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 alert@telummedia.com

In this edition, we look at we scout, founded by Lori Susko and Annabelle Jones. After discovering their shared passion for PR, they decided to open the agency in 2019 to create a space that allowed them to work directly with their clients. We had a chat with Lori (pictured) about the agency and what they offer.

What services does the agency offer?
we scout is a full service communications agency with a passion for brand storytelling. Our list of services includes:

• Communications strategy, media relations and culture jacking
• Reputation and crisis management
• Partnership discovery and management
• Social strategy, community management
• Content creation and production
• Paid social
• Event ideation, planning and management
• Influencer discovery and management
• CSR + social mission

What size is the agency?
We’re a core team of six, with an extended team of specialist consultants who we work with regularly. We pride ourselves on having a hands-on, senior team across all of our client partners.

Where does your agency have an office?
Our office is based in a converted warehouse in Surry Hills, Sydney.

Do you have a particular area of focus?
Although we often say we are generalists, we tend to attract purpose-led brands. Some of our partners include the likes of Bumble - who have a mission to ending misogyny worldwide, Sunroom - a platform aimed at helping women and non-binary creators make money, and Otivo - that wants to even the playing field when it comes to making financial advice accessible to all.

When it comes to what we do, we are firm believers that best practice is BS, and therefore we look to implement ideas and activities based on the brief at hand.

Who is the founder and why did they start the agency?
we scout was founded by Annabelle Jones and myself - we’re both agency purebreds, having worked in PR land for most of our career. We met many moons ago and quickly discovered we have a similar outlook and a shared passion for producing quality work. We eventually took the leap in 2019, launching we scout, and it has been the best decision we ever made.

With big agency experience between us, we wanted to create a space that allowed us to work directly with our clients - something that was missing in our former roles. We have fostered a model that sees a senior team work across all of we scout’s brand partners.

Both Annabelle and I love all things comms, we share a similar motivation for securing results, value creativity and above all else we are deeply invested in the commercial success of our partners.

What is next for your agency? What is the five-year goal?
Earlier this year we launched the we scout Perspectives Panel, an initiative that we see as a starting point for industry change and our agency commitment to actively prioritise diversity, equality and inclusion in all our work.

The service provides client partners with access to a panel of Australians from across the country who bring with them different views, and lived experiences. It ensures that all the ideas we put forward to clients are filtered through an inclusivity lens. At the moment our panel comes together once a quarter, or when our partners require the support, with the purpose of exploring and analysing upcoming campaigns, as well as collaborating on specific ways in which we can work to ensure our work is considered for all viewpoints.

Eventually, we’d like to see our Perspectives Panel as an integrated, always-on arm of our agency. We know that we work with purpose-led brands who are always making impact and influencing positive change, and we see it as our responsibility to continue this commitment and lead change in an industry that can sometimes be restricted when it comes to viewpoints, and a deep understanding of varied lived experiences.

In a sentence, describe your ideal relationship with a journalist.
Our ideal relationship with a journalist is one that is honest, open and transparent. All of our team have regular check-ins with key media to ensure we stay on top of the stories that they want to see from the brands we work with. Above all else we always look to ensure we are finding stories that are relevant to what is going on in the world around us.

Tell us about a campaign you are currently working on or are particularly proud of.
We can’t pin it down to just one, so we have included our top two.

Bumble was we scout’s foundation client, and we are all incredibly passionate about their mission and what they stand for. They are a brand that live by their guiding purpose every day, have never shied away from leaning into the issues that matter to them, and we feel they have such a powerful story to tell.

Earlier this year we also worked alongside the founders of Sunroom to launch the new platform. Sunroom is built around the purpose of removing the stigmas that women and non-binary creators face when asking for more or showing more in the pursuit of wealth. The founding team includes Michelle Battersby and Lucy Mort and they worked relentlessly to pip Meta to the post when it came to anti-screenshot technology and to create a content monetisation platform that had real cultural impact. We are truly proud of our work telling the Sunroom story, as it started right back when Sunroom was still in the concept stages and it was our business storytelling that resulted in almost 30% of Sunroom’s seed funding.

Any key PR trends your agency is keeping an eye on?
We are huge fans of the Future Laboratory and of late we have been talking a lot about a trend they coin - Emotive Employers. This is built around the idea that flexible working hours are no longer enough to keep a team happy, in fact employers need to think progressively to keep their teams happy.

Otivo, a we scout client, does just that - they work with organisations to offer financial advice to their employees and their customer network. With inflation and the cost of living being a pain point for most Australians, we see this trend as one that is going to be even more poignant in months and years to come.

What skillsets do you look for in new hires?
We think work ethic and attitude is number one when it comes to our team, so that is what we are always looking for. We also pride ourselves on having fun while at work - so we really value team members with a similar outlook and someone who shows a passion for getting results.