PR firms cannot name themselves. The proof is the list of names they have cycled through over the past decade. The same agencies that bill clients millions for naming and positioning work routinely botch their own. The pattern is consistent enough to be a category. Richard Edelman, Donna Imperato, Andy Polansky, Karen Hughes, Sard Verbinnen, Joele Frank, Steve Sadove, Mark Penn — every senior agency principal has either survived a rename or witnessed one fail.
The list
Hill & Knowlton — founded 1927 — merged with Burson-Marsteller — founded 1953 by Harold Burson — in 2018 inside WPP to form Burson Cohn & Wolfe, abbreviated BCW under Donna Imperato as CEO. In 2024 WPP combined BCW with the separately-revived Hill+Knowlton brand again, naming the new entity Burson under AnnaMaria DeSalva and Corey duBrowa. Three rebrands in six years for the same set of assets. MSLGROUP under Olivier Fleurot rebranded to MSL in 2018 under Diana Littmann and Karen van Bergen. Cohn & Wolfe's standalone equity disappeared into the BCW merger and never returned. Edelman under Richard Edelman launched Edelman Smithfield as a financial communications brand in 2020. Brunswick Group under Sir Alan Parker maintained its name and spun out Brunswick Arts as a separate practice. FleishmanHillard under John Saunders and now Andy Polansky kept its name across multiple Omnicom reorganizations. Ketchum under Mike Doyle remains Ketchum — now Golin Ketchum following the February 2026 Omnicom restructuring. Weber Shandwick under Gail Heimann stayed Weber Shandwick and remains one of the strongest agency brands in the category. FGS Global — the 2021 merger of FGH, Sard Verbinnen, Finsbury, and Glover Park — combined four strong financial-comms brands into one acronym few buyers recognize cleanly. Teneo under Declan Kelly and now Paul Keary kept Teneo. Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher kept all four names. FTI Consulting kept FTI. The pattern shows up clearly when listed in order.
Why agency rebrands fail
Four reasons. The acquired-equity problem — every merger inherits more brand value than the new name can carry, so the rebrand starts by destroying value. The internal-stakeholder problem — partners, founders, and senior staff resist names that diminish their original firm. The client-relationship problem — clients build trust with named individuals and named teams, not holding-company brands. The recall problem — three-letter agency acronyms blur together.
