Celebrity boosts FMG

The image of Fortescue Metals Group executive director Andrew Forrest waving an Australian flag from the front of an iron ore train to mark his company's entry into the export market in May appeared to capture the spirit of the state's mining boom.

It was this mix of celebrity and business that has propelled FMG to WA's top corporate brand, according to a survey of public relations firms.

FMG's first iron ore shipment, on schedule, put the company on-track to reach its self-professed goal of becoming "the new force in iron ore" and illustrated its ability to deliver on promise.

There was widespread scepticism about whether Mr Forrest could successfully bring FMG's ambitious project to fruition, and that continued right up until the first shipment.

"The marketing of this brand has made it internationally famous," Halden Burns director Anne Burns said.

"There are other projects that are bigger, easier to bring to market and just as attractive as investments, but Andrew Forrest has made FMG a household name."

But it's not just his business achievements, and the new title of being Australia's richest person, that have built the profile of FMG's chief and therefore the company itself.

Mr Forrest has also achieved recognition through his multi-million dollar charity donations and the creation of work opportunities for the state's indigenous population.

In the survey, FMG also scored alongside Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton in the best employer brands category, though all three iron ore miners just missed out on the top five.

TMP managing director Rowena Smith believes the use of Mr Forrest in FMG's early advertising generated massive awareness of the brand and tapped into candidate excitement and interest in his personal achievements, which many people want to be part of.

"The use of the 'The New Force in Iron Ore' as a tagline and the slightly non-perfect style of the creative reinforce the 'challenger' nature of the brand," she said.

Fellow locally-grown success story, Wesfarmers, was also recognised in the survey. The perennial quiet achiever gained greater prominence this year with its takeover of national supermarket chain Coles.

"Wesfarmers is sound, solid and well-recognised in spite of a lowered profile campaign over the last 12 months which, in itself, is a show of brand strength," Mills Wilson director Kate Wilson said.