Agency ditches PR from its name to represent push beyond traditional public relations
The new Magnum & Co logo
Consumer agency Magnum PR is to rebrand as Magnum & Co to recognise that the solution it offers to clients’ problems is no longer automatically PR.
The agency – whose key clients include Red Bull and Colgate-Palmolive – is making the change because of the growth of clients for its social, digital, experiential and content marketing services.
“We’ve stopped treating PR as the only way to communicate our clients stories,” agency cofounder Michelle Hampton told Mumbrella. “The way that we work is we tell our clients’ stories in the most creative way and my theory is we shouldn’t just stop at PR.”
Previous Magnum PR logo
The rebrand coincides with the tenth anniversary of Magnum’s foundation in Sydney. The agency now employs 20 staff.
However, the agency will not seek to wider its offering to include above the line advertising. “I need to be realistic about this – we are not a creative agency. We’re not going to play in the space where we’re creating TVCs or anything like that,” Hampton told Mumbrella.
The “& co” part of the name is intended to send out a signal that the agency will seek a collaborative approach with clients. Hampton said: “It was a case of coming up with something that was representative of who we are and making sure clients see us as a very collaborative agency and that we see our clients as our partners.”
Hamton, centre, with The Magnum & Co team: Collaborative approach
The name change comes as the agency seeks to “future proof” its offering including hiring former BMF social media manager Stephanie Fisher to lead the social media team.
“Given digital and social are so important to us as a business we wanted to make sure we weren’t limiting the opportunity to come up with new ways to increase our revenue stream,” she said. Magnum & Co has also launched a new website and branding, including an updated logo.
“The PR in our name, perception-wise when new brands come across Magnum, given PR was in our name the immediate assumption was we were a straight PR agency.”
“If someone was to ask me what business we’re in I would probably still say PR, but I’d be very quick to say we offer other services as well.
Magnum’s new site
While other types of agencies have raced to move into the social media space, Hampton argues that the PR industry as a whole is still well placed to move it to the centre of its offering. “We were a little bit slow to catch on to the fact that we are very good at social media.
“If you look at when social media was up for grabs originally we were a bit slow off the mark and then you saw social media specialist agencies appear. But what brands are starting to figure out, and this is purely through trial and error, is that if they really want to do well on social media they have to approach it like a content publisher.
Unlike the instinct of ad agencies to aggressively insert brands into content, PR agencies are better equipped to tell a story subtly, Hampton argues.
“The reason why PR people do have the right to own social media is because we have to work really hard to get journalists to run our stories. By virtue of having to work hard we become very skilled at telling our clients’ stories without over-branding it.”
“PR agencies need to change what they do. Over the last 10 years since I started Magnum, the concept of PR has changed a lot.
“The industry has evolved very much over the last 10 years and changing the name is not going to achieve anything, it needs to be a reflection on the type of work we do. For PR to remain relevant we need to be attuned with the changing dynamics of media consumption.”
The rebrand comes after a string of new business wins including Swarovski, 3DR, Wok on Inn, Polk Audio, Power Crunch, Proto Whey, Pawshake and Sophos.
Miranda Ward
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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Well that’s going to make other agencies really want to work with them. Pr agencies really need to already be playing upstream (ogb) to pull this off.
A weird move to publicise this.
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Sad to see founders using the word ‘I’ and not ‘we’ in statements.
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From the mouth the mighty one.
“PR companies… who tell you they are taking on the advertising agencies on their own are living in la la land…”
http://www.prweek.com/article/.....cies-alone
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A big congrats to Michelle and the team. Great people doing great things.
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Big congrats to Michelle and the Magnum & Co Team and all the best to Steph (aka social media weapon).
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