Dukas Public Relations

January 31, 2010

Dukas Public Relations is not the biggest financial public relations firm in New York, and most of its clients are not household names. That makes the firm’s ability to secure coverage of those companies in top-tier media—it’s not unusual to see multiple clients featured on CNBC on any given day—even more impressive and explains why Dukas has become a go-to firm for small and midsize financial and professional services firms looking to punch above their weight in a competitive media environment.

In 2009, for example, the firm worked with RGE Monitor and its chairman of Nouriel Roubini—famously dubbed “Dr Doom” for his pessimistic (but accurate) assessment of the economy, and now considered one of the nation’s most thoughtful and insightful economists. Roubini received a feature article in the New York Times magazine and regularly appears on Jim Lehrer News Hour, CNBC, and Bloomberg. DPR also leveraged the media’s new obsession with all things financial to build and enhance the brand and credibility of client Westwood Capital, previously a virtually unknown boutique investment bank, generating more than 160 top-tier media placements including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and CNBC.

Dukas Public Relations founder and president Richard Dukas has more than two decades of experience in the public relations business, working in-house (most recently as director of corporate communications for Amerindo, a technology investment management firm) and with leading agencies (including Ruder Finn and Morgen-Walke) and strong credentials in financial communications—particularly financial media relations. Drawing on that experience, he has established Dukas PR in five short years as a small firm capable of getting “under the hood” of its clients’ businesses to understand what makes them tick and subsequently of generating stellar top-tier media results. “It’s the Media That Matters,” says the firm in its marketing materials—a double entendre that signifies an understanding that clients want media results, but also that the focus must be on getting the right message into the most appropriate media venues.

The firm enjoyed its best year ever in 2008, with revenues up by better than 50 percent to slightly more than $3.5 million, as the economic crisis forced a number of long-secretive hedge funds and other asset management and financial services firms to recognize the importance of communicating effectively with investors, counterparties and business partners. In response, Dukas created two distinct groups within its financial practice: an asset management group including hedge funds and asset managers, as well as a number of hedge fund service providers and industry analysts; and a financial and professional services group working with investment banks, national credit union organizations, economists, and law, accounting and other professional services firms. The firm also launched DPR Interactive, which provides services including search engine optimization, social media engagement, blogging platforms, and a variety of online media relations capabilities.

There was new business from BlueMountain Capital Management, Madison Realty Capital, hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt, Westwood Capital, Eisner, RGE Monitor, and CUNA (Credit Union National Association) in the financial space, and from Zeta Interactive, Radvision and Towerstream in tech.