8 September, 2016. 12:34
ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
ONE OF BRISBANE’S OLDEST public relations firms, Fanning, Beattie & Thaiday BBDO, has gone into receivership this morning after over thirty years of dutiful service to the River City’s media industry.
The company was famed for stemming the ‘brain drain’ of young talented women, who saw their future media ambitions in media relations on possible down in the glitz and glamour of Sydney.
However, the firm’s carcass has been handed over to the financial coroner who’s pointed out one fatal flaw that every PR company in the country can find themselves susceptible to.
“They simply hired too many brunettes,” said KPMG auditor Allan Clermont.
“And each of these dark-haired young ladies were driven – too driven for a career in public relations. Fanning, Beattie & Thaiday tried to break the traditional structure of a PR firm, which ended up being fatal,”
“What usually happens is that a PR firm gets a new crop of 20-something light-haired girls fresh out of university. They work their way up until their an account director or executive or whatever, then they knock on a director’s door and say they’re pregnant,”
“That happens close to 30, maybe before, perhaps after – but around there. By the time they’re ready to come back to work, they get pregnant again or their husband earns enough for her to pursue a career in art or something,”
“Don’t break the mould.” he said.
The passing of Fanning, Beattie & Thaiday has torn a Titanic gash in the side of the Brisbane media spectrum, leaving dozens out of work and wondering where they’ll go next.
More to come.
