Government affairs agency group strategy lead talks about going public on the London Stock Exchange, trends in public affairs and lobbying and growth plans for 2022.
This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Thomas Gensemer, chief strategy officer at Public Policy Holding Company.
PPHC is a bipartisan full-service U.S. government affairs business with five operating companies that was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in mid-December with a market capitalization of $146.1. It will principally use money raised to grow the business through M&A. Its revenue comes one-third from public affairs and two-thirds from lobbying.
Gensemer founded Democratic-leaning Blue State Digital back in the day before selling it to WPP in 2011. He then moved to the holding company's PR firm Burson-Marsteller.
In the Coffee Break interview he talks about the growth of PPHC, its plans in 2022, the difference between public affairs/public relations and lobbying and how digital communication has changed since his days at Blue State.
Coffee Break topics:
- Intro to Public Policy Holding Company.
- Going public on the London Stock Exchange.
- The work Gensemer does.
- How much work was lobbying at your previous company?
- Difference between lobbying and PR.
- The perception of lobbying and the benefits of ethical lobbying.
- Going from a base of clients that were majority democratic to now bipartisan, and how digital communication has changed since his time at Blue State.
- Plans for 2022.