Chime Communications Plc

Chime is the holding company for the UK's biggest Public Relations Group. It owns several research and consultant groups. In turn, Chime is part-owned by WPP and consists of three divisions:

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• Public Relations
• Advertising
• Marketing Services

According to its website:

Public relations companies in Chime have been shaping public opinion for decades. We help clients to announce important results and win investor confidence. We help them to shape regulatory environments and lead important public debates. And we help them to win more customers, increase sales and build brands. Increasingly, we help them to communicate better with employees and win the commitment needed to make employees brand advocates wherever they go.

We also have to save companies from crisis, defend reputations, calm hostile media and prevent unwelcome takeovers. We even advise governments how to win elections and sometimes campaign to change national agendas.

The Public Relations division serve more than 600 major UK and international brands, as well as governments, government departments, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, charities, not-for-profit organisations, professional service firms and famous people.

Executive Directors

• Lord Tim Bell - Chairman
• Piers Pottinger - Deputy Chairman
• Christopher Satterthwaite - Group Chief Executive
• Mark Smith - Financial Director

Clients

Major clients include:

• Vauxhall
• MFI
• Emirates
• AEA Technology
• McDonalds
• Autoglass
• Vodafone

Subsidiaries

• Corporate Citizenship Company, a CSR Consultancy

Public Relations Division

• Bell Pottinger Corporate and Financial
• Bell Pottinger North
• Bell Pottinger Public Affairs
• Bell Pottinger Sans Frontieres
• Bell Pottinger Sport and Sponsorship
• Bell Pottinger USA
• QBO Bell Pottinger
• De Facto
• De Facto Medica
• Good Relations
• Good Relations Health Care
• Good Relations Wales
• Harvard Public Relations
• Harvard GmbH
• Insight
• MMK
• Ozoneozone
• Rare Corporate Design
• Resonate
• Stuart Higgins Communications
• Sunesis
• Traffic Advertising

Research division

• Opinion Leader Research
• The Smart Company

Advertising and Marketing Services division

• VCCP Group
• Rare Digital
• SFW
• PURE MEDIA
• GASOLINE

Specialists

• Teamspirit
• TTA PR/Creative
• Rare Publishing

Resources

• Jamie Doward, Chime urged to sell off its ad business, The Observer, 17 November 2002.