The firm's first client was country singer Perry Como. Its success at promoting Como attracted more clients in show business, including Dinah Shore and Jack Lemmon.[3] Ruder Finn eventually expanded to represent consumer product companies and government agencies.[3]
In the 1960s through late 1990s, while representing long-time client Philip Morris (now Altria), Ruder Finn was instrumental in crafting the public relations campaign that disputed the evidence tobacco smoking is hazardous to health.[4][5][6][7]
1990's
In the early 1990s, Croatian nationalists initially (and later the Bosnian and Albanian sides) hired the American PR agency Ruder Finn for the “information war.” They unleashed a wave of press releases, press conferences, press materials, and even established a “Bosnia Crisis Communication Center.” The carefully and consciously constructed narrative interpretation by this agency of Serbia as the new Nazi Germany and Slobodan Milosevic as the new Hitler laid the fertile ground on which the very complex civil war – with war crimes committed by all involved parties – could now be distorted and portrayed as a new extermination war and genocide by the Serbs against their own population. The horrors of the terrible massacres and genocides of World War II were invoked, rising like ghosts and overshadowing the current events. The “Račak Massacre,” extensively reported worldwide for days, became a turning point in NATO policy toward Belgrade and changed public perception in Europe and the USA regarding airstrikes on Yugoslavia.
In 1998, the firm was caught in a conflict of interest after it was revealed that it represented both the Jewish Agency for Israel and the government of Switzerland.[9] The Jewish Agency's World Jewish Restitution Organization was pursuing a settlement with the Swiss government over its financial dealings during World War II. Ruder Finn responded to this news by severing relations with the Jewish Agency.[9]
In 1999 Ruder Finn established RFI Studios, a digital practice, to help clients protect and build their reputation online.[10] The agency expanded in Asia, establishing offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Singapore, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
2000's
In 2005, pro bono work done for the UN raised speculation when Kofi Annan's nephew, Kobina, worked as an intern at the firm.[11]
Kathy Bloomgarden, Finn's daughter, became CEO when he retired in 2011.[12] That year Ruder Finn acquired Thunder Communications, a Chinese event management, brand and marketing consultancy, and formed a partnership with Kyodo Public Relations.[13]
2010's
In 2012, Ruder Finn accepted a controversial contract from the government of Maldives that was condemned by the Commonwealth of Nations for organizing a political coup d'état that led to the fall of the first democratically elected President of the Maldives.[14] Vice-president of Ruder Finn Tchividjian "admitted there were 'diverse points of views' surrounding the circumstances around the change of government"[15] The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group reiterated its call for early elections to be held in the Maldives.[16]
The agency has won the PRSA Bronze Anvils, Big Apple Awards, SABREs and PRWeek Awards.[17][18][19][20] David Finn received a Big Apple Award.[21]
In July 2020, Ruder Finn acquired the video content studio Osmosis Films, headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.[25]
In 2021, Huawei spent $3.5 million with Ruder Finn according to media reports and public records.[26] In 2023, the two companies ended their partnership.[27]
In 2021, Ruder Finn was ranked 30th on the Global Top 250 PR Agency Ranking.[28]
In October 2023 Ruder Finn was named the PR Agency of the Year. This award was given at the Medical Marketing and Media Awards (MM+M), in New York.[29][30] In the same month, Ruder Finn acquired Pandan Social, a Malaysian firm that was founded in 2018.[31]
In March 2024, Ruder Finn acquired the digital marketing agency Flightpath.[32]
