In the Media

Highwire has always evolved alongside our clients — helping them navigate change, define categories, and lead markets. Today, we unveil a new brand identity that reflects who we’ve become and where we're going.

 

It’s been a difficult start to the year in newsrooms across all industries, with layoffs impacting hundreds of talented reporters and editors.

It’s easy to say that in-house creative teams know your brand best. After all, they set the brand's creative direction overall. However, an in-house-only approach is not necessarily faster, cheaper or more productive. This is where creative agencies step in. When these two teams are in lockstep, the chemistry can create beautiful work. But to combine in-house and agency resources to supercharge your brand you need the right relationships. 

As we close out the first half of 2021, Highwire is taking a moment to pause, reflect, and celebrate our successes over the past year. Over the course of 2020, we grew digital revenue by 100% and overall revenue by 24%. We added new clients like Bespoken Spirits, Hitachi ABB, Qualtrics, and Omada Health in verticals across digital healthcare, fintech, and security. And now we’re especially proud to announce new additions to the Highwire leadership team that will anchor the direction of the agency as we grow. 

Still holding on? 2020 was jarring and fast/ slow in all the wrong ways. To help you navigate turns still ahead, we asked the Highwire team for macro-landscape 2021 predictions.

The PR industry has not made enough progress on Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIBs) initiatives in the past few years. A PRWeek study sheds light on the disparity: A mere 13% of PR agency board/C-suite members are non-white, while 24% of the workforce is non-white. The Black Lives Matter movement following George Floyd’s death encouraged agencies to think critically about how they can support and uplift Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) voices in their communities and diversify their workforce. 

Women’s Equality Day was designated in 1973 as a day to commemorate the passing of the 19th amendment but also to call attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality. Women’s Equality Day was the culmination of a massive peaceful civil rights movement by women, beginning at Seneca Falls in 1848, and though we as women have made incredible progress to be where we are today — we still have a long way to go. This commemorative day is even more poignant in 2020, as the nation reflects on significant groups of people who have been left out of this type of celebratory history.

How do you make the most powerful impression as you prepare for a financing round or IPO? By illuminating your company’s successes, its strong financial future, and the C-suite of visionaries behind the brand. Even in times of crisis or economic recession, focusing on the power of a strategic, IR/PR communications approach should always be a top priority.

When I first learned about Highwire, I was drawn to the amazing office culture and one of Highwire’s core values – collaboration. Fast forward to my start date –which was one week after shelter-in-place orders had just been announced due to COVID-19 — and I had to rewire and adjust to working from home, all while onboarding and learning the ropes of my new remote internship. I was nervous to “e-introduce” myself to people I had never met and had a lot of questions without being certain who I should ask. 

This morning we announced that Highwire has acquired digital consultancy, Wonderscript. James Beechinor-Collins (JBC) and James Holland, founder and co-founder of Wonderscript, have joined Highwire to lead our digital offering, bringing the wider Wonderscript team together with Highwire’s existing digital strategists and specialists.

Last month, Peter McCormack shared his thoughts on how to Scale Your PR Team from Startup to IPO  in a recent Highwire blog. But when you are a growth-stage company, everything must scale, including communications. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to host a webinar with Insight Partners and share my knowledge of how growth-stage companies can do just that.