=2005-06-17|title=Publicis Agrees to Buy Freud Communications|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111894545434561654|access-date=2021-03-10|issn=0099-9660}}</ref> In 2006, Freud purchased advertising agency DFGW. {{citation needed|date=April 2013}}<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/mar/13/matthew-freud-publicis-group Sweney, Mark (2011) Matthew Freud to buy back PR agency for the second time, ''The Guardian'', Sunday 13 March] (Accessed April 2013)</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/8454577/Matthew-Freud-buys-back-his-PR-firm-from-Publicis.html Andrews, Amanda (2011) Matthew Freud buys back his PR firm from Publicis, ''The Telegraph'' 15 Apr] (Accessed April 2013)</ref>
Freud Communications also operated a United States office in [[New York City]], until its closure in February 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/879541/HL-Group-absorbs-Freud-New-York/ |title=HL Group absorbs Freud New York - Brand Republic News<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2009-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202221314/http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/879541/HL-Group-absorbs-Freud-New-York |archive-date=2010-02-02 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 1999 Leapman reported in ''The Times'' that Freud Communications had offered an Internet brand management service to its clients. This would "scour the Net for references to its clients" and if they were criticised, "the agency would use rebuttal tactics ''to minimise the potentially negative impact of online inaccuracy''".<ref>Leapman, Michael (1999) Trade Digest ''The Times'', June 11, Friday</ref> In 2007 ''[[PRWeek|PR Week]]'' ran a story documenting the use of [[WikiScanner]] to track anonymous edits and link them to organizations through their [[IP address]]es; it found that "Freud Communications' London office was caught making [[Wikipedia]] edits on behalf of clients."<ref>[http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/734853/Tool-draws-attention-firms-Wikipedia-edits/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH Tool draws attention to firms' Wikipedia edits], Shah, Aarti ''PR Week'', 31 August 2007 (Accessed April 2013)</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Farsetta|first=Diane|title=Wikis Prove Tricky for PR Firms|url=http://www.prwatch.org/node/6413|accessdate=28 March 2011|newspaper=[[PR Watch]] ([[Center for Media and Democracy]])|date=4 September 2007}} </ref>
In 2011, Freud Communications had a turnover of around £40 million per year. It has a staff of more than two hundred and was ranked by ''[[PR Week]]'' in their ranking system as 6th in the UK.<ref>[http://www.prweek.com/uk/wide/1130300/Top-150-league-table/ PR Week:Top-150-league-table 2011] (Accessed April 2013)</ref>
==Clients== * [[Baby Cow Productions]] * [[Formula E]] * [[Lewis Hamilton]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hamiltoncommission.org/terms-of-reference|title=Terms of Reference - The Hamilton Commission|date=2020|work=[[Royal Academy of Engineering]]|publisher=Project Forty Four Limited|access-date=27 January 2021}}</ref> * [[Mindhorn]] * [[Mo Farah]] * [[Working Title Films|Working Title]]
== References ==
<references/>
== External links == * {{official website|http://www.freud.com/ }}
[[Category:Public relations companies of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia]] [[Category:1985 establishments in the United Kingdom]]