The challenges comms agencies face when going national

These days, ‘boutique communications agency’ is a colloquialism emblazoned everywhere from cocktail party napkins to email signatures and Instagram handles, adopting the same head banging muster as ‘disruptor’ and ‘innovator’.

While many agencies will try, most will fail to evolve from the homely, local communications firms they are and into national PR powerhouses they want to be.

As one small agency shuts its doors, another one swings open with the same modular logo, white wash walls and flashy website – blanketing the same long hours, high operating costs and revolving door of clients endured by the tireless work of its owners and employees. Akin to smacking a different label on the same tired yet true product, agencies uniformly lack the resources and commercial experience to manage the talent and investment needed to expand into large corporate agency.