# Freud Communications > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Freud_Communications > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Freud_Communications.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freud_Communications > Source revision: 1356498653 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) British public relations firm Freud Communications Limited Industry Advertising Public relations Founded 1985 Headquarters London, United Kingdom Key people Matthew Freud Products Branding & identity Consumer insights Design Digital Marketing Market research Media planning and buying Public relations Relationship marketing Number of employees 200 approx. Website freuds.com **Freud Communications Limited** is a [public relations](/source/Public_relations) firm based in [London](/source/London). It was founded in 1985 by [Matthew Freud](/source/Matthew_Freud). He is the great-grandson of the Austrian [psychoanalyst](/source/Psychoanalyst) [Sigmund Freud](/source/Sigmund_Freud), who himself was the uncle of [Edward Bernays](/source/Edward_Bernays), the Austrian-American pioneer of [public relations](/source/Public_relations). ## Overview In 1994, Freud Communications was acquired by the independent British advertising agency [Abbott Mead Vickers](/source/Abbott_Mead_Vickers_BBDO) (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](/source/Omnicom).[1][2] In June 2005, the French [Publicis Groupe](/source/Publicis_Groupe) (then the third largest communications firm in the world) acquired a 50.1% stake in Freud Communications.[3] In 2006, Freud purchased advertising agency DFGW. [*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*][4][5] Freud Communications also operated a United States office in [New York City](/source/New_York_City), until its closure in February 2009.[6] 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*".[7] In 2007 *[PR Week](/source/PRWeek)* ran a story documenting the use of [WikiScanner](/source/WikiScanner) to track anonymous edits and link them to organizations through their [IP addresses](/source/IP_address); it found that "Freud Communications' London office was caught making [Wikipedia](/source/Wikipedia) edits on behalf of clients."[8][9] 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](/source/PR_Week)* in their ranking system as 6th in the UK.[10] ## Clients - [Baby Cow Productions](/source/Baby_Cow_Productions) - [Formula E](/source/Formula_E) - [Lewis Hamilton](/source/Lewis_Hamilton)[11] - [Mindhorn](/source/Mindhorn) - [Mo Farah](/source/Mo_Farah) - [Working Title](/source/Working_Title_Films) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-hopkins_1-0)** Hopkins, Nic (2005) Matthew Freud, *The Times*, June 17, Friday p. 55 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Ford, Emily (2010) Freud may break away from Publicis, *The Times* Thursday November 25, Page 63. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** JOURNAL, Aaron O. Patrick Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET (2005-06-17). ["Publicis Agrees to Buy Freud Communications"](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111894545434561654). *Wall Street Journal*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0099-9660](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0099-9660). Retrieved 2021-03-10. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Sweney, Mark (2011) Matthew Freud to buy back PR agency for the second time, *The Guardian*, Sunday 13 March](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/mar/13/matthew-freud-publicis-group) (Accessed April 2013) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Andrews, Amanda (2011) Matthew Freud buys back his PR firm from Publicis, *The Telegraph* 15 Apr](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/8454577/Matthew-Freud-buys-back-his-PR-firm-from-Publicis.html) (Accessed April 2013) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["HL Group absorbs Freud New York - Brand Republic News"](https://web.archive.org/web/20100202221314/http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/879541/HL-Group-absorbs-Freud-New-York). Archived from [the original](http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/879541/HL-Group-absorbs-Freud-New-York/) on 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2009-02-14. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Leapman, Michael (1999) Trade Digest *The Times*, June 11, Friday 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** [Tool draws attention to firms' Wikipedia edits](http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/734853/Tool-draws-attention-firms-Wikipedia-edits/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH), Shah, Aarti *PR Week*, 31 August 2007 (Accessed April 2013) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Farsetta, Diane (4 September 2007). ["Wikis Prove Tricky for PR Firms"](http://www.prwatch.org/node/6413). *[PR Watch](/source/PR_Watch) ([Center for Media and Democracy](/source/Center_for_Media_and_Democracy))*. Retrieved 28 March 2011. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [PR Week:Top-150-league-table 2011](http://www.prweek.com/uk/wide/1130300/Top-150-league-table/) (Accessed April 2013) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["Terms of Reference - The Hamilton Commission"](https://www.hamiltoncommission.org/terms-of-reference). *[Royal Academy of Engineering](/source/Royal_Academy_of_Engineering)*. Project Forty Four Limited. 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2021. ## External links - [Official website](http://www.freud.com/) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Freud Communications](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freud_Communications) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freud_Communications?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.