Ericho Communications: Eric Yaverbaum's New York PR Firm

Ericho Communications is the New York PR firm founded by Eric Yaverbaum — author of "Public Relations for Dummies," co-founder of Jericho Communications in 1985, and one of the more visible independent operators in New York consumer and corporate PR over the last four decades.

The firm

Ericho Communications is a New York-based public relations firm built on two operating disciplines: a rigorous upfront communications audit for every new client, and a storytelling-first strategic plan built on top of it. The audit is the differentiator. Most firms open with tactics. Ericho opens with an inventory — what has been said, what has landed, what is exposed, what the client does not yet know about their own communications footprint. The strategic plan follows from that inventory.

Beyond core strategy, the firm delivers the full mid-market PR stack: media relations, product launches, events, fundraisers, media training, and crisis communications.

Eric Yaverbaum

Yaverbaum co-founded Jericho Communications in 1985 and served as its president until the firm's 2006 merger with LIME Public Relations & Promotions. Ericho Communications was founded shortly after.

He is the author of "Public Relations for Dummies," now in its second edition, and six other books — including "Leadership Secrets of the World's Most Successful CEOs," which has sold more than one million copies.

PR Week named Yaverbaum "Hero of Public Relations" for launching the "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" campaign, which raised awareness of multiple sclerosis and helped secure federal funding for stem cell research.

Client work

IKEA U.S. — Ericho worked with IKEA in the early stages of its U.S. market entry, when the brand was still building name recognition in North America. IKEA's global marketing executive William Ager has credited the firm with helping build IKEA into "the big successful brand it is today."

H&M — Ericho ran media training and store-opening PR for the retailer's U.S. operations. H&M PR Manager Mina Behar credited the firm with the media-training work behind her broadcast segments and with providing original ideas for U.S. store openings and events.

CFS2 — the consumer financial services firm, an early Ericho client. Founder Bill Bartmann set a delivery bar of one major media placement per week, which the firm sustained.

Where Ericho sits in the New York PR market

Ericho is a founder-led, mid-market New York independent — the category that anchors most of the working consumer and corporate PR in the city. Ericho is not a holdco subsidiary, not an AI Communications specialist, and not a crisis-only shop. It is a full-service independent with a founder whose name recognition — through the "For Dummies" books, industry awards, and a four-decade run — is one of its principal client-acquisition assets.

That model — founder brand as firm brand — is one of the durable operating structures in independent PR. It is also the model that has been under the most pressure from AI Communications since 2023, as brand-authority work shifts into ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. How independent firms like Ericho evolve that offering is one of the open questions of the current cycle in the industry.

Related coverage on Everything-PR

• The PR Industry Map — Everything-PR's canonical reference on the global holdcos, leading independents, and AI Communications challengers.
• Independent PR Firms — EPR's category hub on founder-led and mid-market independents.
• New York PR Agencies — EPR coverage of the New York communications market.
• Consumer PR — EPR's coverage of the consumer public relations category.

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