Global PR and communications agency Sling & Stone has seen a monumental year of growth. Their US HQ welcomed five new team members, and kicked off campaigns with nine new clients across three new industry sectors (retail, auto and travel) in 2022 alone. On a global scale, the agency joined the VCCP Business network of agencies around the world, a move that allows the team to stay 100% independent but tap into VCCP’s global partners for business growth, new client opportunities and learning and development. Also of note: the opening of the fourth S&S global office in Singapore and the formation of the JEDI taskforce, a DEI initiative with members from all the agency’s offices around the world and representatives of diverse groups across the team. S&S takes care of their team with a range of benefits and wellness programs, from physical and mental health days to paid parental leave and compassionate leave for pregnancy loss policies.
Leadership team:
Vuki Vujasinovic, Founder & CEO
Notable long-term clients:
Pathmatics, Sendle, Buildkite
New client wins:
InVia Robotics, Ignition, Kami, C3 by SBE, EVCS, Kicks Crew, Minoan, Riparide
How are you innovating and moving the industry forward?
“Sling & Stone’s mission is to unearth, craft and share the stories of the most ambitious brands shaping the future. Our clients are challengers, disruptors and tastemakers who are creating the future of how we live, work and play. We have a strict vetting process for potential clients and turn brands away if they don’t meet our criteria. This not only ensures we stick to our mission, but creates a workplace where employees feel excited to tell their clients’ stories. The industry has drastically shifted over the last 10 years and accelerated even further since COVID hit in 2020. As mastheads shrunk, the newscycle remains tumultuous and paid social ads become brands' lifeline to success, it’s become increasingly important to diversify and level up our service offering. As such, we’ve made it a point to offer an integrated component of every strategy or proposal that is easily enmeshed with a client’s marketing plans. As such, we’ve been able to showcase the true depth of knowledge we as comms professionals have beyond solely PR, and the value stories that stick has across all marketing channels more effectively than bland ads. As a result, we’ve increased our average retainer size by 20 percent, launched most of our clients' first forays into marketing initiatives and have been able to showcase the true value PR can bring when working in tandem with brand awareness strategies.”
With offices in Sonoma and Brooklyn, integrated marketing communications agency The James Collective supports clients across food, beverage, travel and wellness. In the past year, the agency added new key services – affiliate program management and social media strategy and execution – to maintain their position on the leading edge of media relations, as well as to ensure that clients are able to maximize their DTC sales (which many invested heavily in during and post-pandemic). Leadership does their part for the industry via ‘TJC Labs,’ a project-based PR incubator for small, growing businesses owned by entrepreneurs who are often left out of traditional fundraising – women, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ business owners. In addition, they partner with Seize Every Opportunity (SEO), an organization aimed at closing the academic and career opportunity gaps for motivated young people from underserved and/or underrepresented communities. They work with SEO on placing interns who are often first generation Americans, or the first of their family to go to college, to grow the next generation of diverse PR leaders.
Leadership team:
Alison Seibert, Founder + Principal
Kim Elwell, Partner
Notable long-term clients:
Maille Mustard, Flowers Winery, Jacobsen Salt Co., Guittard Chocolate Company, Faust Wines, Gundlach Bundschu (California’s oldest family owned winery)
New client wins:
1 Hotel San Francisco, Spring & Mulberry, Huichica Music Festival, Sweet Deliverance (soon to launch)
How are you innovating and moving the industry forward?
“As a small business, we get to juggle client work with experimentation in new tactics and services – some of which has been reflected in the evolution of the services we’re now able to offer clients. We try to hire people who are not of a traditional PR agency or role background, but that bring a variety of experience in other roles or industries. This helps us not only expand the talent pool of PR and marketing professionals when they come on board with us, but also brings a fresh perspective to the work we do. Some of our team members have come to us after being chefs and farmers, music industry project managers, new business and client managers in finance, and journalists. Additionally, every team member gets an education credit every year to further their knowledge in PR and marketing, as well as in the industries in which we work, to continue to move the industry forward. We also have taken workshops and have changed our hiring and new business outreach to increase DEI efforts, especially by investing in the next generation of PR professionals with our internship program.”
