It’s a special day today at Refresh – we turn 15!
A great big thank you first and foremost to our amazing team of curious, creative people who make our agency what it is.
Also, to our clients (past and present) for putting your trust in us and allowing us to work on campaigns that make us excited to get out of bed and come to the office in the morning.
We’re looking forward to seeing what 2025 and beyond will bring. And in the meantime, in this blog we chatted to our founder and managing director, Laura, as she reflected on her highlights from the past 15 years.
First and foremost, why did you start Refresh?
I started Refresh with a view to doing things differently. The main premise was to focus on our clients, not on ourselves (and our profit), in the theory that if we do things right, the numbers at our end will stack up. This seems to be going quite well! I also wanted to start an agency where the whole team has a say in what happens, and we’ve stayed true to those roots too: everyone’s voice is heard.
What has changed most about the PR sector in the past 15 years
In terms of the way in which we work, COVID has been the biggest game changer – from five years ago to now, it’s incomparable how much is done online. For me, the reason I chose a career in PR was to be around people, to interact, to bounce off others, to hear viewpoints that completely disagree with my line of thought (rather than a social media algorithm reinforcing them!), to see clients in action, to visit places I’d not been before, to see client’s offices, factories and businesses – and just generally to be around people.
As AI and computers advance much faster than the human race, it’s inevitable that to get the commercial edge, having teams behind a computer/on a phone using every piece of software and tactic possible to fast track a job and reach more and more people, is the way most companies will go. Some argue that this leaves more room for creative thinking and free time, but in reality it leaves more time to do more of the same! It’s unlikely companies will give this free time up: they will fill it with more.
Combined with this, the huge decline in the world of print has delivered a world of online analytics, where by the minute publishers can see what the most popular stories are, what people want to see and read more about, and push journalists to feed this hunger for more of the same. This has forced journalists to churn content – not necessarily always quality content – based not on what’s necessarily important, but what is most desired, in order to get views and clicks from the people who are online more than ever.
I would love to see a renewed focus on PR being about people, not just what’s online. Call me old school, that’s fine, but human interaction for humans is really, really important. In the past year we’ve conducted more face-to-face roundtables than in any other year. We’ve delivered more talks at events and met more students than ever before too. I know this is my old age influence on the company coming through, but I do believe public relations needs to involve online relations combining with face-to-face relations in order to produce the best results. To reach everyone, this mix is critical. Until I can hologram into your home from my home, to have this interaction so I don’t actually need to leave my sofa, that is!
What is your proudest moment of the past 15 years?
Overcoming real challenges during my ‘maternity leave’ (which was cut eventually to nine weeks with my first child) in order to ensure Refresh is the success it is today. My first mat leave was particularly challenging, both personally and professionally, but the company is built on solid foundations and that ultimately shone through to ensure year after year of success. I learned a lot from this experience, and took this learning as a positive. Balancing parenthood with running a business isn’t easy (remember, I grew up with The Spice Girls telling us we could have it all!), and it’s critical to surround yourself with decent people who have your back. We all support each other in times of need, and particularly over the past year it’s been evident to see this in action across the business.
Hitting £1m turnover was a really proud moment, as it was a real team effort. We’ve also had what I would call really significant client wins (I won’t name any here to show no favouritism!) and significant hires who have helped make the business what it is today.
Finally, I came up with the Heating Installer Awards in the shower (what a vision!) one morning, and we’ve just launched Year 10. We got told recently how the awards have genuinely changed the lives of installers, helping boost their businesses, helping them to provide for their families and take on more apprentices. To be told your idea has genuinely changed people’s lives is, well, really humbling, but bloody satisfying too. Where else would you be able to have such creative freedom to launch something with such power?
What do you love about PR these days?
My work is particularly focused in the built environment sector. I love walking into a room and seeing it filled mostly with other women. It’s a real shift from 10 years ago. In the early days this wouldn’t be the case, and I believe we lost accounts in those early days because we were women pitching in this sector. Now, no one really cares – it’s all about the substance behind the claims rather than how you look!
What do you miss about PR from ‘the old days’?
Everything Rob Mayhew posts about from the ‘old days’! If you don’t know what I’m referring to, follow him on LinkedIn! Definitely not faxing press releases – that machine hated me – and then posting photos that got there three days after the press release (having had to drive to Max Spielman to get them developed).
Also, there just wasn’t as much noise and as much pressure to communicate more and more to stay ahead. I used to drive all over the country to get stories for my clients – I’ve been airside at Gatwick airport to write about aeroplanes, held birds of prey who were acting as pest deterrents, interviewed everyone from council leaders to restaurant chefs, attempted to insulate a penguin enclosure at a zoo, done a PA with Bob the Builder, managed dozens of crisis situations, sometimes on-site, and so much more. Nowadays a lot of those interviews would be done over Teams and you’d never have these experiences. I try to get our teams out as much as possible so they can have these experiences too.
What’s your favourite portrayal in the media of a PR person
It’s been a couple of years since a client asked me if I could get a story buried, which I guess is the most popular perception.
My favourite really is Mad Men though, for many reasons, I love the idea of sitting in a room day after day just chatting until you come up with a concept so good, Coca-Cola takes it global. And it actually happened!
What do you love most about running an agency?
The real satisfaction from seeing a campaign that we’ve developed deliver true value for a client. There’s honestly nothing like the kick you get from seeing it all come together and as a result change businesses (and depending on the sector, lives!). I also love the variety of work that you’d never be able to experience working for one brand in-house. It’s a real privilege to be able to represent such diverse organisations and be let in to their worlds.
Tell us about a couple of your favourite Refresh campaigns
Too many to name! But if I had to highlight a few:
- Accoya’s Spirit of the Place, targeting architects at a high level. This was one of Libby’s campaigns and it is so unique and so different. We really challenged the client brief and I’ll be forever grateful to the client for trusting us.
- Every year of the Heating Installer Awards (obviously!). Every year is crazy for a different reason (from missing plumbers and trips abroad that we’ve been banned from talking about to high striker games with hammers on exhibition stands…) and if you’ve ever worked on it, I hope you’re smiling while reading this!
- Acorn Treatment (now Acorn Recovery Projects) – Acorn was one of our first ever clients; a not-for-profit addiction rehabilitation centre in Stockport. By the end of the campaign some of its clients were regulars on BBC Radio Manchester, travelling over to Media City and further afield with me to raise awareness of the fantastic work done by the organisation. Often Acorn’s clients had been through the worst that life could throw at someone, and come out the other side. It was my responsibility to make sure that they were represented fairly by the media, knowing their stories would be out there in the public domain for their friends, neighbours and children to hear and read. I took this responsibility very seriously and like to think I did a good job of getting Acorn’s name in front of the people we needed to reach.
What’s coming up for Refresh in the next couple of years?
More evolution! We’ve just restructured the company to make it fit for 2025, something the whole team is excited about. We never have a year where we stand still but our focus will continue to remain on offering true strategic advice to our clients, backed up with a team of high-performing specialists who deliver the first-class work we’ve become renowned for.
We’ll also run our Young Talent Scheme again next year, which allows us to find great people who deserve their first foot on the ladder. It’s important we continue to support the local economy.
Finally, we have a really strong niche in the construction sector but we have a team hungry to learn lots, so we’re actively on the look out for clients away from this sector to provide a rounded experience to our team. If you’re asking, I’ll be focusing on chocolate producers!