“PR and Comms Done Right Should Be a Company's Greatest New Business Driver”
Brand-new campaign or big, looming crisis, communications teams are pivotal in shaping how stories are told, remembered and leveraged. 4A's ANGLES 2024, which is set to take place in New York City on December 3rd, will bring together comms experts and innovative visionaries reshaping the communications landscape. The powerhouse line-up of speakers will share insights on everything from new business and storytelling to must-attend industry events. The sessions will empower agency comms professionals with deeper insights into pitching and positioning stories, leveraging technologies, cultivating partnerships and more. The sessions are designed to help comms professionals from agencies of all shapes and sizes.
Speakers include Jon Iwata, executive chairman, data & trust alliance, and former IBM chief brand officer; Geno Schellenberger, CEO, Breaking and Entering Media; Adrienne Lucas, head of DEI & strategic partnerships, The One Club for Creativity; Leah Steinhardt, VP of marketing, POSSIBLE; Matt Ryan, CEO, Roth Ryan Hayes (RRH); Simone Oppenheimer-Mandel, co-founder, NBZ; and others. Check out the full line-up here.
Co-chairs of the 4A's Comms Committee, Rebecca Sullivan, director of public relations, North America, VML, and Suzanne McGee, director, marketing and communications, EP+Co, will be the emcees for the event. Journalists from a number of publications will also speak.
In anticipation of the event, the 4A’s, in partnership with LBB, asked some of the speakers about the evolving role of PR and comms in new business and growth, the dynamics between great work and strategic PR, and the hurdles they overcome in their line of work.
Today we’re chatting to Oliver McAteer, partner and head of development at Mischief.
In his role, Oliver looks after new business and comms. Joining as employee number four, he has helped grow Mischief from a pandemic start-up to one of the most celebrated agencies in the world. He is “not an ad person” and still refuses to watch 'Mad Men'. This all seems to be working out OK for him.
LBB> For your organisation, what is the key function of PR and comms?
Oliver> Mischief's mission is pure and simple: We create work that makes a stir because the riskiest thing a brand can do is be ignorable. The key function of PR and comms is to use every microphone available to shout that from the rooftops. Every piece of content we put out into the world needs to champion and ladder up to this warrior cry. By finding unexpected and unignorable ways to talk about what we do, how we do it, why we do it, and the results that come from it, we want to create a draw from talent and partners who share our beliefs. In this sense, PR and comms done right should be a company's greatest new business driver.
LBB> At what stage of growth does the mantra 'the work speaks for itself' stop being enough, necessitating strong, strategic PR?
Oliver> The work will always speak for itself if the idea is powerful. A powerful idea is one anchored by hard-working strategy with a relatable and true insight, expressed in a creatively unignorable way that only makes sense for that particular brand. It should never be noise for the sake of noise. An idea that gets talked about is one that is crafted with an earned-centric mind. PR must be baked into the idea, and not an afterthought. The words, ‘hey, can you PR this?’ should never be spoken. You'll be able to envision the headline for the right idea at the early concepting stage.
By finding unexpected and unignorable ways to talk about what we do, how we do it, why we do it, and the results that come from it, we want to create a draw from talent and partners who share our beliefs. In this sense, PR and comms done right should be a company's greatest new business driver.
LBB> The ad industry, as we know, is partial to an awards show. What are your thoughts on the link between great comms and the winning of great awards?
Oliver> Hot take: Work awards are great for personal career development. Agency awards are great for new business. It is harder to nab an agency of the year award than it is to win something like a Clio. Simply because there are less of them to go around, making them more valuable in my opinion. Agency awards tend to come with press coverage and this coverage is what drives new business and brand narrative. The key to an awesome submission is - you guessed it - creativity. Whoever's doing the submission needs to love creative storytelling and write it like the story they want to see in the press, instead of just throwing in facts and figures.
LBB> In your opinion, how has the role and stature of a PR/comms professional evolved during your career span? Have things changed greatly?
Oliver> PR is new business and new business is PR. The closer these two departments are linked, the more efficient an agency's growth engine will be. At Mischief the department is one and the same, and my role is 50/50 new biz and PR.
