FROM MINISTER TO PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER: MARKO POMERANTS SHARES HIS PUBLIC RELATIONS TIPS

It's 2019. Marko Pomerants, a minister of merit, narrowly misses out on a seat in the Riigikogu. The elections could’ve been a personal blow to a well-known politician, but he moves on. The former minister becomes a public relations officer.

“You are Triin Varek, for example.” Marko Pomerants has not written any texts or speeches for the mayor of Rakvere and his coalition partner, but he explained his work through the town’s mayor.

“My job is to create a shift, things aren’t moving and then.... or to prevent a mess or help someone be an opinion leader,” explained Pomerants. “The latter is like the job of an actor’s – you become another person.”

Even more. They’ve straightened love triangles into dots and lines, helping remove bosses who’ve reached the level of incompetence.


“A client arrives and we ask what they would like to achieve? And here goes. Grenades flying, smoke bombs. The kind of asymmetric stuff they talk about nowadays,” said Pomerants.

Of course, their goal is the same: to help people achieve the result they want, and to do so legally. Achieving a result may not always be 100% successful.

Pomerants, who has worked in public relations for two years, said that the most important shift is related to realising that you don't have to become a carrier of the client’s perceptions and that you don’t necessarily have to share the other person’s worldview.

Although Pomerants’ employer was a total success, the man said that as a public relations officer, he’s proud of what he’s done and created in around a week.

“I didn’t make a cent on that last one, but this job was on a Sunday night before Monday. The Rakvere coalition agreement, which succeeded thanks to the will of the different parties,” he said.

Pomerants also recalled the war of the strawberry pickers two years ago, which resulted in a letter in the context of the victory.

“It was funny how the strawberry plant Asia wrote a public letter to the Prime Minister, which was published in Päevaleht.” In the letter that caused a lot of controversy at the time, strawberry growers told Jüri Ratas that they were not asking for money, they just wanted to return to business as usual.

“There are also some things I wouldn’t disclose,” said Pomerants. “After all, a magician doesn’t reveal all of his tricks either.”

Falsehood and truth in public relations

He said that there are no falsehoods in public relations. But there are truths. “Be honest with the client. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. There are no falsehoods in public relations. However, it’s possible to write a cute and a harsh story by putting the same words together differently,” listed Pomerants.

There is no limit and in his words, there are a lot of experiences for him to gain. To illustrate the situation, Pomerants gave the example of how he was recently astonished that officials and politicians at the county town level were lying without batting an eyelid.

If he had to give people some advice about relations and management, he would draw a parallel to politics. “Your own people make the biggest mess, never your official opponents. You have to invest in maintaining relations with our own people,” said Pomerants.

He also advises to always check your passport, as someone aged 50 should not resort to the rhetoric of a 12-year-old.

“It’s this special time of evil right now and it’s contagious,” said Pomerants. “I thought about staying in quarantine myself to become more mellow.”

Narrowly missing out on a seat in the Riigikogu made him act.

“There have been two important dates in my so-called new life,” said Pomerants. “30 April 2019, when I registered my company Bitter Orange OÜ and 25 November 2019, when I walked through the door of Powerhouse.”

The former minister who now works in public relations admitted that for him, it was a business plan that could be brought to life with a small amount of start-up capital. “Speaking of Janek Mäggi, I’ve known him for some time.” Pomerants said that they’d thrown some ideas around once, but in November he told the well-known PR specialist that it was time to actually do something. “The partnership with Powerhouse is not my whole life,” said Pomerants. “I’m involved in four or five other things.”

An experienced Tamsalu native who served in the army in Afghanistan and has taken on several ministerial appointments, is an enterprising man. He believed in himself. Everything worked out.

“It’s a new start, I know how to write. Someone who has been a minister knows how the state works, how people think,” he said when listing the positives. But. Pomerants said that, speaking of fear, you never know how relationships with people will work out. And yet. Pomerants said the simple answer is that it wasn’t difficult for him to get into the popular public relations field.