Focus PR

Describe your agency in five words

Ambitious, profitable, doing great work

How would you sum up 2010 for your agency?

2010 was a year of regrouping in the first quarter and settling into a new and more optimistic rhythm over the summer, before striding forwards once again in the last quarter. The pace of work continues to increase, but we know how lucky we are to have a great and strong team and many long-standing clients with whom we work happily and effectively in genuine partnership.

What was your agency’s high point of 2010?

Being appointed by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

What was the low point of 2010?

We reached the closing stages of another potential agency acquisition and decided regretfully that we were not getting the comfort signals we were looking for, the ‘sands were moving beneath our feet’ so we withdrew just hours prior to completion. Better to be safe than sorry.

Please give an overview of your staffing through 2010, including significant hires and internal promotions.

Our team numbers stayed fairly constant and 13 of our 31-strong team were promoted in 2010, most notably client services director Bryony Johnson who was appointed to the board and Lily Pickard who was promoted to creative director. Overall, it’s been increasingly hard to find new stars with the right combination of personal attributes, skills and experience so we largely focused on recruiting bright, ambitious graduates who can grow and develop with us.

What were your three best campaigns of 2010?

Maker’s + The Machine – we brought the ‘handmade’ brand strategy to life in an innovative way which is being adopted in other markets. It’s scalable and offers great ROI, more than doubling UK case sales in 2010

Affordable Art Fair - for sheer quality of editorial feature coverage secured, which maintained visitor numbers while growing sales despite the recession

Cadbury Cocoa House first store launch - including three pieces on primetime BBC TV News and numerous national print pieces, all of which helped to drive target-busting footfall and sales and attracted international interest

What were your most exciting client wins of 2010?

• Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
• Stolichnaya (global consumer and trade brief, excluding USA)
• Masterpiece London
• Cadbury Cocoa House

Of which achievement in 2010 are you most proud?

A step change in our business, in terms of the ambition of our clients and their keenness to work hand in glove with us to fulfil that ambition.

What trends did you notice throughout the year in the industry i.e. Clients taking longer to sign off budgets?

Budgets continued to be tightly controlled, but by demonstrating clear ROI we were able to grow our existing client PR budgets in many cases.

How has digital changed the agency landscape in 2010?

The increasing relevance of digital and social media has opened up huge new opportunities for us with clients, from monitoring online conversations to running social media engagement programmes. There’s still a big social media ‘land grab’ going on among agencies of different disciplines but we feel that, for many brands, it makes sense for PR agencies to take the lead, working closely with other disciplines.

What are your plans for 2011?

Our main focus will be on continuing to deliver great work and making a tangible difference to our clients’ businesses.

We’re also marking the first twenty years of Focus PR in June 2011 so we’ve got celebrations planned, not least to thank all those who’ve supported us through the first two decades.