Lansons Communications

• We have boosted our consumer PR expertise by recruiting former Lexis consumer specialist Paul McCaffrey

At the same time, we have strengthened the senior consultancy team and rewarded the significant talent within Lansons through a raft of promotions including 5 people to Board level and 8 to Associate Director.

What was your best client/account win of 2009 and why?

Becoming the UK agency for number one professional networking destination LinkedIn, because it symbolised our strength in digital communication.

What were your three best campaigns of 2009?

• Helping the Isle of Man Government navigate the choppy waters of global recession and international pressure on offshore centres
• Working with Metro Bank to prepare the ground for the first High Street bank launch in 150 years (in a banking crisis!)
• ‘Beckham’s great grandfather was a scavenger’ launching availability of the 1911 Census for Findmypast.co.uk and The National Archive

How did the recession affect your performance in 2009 and what trends did you notice throughout the year – e.g. clients taking longer to sign off budgets etc?

We formed in the late 80s recession, grew through the 90s downturn and grinded our way through the dotcom crash, so recessions are not new for us.

Similar characteristics: budget cuts, spending delays, cut-throat fee competition, big pitch lists, etc. By now, communications people just want it to be over – they can see the light at the end of the tunnel and want client wins, budget increases, bonuses and pay rises. The challenge is to manage the last months of recession before these things actually happen in 2011.

Of which achievement in 2009 are you most proud?

In our 20th year receiving a laureate award from the ‘UK’s Best Workplaces’ for being in the UK’s top 50 workplaces for a fifth year in succession.

Describe your agency in five words

Independent, committed, ambitious, creative, durable.

How have you embraced social media in 2009?

We built a studio and editing suite in our office and believe we are the only PR agency to have this in-house capability. This puts us at the forefront of the ‘content is king’ age and in 12 months our digital division Lansons Live has made 70 films and managed 40 webcasts. Our strength is combining client messaging with the means of production thereby enabling clients to go direct to their stakeholders, telling their own stories, in an editorially rigorous and convincing way.

Across Lansons, social media expertise is embedded in our core consultancy and this is reflected in our industry leading set of online clients including moneysupermarket.com, uSwitch.com, LinkedIn, PayPal, mySupermarket.co.uk and Findmypast.co.uk.

What are your plans for 2010?

Extend our capabilities in corporate counsel, financial services, consumer marketing and production/content creation. We are seeking further strategic hires and an acquisition of either a team or small company. Target areas are capital markets/M&A, internal communication and content creation.

Our theme for the year is ‘revolution in consultancy’ – focusing absolutely on achieving business objectives through communication and making the consultancy we offer more relevant and valuable to our clients.

We also aim to grow our international work (through membership of the PROI network) and public sector work (through the COI roster).

When the recession is over (2011?) we’re going to throw a great party to celebrate 21 years in business!

If your agency were an animal, what animal would it be and why?

A lynx – free thinking, independent, agile.