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Read Dagens Industris article about David Hesselman, CEO of Star PR

Reporter Peter Elvemo

Errand-boy changed stage

David Hesselman chose advertising and PR before artists

At the age of twenty, he started as an errand-boy for Denniz Pop at the Cheiron studio in Stockholm. Twenty years later, David Hesselman and his company Star PR is standing on its own feet. "Denniz taught me never to be satisfied", David says about the music genius.

"Let me show you something", David Hesselman, CEO at Star PR, sais while he is retrieving a tennis shoe. The shoe company is only one of the 80 clients Star PR work with. The 600 square meter large venue at Döbelnsgatan in Stockholm is packed with pasta products, beverages and children clothes."We have a great mixture of clients."

Building the brand
Star PR is working with what David Hesselman calls marketing PR. Essentially this means you should consider the whole brand, rather than only the product. " It is all about building the clients brand". Since the start in 2001, the company's turnover has grown to 29 million kronor divided on the four offices in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Besides this, the company has been appointed the DI gazelle twice. Now, David Hesselman is aiming at a triple. "Only this year we have already singed up with Bosch, Siemens and Dressmann."

Not suitable for studies
The journey David Hesselman is taking, that now has a temporary stop at Döbensgatan, started already in 1988. The teacher at the upper secondary school at Kungsholmen in Stockholm wondered if he really was suitable for studies. "I simply was not that interested, so I decided to do something else."

Through connections he was able to get a job as a factotum at the newly started record label Sony BMG, at the age of 18. "I drove the mail truck and delivered records to Sveriges Radio. " Three years later, a man named Tom Talomaa got in touch with David. He and Denniz Pop had founded the record label Cheiron and David Hesselman was offered a position in the company.  "I was given the chance to establish Cheiron in Germany. And at the same time, Denniz Pop and I founded a PR company to market the artists."

A new artist each week
When Cheiron got its big break with Ace of Bace in 1993, everything changed. "All of a sudden, everybody wanted to work with Cheiron. I travelled around the world marketing the artists. Every week, there was a new artist. For me, the pace was normal. At the age of 23, David Hesselman invoiced 250 000 kronor each month as a consultant. "It is a lot of money at such a young age. But I became really good at keeping in touch and pester the media for publicity, for example MTV."

The life among tour buses and German talk shows did eventually take its toll. "I really missed Sweden and felt I was losing contact with my friends." Therefore, when Dennis Pop passed away in 1998, Kommun was founded, a communication agency with focus on advertising and PR. Some of the clients were the ice cream company GB Glace and the car brand Koenigsegg. But, because most of the clients were IT companies, Kommun did not make it when the IT bubble burst in 2001. "It took me three years to be free from my debts." To get rid of the debt burden, Star PR was founded almost immediately after Kommun filed for bankruptcy. "We were going to find our niche, and we were going to do it good."

"Do what you are good at"
The 6th of April, David is turning 40. As a CEO at the company, he has the same task as he did 20 years ago. "I am calling and nagging on presumptive clients, the way I always has. That is what I am good at." David Hesselman is still getting offers to work with artists. "I have been taking care of artists that lost their passport, but I have done that and moved on."

Caption: Gasell. David Hesselman, CEO at Star PR, started as a factotum at the age of 18. Now he runs the PR agency Star PR with offices in all Nordic countries.

Facts: Star PR, turnover: 29 million SEK, result: 1,6 million SEK before tax, employees: 30, offices: Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki.

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