Thank you for joining us today! Our guest is Anouschka Menzies, co-founder of Bacchus PR.

Bacchus PR was founded 27 years ago and now has over 130 employees across 5 offices - London, New York, Miami, Dubai and most recently Riyadh.

It works across the fashion, restaurants, hotels and real estate sectors and has a fee income of approximately £14m. Annouska describes the type of business that Bacchuss does as 70% consumer and 30% corporate.

Before we start, the headline news is that The PRmoment Awards have now opened for entries.. 

So if you want: Independent third party recognition of your work and a compelling differentiator that attracts new clients and builds credibility, then do enter.

Improved this year is our insights & feedback functionality, you now receive constructive feedback on your campaign work and agency performance, broken down by the specific judging criteria.

And finally from a GEO and LLM Optimisation perspective: Every winning entry will receive a dedicated profile page on the PRmoment Awards website, which will showcase the successful submission and explain the judging panel's decision. 

Also, our PR Masterclass the Agency Growth Forum is less than 2 weeks away. Virtual and face to face tickets are now available.

Check out PRmasterclasses.com or the homepage of PRmoment for the full speaker lineup.

Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

Here’s a summary of what Anouschka and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:

Anouschka started the business with Charlotte Lurot and, a couple of years later, Daize Washbourn joined. Has having 3 leaders from an early stage accelerated the ambition of Bacchus? 

Anouschka talks about PR needing to have a commercial impact and needing to generate cash for clients. How does that come through in the approach to Bacchus’s work? 

All of Bacchus’ senior staff in London have been with the business for over a decade. That creates great experience and knowledge in the business but can it result in a lack of opportunity for more junior employees?

Anouschka talks about how Bacchus made the move into real estate PR? That seems quite a jump from restaurants and hotels? But that was a crucial step for the business right.

How does Bacchus create an entrepreneurial culture in its business? 

“It needs to be a better package than anyone else is offering.”

Anouschka has built an international business when lots of her peer agencies have struggled to build an international network. Why did she decide to go international relatively early in Bacchus's journey?

“Corporate PR is probably easier than consumer PR!”

“Any international entity coming to the UK needs to understand that our press will leave no stone unturned.”

How excited is Anouschka about PR’s GEO opportunity?

If Anouschka had one piece of advice for young PR agency leaders out there, what would it be?

“Never compete with anyone but yourselves?”

Is Anouschka nervous or positive about the future of the PR agency business?

Welcome to the PRmoment podcast's weekly News Review.

We're joined by Angie Moxham, founder of 3 Monkeys and Fourth Angel and Mark Borkowski, founder of Borkowski PR.

In this new show Mark, Angie and PRmoment founder Ben Smith review the biggest news stories of the week from a PR perspective.

This week we compare the communications styles of Trump verses and the BBC. Does Trumps fearless, confident style threaten to overwhelm the BBC's risk averse approach?

We also talk about Labour's ongoing communication struggles. Angie and Mark discuss Rachel Reeves U-turn on a U-turn and why confused comms seems to indicate a confused government. 

Also a reminder that our our PR Masterclass: Then Agency Growth Forum is in less than 2 weeks. Virtual and face-to-face tickets are now available so check out PRmasterclasses.com or the homepage of PRmoment for the full speaker lineup.

Thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

Welcome to our review of PR pitches and mergers and acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch. Here we discuss the biggest pitch wins, mergers and acquisitions that the PR sector has seen in November 2025.

Andrew is the lead consultant PR, social, content and influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.

Andrew also runs the advisory firm Andrew Bloch & Associates.

Before we start, make sure you get your tickets quickly for our PR Masterclass: Agency Growth Forum . It’s on Wednesday 26th November 2025, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm GMT. Both face-to-face and virtual tickets are available. The event is held in central London.

Pitches

Vinted appoint Axe+Saw – Social media brief to manage Instagram and TikTok channels globally. 

Airbus appoint MHP Group – Europe’s largest aeronautics and space company appoint a new retained strategic comms adviser following a formal tender process. MHP Group includes agencies MHP, Mischief and La Plage.

Formula E appoint M+C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment – global brand and corporate comms brief following a 6 way pitch.

Tomme Tippee appoint The Romans for a global PR and influencer brief.

Alcohol Change UK appoint Shook and Shape History to deliver its 2026 campaign. Alcohol Change is the charity behind Dry January.

The Investment Association appoint M+C Saatchi to deliver a cross-banking sector campaign. The Investment Association – a trade body representing investment managers and investment management firms in the UK Will lead the creative and media delivery of The UK Retail Investment campaign, which will encourage more people to become investors. 

Co-Op appoint Speed Communications for a joint consumer and corporate brief. Will work alongside in-house team to execute creative, insight-led campaigns through media relations, thought leadership and storytelling.

Net Company appoint Cavendish Consulting for government relations and pr brief.

Philips Hue appoint Tin Man for a global consumer PR brief.

M&A activity for October

Headland acquire Bladonmore - an international digital, brand and content comms agency. W. Bladonmore will retain its identity and has 50 FTEs in London and NY. This is Headland’s first acquisition since LDC, the private equity investor which is part of Lloyds Banking Group, reinvested in the business in October 2024, having first partnered with the firm in 2021. Headlands is £33M rev in 2024. Clients include Accenture, BAE systems, Danone, KFC, Ocado

Golley Slater 100% of shares sold to EOT. 130 members.

Next 15 merges 5 companies to form new B2B marcomms firm Pretzl. The new business will be led by Clive Armitage, current CEO of Agent 3. The b2b marketing firms Agent3 Group, Publitek, This Machine, Velocity and Twogether will be unified. Will launch in Feb 26 - 300 employees across 12 offices in North America, Europe and APAC.

Welcome to the PRmoment podcast. Today, we're joined by Angie Moxham, founder of 3 Monkeys and Fourth Angel and Mark Borkowski, founder of Borkowski PR and PR commentator.

In this new show Mark, Angie and PRmoment founder Ben Smith review the biggest news stories of the week from a PR perspective and this week we’re talking about Traitors, Meghan Markle’s return to acting and whether the Royal Family can survive Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s scandal in the long term. 

Before we start, our PR Masterclass the Agency Growth Forum is now live. Virtual and face-to-face tickets are now available.

Check out PRmasterclasses.com or the homepage of PRmoment for the full speaker lineup.

Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

Welcome to the PRmoment podcast. Today, we're thrilled to be joined by Lou Hoffman, founder and CEO of Hoffman. Hoffman is an independent US based PR firm with a fee income of approximately $30m. Lou founded the business in 1987.

Hoffman specialises in tech PR and recently bought CCGroup in the UK. Hoffman has offices in North America, the UK and Asia. It employs about 460 people globally.

Before we start,our PR Masterclass the Agency Growth Forum is now live. Virtual and face to face tickets are now available.

Check out PRmasterclasses.com or the homepage of PRmoment for the full speaker lineup.

Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

Here are the key themes which Lou and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:

Lou talks us through the reasons for buying a PR Agency?

 What are the advantages of acquiring an agency versus organic growth?

 Hoffman has only made two acquisitions since 1987. Is that regret for Lou?  Does he wish he'd made more? 

 Is it sensible to use debt to purchase a PR firm, or is it better to do it from historical profit? 

 How do you buy a PR firm? What does the process look like?

 There are plenty of examples of PR agency acquisitions that haven't worked out, how do you maximise your chances of success?

 Practically speaking, how can you get to know agencies before you buy them? 

 How long should an acquisition process take, because whilst it's very important to be thorough, momentum is important?

 Is a perfect match ever possible? 

 Which professional advisors as an acquirer should you have?

 How does it work with the agency you're about to acquire clients? Do you talk to them pre or post the deal? 

 How does an earn out work for the previous owners of the business? 

 Post deal it can get difficult, what are the best ways to make it work? 

 The legal fees can be very high. So does that mean that for micro deals you either have to take a punt and be less thorough? Or is there a level of acquisition at which it's really not worth it from a purchaser's perspective?

In the fifth episode of the season, Dean Connelly, founder of Latte Recruitment give their best attempt at a spooky Halloween special episode. 

Earlier in the week, Elizabeth asked PR professionals to submit anonymous recruitment horror stories, whether that be a candidate of nightmares, or an terrifying interview process — we wanted to hear about it, warts and all. Dean, a willing victim, must blind react to the tales of recruitment terror. 

Later, the pair play a game of Recruitment Trick or Treat, where they discuss whether certain perks, benefits and workplace cultures are as good as they seem. 

Many thanks to our podcast sponsors the PRCA

Welcome to the PRmoment podcast. Today, we're thrilled to be joined by Lorraine Emmett, the founder and MD of the award-winning B2B tech PR agency, EC-PR.

EC-PR is a boutique specialising in B2B PR for engineering, science, and technology scale-ups. They typically partner with high-growth B2B tech brands and companies with 50 to 999 employees, working with Strategic Marketing Leaders and CMOs to elevate brand awareness and influence.

Today, we'll dive into her insights on how B2B companies can gain a trust advantage. 

Before we start, our PR Masterclass the Agency Growth Forum is now live. Virtual and face to face tickets are now available.

This event always sells out so if you do want a face to face ticket, be quick. Genuinely, don’t hang about. Check out PRmasterclasses.com or the homepage of PRmoment for the full speaker lineup.

Also, do check out PRmoment’s TikTok content, it’ll keep you up to date with the best creative campaigns in PR, interviews with interesting PR folks and our weekly Good and Bad PR content with Andy Barr.

Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

Here’s a summary of what PRmoment founder Ben Smith and founder and managing director of EC-PR Lorraine Emmett discussed on the PRmoment Podcast.

• Why the emotion of trust is a spectrum. How does Lorraine define trust in a B2B communications environment?
• Is trust in B2B a function of brand and product?
• As communicators is it possible to create trust? Or is it a symptom of customer experience?
• Why is thought leadership an important tool for creating trust?
• Lorraine talks about Coleman Park’s 7 Pillars of thought leadership in our pre show chat and why she finds them an important reference point. What are Coleman Park 7 pillars of trust?
• How do you build trust in a B2B market?
• Isn’t pretty all of a PR/comms team output related to thought leadership in one way or another? 
• The Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report consistently highlights the power of thought leadership in building trust and directly influencing the B2B purchase journey. Lorraine talks us through the finding of that report and the implications for how B2B PR and comms teams create and partner with influencers.
• EC PR’s recent The Trust Advantage report looks at how trust is important for SMEs. Lorraine talks us through the key findings of your The Trust Advantage report. 
• What are the outcomes of thought leadership in B2B markets? Are they both defensive and offensive?
• What does the best practice measurement of B2B thought leadership look like?

Welcome to our review of PR pitches and mergers and acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch. Here we discuss the biggest pitch wins, mergers and acquisitions that the PR sector has seen in October 2025

Andrew is the lead consultant PR, social, content and influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.

PR Masterclass the Agency Growth Forum is now live. Virtual and face to face tickets are now available.
Check out PRmasterclasses.com or the homepage of PRmoment for the full speaker lineup.
Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors, the PRCA.

Here is a rundown of what Andrew and PRmoment founder Ben Smith discussed:

Pitches
 
National Express - Block Report - Block Report launched earlier this year Founded by Chris Grimwood of Iris and Social Chain and Jack Colchester of Wonderhood.

Singapore Tourist Board - Splendid - UK integrated marketing agency. This win follows an open RFI. Splendid won Heathrow Express in April.
 
Belfast City Council -  Cavendish Consulting, Lanyon Communications (part of Consello) and Open Strategic Communications

PPHE Hotel Group (formerly Park Plaza Hotels Europe) - Launch PR. Retained consumer and corporate brief. 51 properties across eight countries.
 
Rangemaster - Stakked - Iconic cooker brand with global recognition and deep British roots. Previously in-house.

BFI London Film Festival - Vamp - 69th film festival. Vamp has worked with clients inc. Disney, paramount, Netflix, Prime, C4 Apple TV etc

Aardman Animation - Wonderland. New Ewe Knit it campaign invites fans to create knitted items that can be turned into blankets for the homeless in London.
 
Toy Retailers Association - WPR. To promote the dream toys list of the hottest toys for Christmas 2025.
 
Butlins - Popcorn. Positioning the holiday resort as the Home of Entertainment. Popcorn is strong in consumer and lifestyle - clients include Thorpe Park, Panasonic and London Designer Outlet.
 
Hey Dude - Words+Pixels.  Launch of new campaign with Lewis Capaldi.

Acai Berry Foods - Neon Brand Communications - Neon are specialists in health, wellness and beauty and lifestyle brands (hotpot yoga, coconut collab etc.)

For Goodness Shakes - Frank. Launch protein and collagen drink, Glow.

Lipton Teas and Infusions - Clarion. Retained consumer pr for sub brands PG Tips and Pukka.

Youngs Seafoods - Brazen. Consumer pr, social media, influencer. Frozen fish brand - supplies approx. 40% of all the fish eaten in the UK every year, apparently!
 
Omi/Shakers/Dints - Ballou. Trio of new clients for Ballou UK.
 
Nationwide Building Society - Popeyes, Ogi and DEBRA - Folk  
Border to Coast Pensions Partnership - Apella Advisors. Appella was founded in 2019 by ex APCO UK boss James Acheson Gray - works with Aviva, KPMG and Nationwide Building society
Royal Mint - Third City. The Royal Mint is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Monopoly Board game.
Vinted – Smarts. Pan European pr, social and creator for online marketplace for selling, buying and exchanging new/second hand items.
POD - Tin Man. EV electric charging provider, joins Tin Man’s existing energy division - EDF, Electrify Britain, Energy GB.
Changan - Woosah - Chinese auto firm launching into UK market with all electric Deepal SUV model.
Paddy Power - Pitch - Addition to roster alongside Ready10.
 
M&A

Team Lewis acquire Instinctif Partners. This deal will double the size of Team Lewis’ UK ope

In the fourth episode of the season, Dean Connelly, founder of Latte Recruitment and Elizabeth are joined by Shruti Gupta, account executive at Harvard and her colleague Joe McDermott, head of enterprise technology practice at Harvard. 

Following Gupta's inspirational My PRmoment interview, in which she discussed having imposter syndrome after moving from India to the UK to work in PR, we asked her and McDermott how that presented at work and how effective line management helped to reduce her feelings of doubt.

Many thanks to our podcast sponsors the PRCA

A recent survey by Fairtrade, with research undertaken by Kantar, finds 86% of shoppers want brands to be upfront about sourcing and more than half (55%) think businesses should take a ‘large amount’ or ‘full responsibility’ for protecting the human rights of workers in their supply chains.

The study found that 59% of UK adults support Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) legislation, while just 9% oppose it, showing strong public backing for government action and responsible business practices.

Sustainability and purpose matter in communications. They help you build trust and credibility, they help you attract and retain talent and they help you drive innovation in green technologies. 

In a special PRmoment podcast, inspired by the final deadline for the Sustainability and Purpose Awards we’re chatting to The Fairtrade Organisation’s Martine Parry about its Fairtrade Fortnight Research and its implications for communicators.

Before we start a reminder that PRmoment’s Sustainability & Purpose Awards final entry deadline is on Wednesday 15th October. Take a look at all the categories on the microsite.

Here’s a summary of what PRmoment founder Ben Smith and Martine Parry discussed on this week’s show:

75% of UK adults believe their shopping habits are the most meaningful way to help build a fairer world. Martine and Ben discuss the implication of this for brand communicators.

Is the value of the ‘green pound’ (total ethical spend in the UK) still a relevant measure of consumer ethical and sustainability spending trends?

Fairtrade’s research identified 2 sustainability and purpose personas, what are they?

How can brands encourage consumers to shop “fair”?

It’s a busy media agenda but is there still room for sustainability and purpose related stories?

Define what authentic sustainability storytelling looks like in 2025?

What is the Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) legislation and why is it important for communicators who are worried about reputation issues resulting from their supply chains?

As a judge in the Sustainability and Purpose Awards, what sort of work is Martine looking forward to seeing this year?