The PR World in Holland

PR here
PR there
Good PR's about the same
Everywhere!

At least that's what I'm learning during the work-day part of my adventure, while I'm working at Van Luyken Communicatie Adviseurs. Before starting work here, I envisioned coming to Van Luyken office and finding many more differences than similarities in how we do work for our clients. So far, all I've seen is that outstanding PR professionals work in pretty much the same way they do in Haarlem as they do in Atlanta.

More to come on this subject as I move through my last two work weeks here, but for now a few observations:

Van Luyken provides the same types of services that JS provides: strategic communications counsel, crisis planning and response, media relations, media training , internal communications, community relations, public affairs, special events planning and execution, writing and editorial services, etc. etc. etc.

Van Luyken's clients are as varied and interesting as Jackson Spalding's, in industries ranging from consumer products and services, to financial services, to real estate, to transportation, etc. For example, Van Luyken does work for Amsterdam's famous Schiphol Airport, ANWB (the Royal Dutch Motoring Club - like the U.S.'s AAA), Accor Hotels, Whirlpool, NBZ, Accountor Group Netherlands and Solvay Pharmaceuticals. There are lots of other clients, as Van Luyken is highly regarded here in Holland.

As an agency, Van Luyken reminds me of how Jackson Spalding was when I first started in 2002. (July 24 marks my sixth wonderful year with Jackson Spalding - wow!) The office feels very intimate and cohesive -- there are only a few offices, with very peaceful natural light like Jackson Spalding's old Colony Square office. Employees share rooms with others. For example, my desk is in the same room with Anouk and Bas (photos below). Surprisingly, I'm not as distracted as I thought I'd be when I first saw the set up... likely because when Anouk or Bas makes a phone call, it's in Dutch, and I don't understand a word of what is being said!

At Van Luyken, the pace of work is steady - and very busy, at times - but everyone knows what all of their co-workers are doing on a weekly basis and the office (for the most part) does clear out close to the end of the working day at 5:30 p.m. or so. Also, at Van Luyken, we start each Monday with a firm-wide meeting where each person reports on his or her client projects for the week. The meetings allow Van Luyken employees to exchange ideas, offer help to team members who are slammed or who are working on a project similar to one already completed, etc. Jackson Spalding's weekly "Jump Start" meetings with account team leaders aim to achieve the same results as the Van Luyken weekly staff meeting, but in a firm of 70ish people, it's impossible to know what every other single person is working on (at least for me).

Another difference that I really like and hope to take back to Jackson Spalding -- at Van Luyken, we do not use the phone to talk to one another, and you rarely use e-mail unless you have to send a document. We walk down the hall to see a co-worker. I don't even know how to call one of my Dutch co-workers, if that tells you anything. This difference is one thing I've enjoyed while in Holland - more face-to-face communication is really nice. And you get more exercise walking around the office, which is needed after eating all of that hagelslag. :)

Other interesting things I've found:

• "Free Publicity" is the term the Dutch use for editorial placements. I guess it's an accurate term - it is essentially "free publicity" when you score an article in Holland's paper, De Telegraaf or in Georgia's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but American PR professionals: Doesn't it feel weird to say, "Hi [insert name of client here], we're going to get some free publicity for your company?" or "Hi Reporter X, this is Carrie England calling on behalf of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. I want to arrange some free publicity with your publication?" I sort of cringe when I hear the term... though my colleagues here say they don't use it with reporters.
• Huge housekeeping difference: JSers- can you imagine if F:perm was organized by EMPLOYEE and not CLIENT? And you couldn't save documents in someone else's folder? At Van Luyken, that's how it's set up... and they can't use hyperlinks when sharing documents. So, if you're editing a Q&A document, for example, you'd send it around by attachment or have someone else go into your folder and get the document they need... insanity!
• The standard paper size is different here - it's not 8 1/2 x 11" like we have, but a little longer and narrower.
• We English speakers don't realize it, but we have it pretty easy in that we typically only produce English versions of documents like press releases, etc. for client approval. The Dutch always have to consider what other languages a specific document will be needed in and translate accordingly. Then, all versions of the document have to be approved by the client!

Despite these minor differences, Van Luyken and Jackson Spalding feel nearly identical in how we both approach our co-worker relationships, our client relationships and the quality of work we provide on a daily basis. Both firms are special - more like a "family" than just an "agency" or a place you go to work every day. In all my time working at Jackson Spalding, I've always said there is no other firm in the world who has what we have...and I'm sure there's not one in America, but they sure do come close in Haarlem! :)

More to come on Van Luyken's media training and some of the projects I've been fortunate to work on later...