Founded in Chicago in 1956, Golin Harris (GH) is a leading global public relations firm dedicated to helping clients win in a complex, connected society.

GH's president and chief executive officer, Fred Cook, who has been working for GH since 1986 all the way through the development path and changes of GH, visited GH's offices in China this month, meeting with agencies, looking for new partners in China, and delivering its new, revolutionary model in public relations.

Six months ago, GH launched in China the G4 Model, a seamless package delivered to the clients combining strategy, creativity and engagement.

Through the model, clients will be served by a dedicated team of specialists, including strategists, creators, connectors and catalysts, with "holistic engagement," deeper digital expertise, and new services. "The essence of the model is deep insights, big ideas, and multi-media engagements," explained Cook.

Targeting the market in China, GH is hoping to use the G4 Model as a doorway to success. "We think it'll make us very different than everybody else in terms of how we approach our work," said Cook.

In the near future, GH plans to grow globally, implementing the G4 Model effectively everywhere, offering all kinds of new services, and attracting all kinds of talented people with new skills and ideas. "In five years, we'll probably be very different than we are today," Cook noted.

GH has developed long-term relationships with many large international companies, such as McDonald's, Dow Chemical Company, Nintendo of America Inc., and Johnson & Johnson, based on mutual trust.

"We have had McDonald's as a client for 55 years. I want to have those same kinds of relationships in China," Cook said. 

The reason why GH has been so successful and has had stable long-term relationships with their clients lies in the company's culture. Coming from Chicago, GH holds on to the Midwest values of "honesty, humility, straight-forwardness, and hard work." "That's what clients are looking for," said Cook.

"We are a company of family-oriented feelings, with a lot of employees and a lot of great clients who have been with us for a long time," Cook remarked. People like to work in GH so much that even after some of them leave to take another job, they still come back to GH, realizing it was the best job they ever had. "We call them 'boomerangs,'" Cook noted.

"If you go to our offices around the world, whether it's in London, Beijing or Chicago, you will always find friendly, hard-working, authentic, down-to-earth people who don't take themselves too seriously."

Aiming at delivering fresh, superior service to clients as well as ensuring that GH provides a rewarding yet challenging environment to the best professional in the business, Cook himself represents the values of GH.

"Relentless, impatient, loving big ideas" - these are the few words chosen by Cook to describe himself. "I love my job, and the people I work with. I feel so lucky to have a job that is so exciting and so much fun," Cook noted.

Global Times