Former Icon and Ogilvy PR leaders launch new indie comms agency
A new independent communications consultancy has launched, focused on “transforming complex concepts and challenges into truly human stories”.
Founded by five senior industry leaders – Miriam Wells, David Radestock, Emma Bridgeman, Georgia Lawson, and Gabrielle Gray – Allegory is the latest to offer clients a combination of “corporate smarts” and consumer engagement.
With decades of combined experience at leading agencies, the five experts will aim to take the complexity of the modern world, and “make it innately human”.
Wells was most recently chief creative officer at Ogilvy PR, while Radestock, Bridgeman, Lawson, and Gray were all at Icon as executive director of comms, director of tech and B2B, senior program director, and general manger, respectively.
(L-R): David Radestock, Georgia Lawson, Emma Bridgeman, Gabrielle Gray, Miriam Wells
Allegory was founded to address the so-called “identity crisis” of the comms sector – where creative and strategic work has been reduced to a commodity, and razor-thin margins have normalised mediocrity.
“We’ve all been around long enough to know our industry is at a crossroads,” Radestock explained.
“Caught between the complexity of the modern world and the hyperactive nature of communicating in it, we’ve been forced to settle for normalised mediocrity, watching our potential to shape culture, policy, and lives fade in the race to keep up. Allegory exists to change that.
“We’ve spent decades developing a deep understanding of some of the most complex organisations, issues, and markets in the world, and figuring out how to make sense of that for every audience imaginable. We know how to make it meaningful, to make people laugh, cry, act, think, and advocate.”
Wells described Allegory as “sector and channel-agnostic”, saying it will take on any opportunity at any industry.
“Our priority is interesting work that allows us to put human emotions and needs at the heart of every story we shape,” she said.
“We have big ambitions for ourselves and our clients. There’s immense potential in our mix of earnest and audacious, highbrow and lowbrow to deliver impactful, meaningful work, all while having a lot of fun.
“We’re building Allegory to be a creative powerhouse, a centre of excellence for talent, and to challenge the typical agency model in search of something better. We’re unbelievably excited to get started,” Wells concluded.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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topics
Allegory
comms
creative comms
David Radestock
Emma Bridgeman
Gabrielle Gray
Georgia Lawson
Miriam Wells
PR
Hi that first press release, and photo tell a lot about the clarity of a new brand. From this I get buzz words and mish mash. Humans first, heart, image humans. The more a company has to remind itself humans are at the centre the more I think they are in the business of flogging stuff people don’t need and managing reputations of companies who lost them.
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There’s another story in this – Four of Icon’s most senior folks leave at the same time….leaving what kind of situation for Icon and the clients they served? I get the story around opportunity and the entrepreneurship of building your own agency, but feel like there’s more Mumbrella could look into here….
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