Telum is looking to highlight the diverse and vibrant agencies in the Australian and NZ PR and communications landscape in upcoming editions of our PR Alert. We want to encourage networking, business opportunities, and to celebrate the great initiatives being worked on. If you'd like your agency to feature, get in touch at [email protected]

In this edition, we look at Coote Agency, founded by Maz Coote. After feeling like there was a gap in the market, Maz launched Coote Connex. The agency has recently undergone a rebranding and is now Coote Agency. We had a chat with Maz about the agency and what they offer.

What services does the agency offer?
Coote Agency offers a single destination for strategies and expertise across public relations (media/ influencer relations and partnerships), digital marketing strategy and talent management.

What size is the agency?
Medium - 10+ employees.

Where does your agency have an office?
Sydney, Australia - in saying that, we work for our brands nationally and in the New Zealand market.

Do you have a particular area of focus?
Beauty and lifestyle.

Who is the founder and why did they start the agency?
I am the founder of our original agency, Coote Connex, and at the time I felt there was a gap for an offering that was really tailored, almost consultancy mentality meets the capabilities of large agency, in its approach. PR is best deployed when it isn’t treated as a one size fits all approach - and that is from pricing to strategy itself. I wanted to build brand specific strategies and plug into the brands as part of their marketing team.

The agency has of course grown now, and we have a couple of different arms, but this is still one of our core principles today. We are an extension of the marketing team; we are the mouthpiece for our brands in the market. The better we know them, the closer we are integrated - the better the results.

What is next for your agency? What is the five-year goal?
We are launching a new product for businesses that have got past that start-up phase (high five!) and looking to scale their comms strategy in a cost-effective, but high impact way.

We launch early January, and we are super excited about having a really tailored option for businesses in that phase of their journey. It was always important to me that we could help businesses of all shapes and sizes.

In a sentence, describe your ideal relationship with a journalist.
One where they know working with us will be seamless and easy. That we will deliver on what they need and meet their deadlines.

Tell us about a campaign you are currently working on or are particularly proud of.
We work with Tour De Cure, one of the country's leading charity organisations, and have just wrapped our work on their Gala Fundraising events for the year.

As a pro bono client that we have worked for since we opened the agency seven years ago, we are really proud of our work and the good being done that we contribute to here.

We have just announced that since 2007, $94.3 million has been raised for cancer research, 80 major breakthroughs funded and 659 cancer projects backed.

I think if you have the capacity to give back, then as comms agencies we can really add so much value.

Any key PR trends your agency is keeping an eye on?
We are seeing a real re-appreciation of PR. I think there was a period where, as a tool in the marketing mix, it was somewhat unprioritised. Budgets were being deployed into other spend based areas and activities.

As PRs though, what are we? We are content creators, and we are generators of organic third-party authority. These are two things brands simply cannot exist without.

PR works hard in the background to amplify and convert spend based activity.

We also now have robust ways to value our work in the PR side of the agency and to link it to commercial outcomes and that really helps PR with keeping a seat at the table!

What skillsets do you look for in new hires?
For junior hires we look for a real cross-section of skill - writing ability, digital understanding to complement their PR skills, finger on the pulse of global trends.

For senior hires, we look for the above - coupled with their own deep relationships with media and influencers being important to us.