Interview
Agency Profile: One Plus One Communications
In Telum's latest Agency Profile, we travel to Auckland, New Zealand, to take a look at One Plus One Communications. Managing Director, Kelly Bennett, walks us through the independent communications company, founded in 2013.
What services does the agency offer?
10+ staff and associates.
Where does your agency have an office?
First Floor, 130 St Georges Bay Road, Parnell, Auckland. And if you’re wondering, we have easy parking and some GREAT cafés nearby.
Do you have a particular area of focus?
Our origins are in corporate communications: delivering strategic media, stakeholder, investor and government relations for our clients alongside unflappable crisis and issues management. As our client partnerships have deepened, so too has their demand for our expertise, seeing us deliver highly integrated campaigns spanning earned, owned and paid channels, social management and content production.
Who is the founder and why did they start the agency?
Kelly Bennett is a trained journalist with 25 years’ international experience in corporate communications and is one of New Zealand’s most experienced and successful PR practitioners. He founded the successful PR arm of global advertising network TBWA, Eleven PR, in New Zealand and Australia before deciding to launch his own consultancy. His intent was to bring something new to the local agency landscape: a consultancy that paired the creativity, ambition and fun of a creative network agency, with the commercial acumen and strategic nous of a more traditional corporate consultancy. The formula was successful, with One Plus One Communications quickly establishing itself, attracting an enviable roster of clients and growing a highly talented team.
What is next for your agency? What is the five-year goal?
Well, our office is big enough for about 25 people, so we need to fill it up! We know that people are very much at the heart of our business, so in five years’ time we want to be known as THE place for exceptional PR practitioners to come and make their careers (we already know that’s the case but need to get the word out!).
In a sentence, describe your ideal relationship with a journalist.
They pick up the phone because they know we have the goods.
Tell us about a campaign you are currently working on or are particularly proud of.
We’ve been working on an ongoing partnership with NIB and expert neuroscience educator, Nathan Wallis, for a few years now that continues to deliver incredible value. It really demonstrates the value of long-term partnerships and the power of a strategic comms platform underpinned by genuine human insight - in this case, the universal desires every parent has when it comes to understanding and raising their kids.
Any key PR trends your agency is keeping an eye on?
Keeping on top of tech and cultural trends is part and parcel of being an effective PR practitioner and is something you’ve got to do to remain competitive, but it’s equally important to remember that a trend is not a strategy, and it’s not an idea. There are a lot of businesses and agencies out there saying “we’ll do a Metaverse campaign, we’ll create an AR experience, we need to have an opinion on the Vibe Shift”. All of these things are incredibly interesting, so long as they’re in service of those unchanging human motivations: to be warm, fed, loved, recognised, entertained or moved. The connection we’re making is more important than the packaging.
What skillsets do you look for in new hires?
We’re after qualities more than particular skills (which can be learned). Our team members are: talented, curious, driven, intelligent, creative and nice. If that sounds like you, we’re looking for several roles to meet growing demand from Senior Account Executive through to Senior Account Director.
Contact kelly.bennett@oneplusonmegroup.cop.nz if you’d like to chat.
Answers submitted by One Plus One Communications Managing Director, Kelly Bennett.
What services does the agency offer?
- Corporate Communications
- EO & Senior Management Counsel
- Consumer PR
- Content Development
- Government Relations
- Events, Sponsorship & Publicity Management
- Stakeholder Relations
- Investor Relations
- Whānau Engagement
- ESG Communications
- Media Relations & Training
- New Product Launches
- Reputation & Crisis Management
- Social Media Strategy
- Employee Communication & Culture Building
- Web, Film, Video & Print Production
10+ staff and associates.
Where does your agency have an office?
First Floor, 130 St Georges Bay Road, Parnell, Auckland. And if you’re wondering, we have easy parking and some GREAT cafés nearby.
Do you have a particular area of focus?
Our origins are in corporate communications: delivering strategic media, stakeholder, investor and government relations for our clients alongside unflappable crisis and issues management. As our client partnerships have deepened, so too has their demand for our expertise, seeing us deliver highly integrated campaigns spanning earned, owned and paid channels, social management and content production.
Who is the founder and why did they start the agency?
Kelly Bennett is a trained journalist with 25 years’ international experience in corporate communications and is one of New Zealand’s most experienced and successful PR practitioners. He founded the successful PR arm of global advertising network TBWA, Eleven PR, in New Zealand and Australia before deciding to launch his own consultancy. His intent was to bring something new to the local agency landscape: a consultancy that paired the creativity, ambition and fun of a creative network agency, with the commercial acumen and strategic nous of a more traditional corporate consultancy. The formula was successful, with One Plus One Communications quickly establishing itself, attracting an enviable roster of clients and growing a highly talented team.
What is next for your agency? What is the five-year goal?
Well, our office is big enough for about 25 people, so we need to fill it up! We know that people are very much at the heart of our business, so in five years’ time we want to be known as THE place for exceptional PR practitioners to come and make their careers (we already know that’s the case but need to get the word out!).
In a sentence, describe your ideal relationship with a journalist.
They pick up the phone because they know we have the goods.
Tell us about a campaign you are currently working on or are particularly proud of.
We’ve been working on an ongoing partnership with NIB and expert neuroscience educator, Nathan Wallis, for a few years now that continues to deliver incredible value. It really demonstrates the value of long-term partnerships and the power of a strategic comms platform underpinned by genuine human insight - in this case, the universal desires every parent has when it comes to understanding and raising their kids.
Any key PR trends your agency is keeping an eye on?
Keeping on top of tech and cultural trends is part and parcel of being an effective PR practitioner and is something you’ve got to do to remain competitive, but it’s equally important to remember that a trend is not a strategy, and it’s not an idea. There are a lot of businesses and agencies out there saying “we’ll do a Metaverse campaign, we’ll create an AR experience, we need to have an opinion on the Vibe Shift”. All of these things are incredibly interesting, so long as they’re in service of those unchanging human motivations: to be warm, fed, loved, recognised, entertained or moved. The connection we’re making is more important than the packaging.
What skillsets do you look for in new hires?
We’re after qualities more than particular skills (which can be learned). Our team members are: talented, curious, driven, intelligent, creative and nice. If that sounds like you, we’re looking for several roles to meet growing demand from Senior Account Executive through to Senior Account Director.
Contact kelly.bennett@oneplusonmegroup.cop.nz if you’d like to chat.
Answers submitted by One Plus One Communications Managing Director, Kelly Bennett.
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