It was a brilliant night filled with celebration when The PHA Group were crowned PR Agency of the Year at The Drum Agency Business Awards.
Over the last year we have really focused on what sets us apart from other PR agencies. In 2018 and after 13 progressive years, we took a step back and had a long hard look at ourselves. We’d come a long way, but our identity was lagging behind. Our website didn’t reflect the quality of our work and we had no unifying brand message to mirror the services we offer. This led us to a transformation that truly embodies who we are and what we do: Vibrant people who deliver. Simple.
Our award entry for The Drum was simple. We set out our journey as an agency, relayed the challenges we had to overcome, the honest reflection of the changes we made and focused on the successes we had achieved by making the leap and rebranding as The PHA Group. But how did we do it?
Client service
In October we conducted our first client satisfaction survey, using experts Question and Retain. Although nervous about what to expect, we were thrilled with the results. 94% of clients said they were happy with the service they received and 94% of our clients would recommend us. Our client retention stands at 100%. We pulsed our client database again in June to monitor our improvement and were delighted to find that 95% of our clients would recommend us and 89% of them would rate our creativity highly.
Whilst our client survey was overwhelmingly positive, it did suggest areas of improvement. We invested in external training and created a ‘brainstorming room’ to stimulate creativity. We brought in Creative Directors with ad agency experience to run scamp sessions for campaign ideas. This fresh thinking helped us to win our two biggest pitches and raised the bar with creative ideation.
Team development
We recognised that to get the best out of our people, we needed to empower them, and create a culture which will enable them to thrive. In recognition of our people, we launched our own internal campaign called ‘Show us what you’re made of’. We challenged every one of our employees to take on something they had always wanted to do in 2018, it could be personal or professional as long as it was important to them. As a result, so far this year we have had employees raise £5,000 at events, run marathons, complete the Etape du Tour, reconnect with family, volunteer over 100 hours and write a children’s book.
We recently surveyed our staff to see if our efforts to create a culture of vibrancy were having an impact:
- 93% of people said that they’d refer someone to work at The PHA Group.
- On a scale of 1-10, our staff on average rated their work/life balance at 8.
- Our staff said the best things about working at PHA are: “the people”, “a sense of achievement and reward” and “work/life balance.”
But creating a vibrant culture doesn’t stop there. At The PHA Group, we are committed to providing an excellent working environment for our staff, and continue to encourage and nurture growth for everyone.
Innovation
This year we launched the industry first ‘Influencer Formula’, a unique piece of research which involved a network of sector experts, PRCA accredited researchers and mathematicians as well as thousands of consumers. Through our research we determined 12 key drivers that enable a UK business or brand to influence an audience. As a result, brands can pulse themselves to determine a score against each element, allowing them to discover how influential their business is.
Our work this year has reinforced our decision to put people at the heart of our business, and this has had a demonstrable commercial success.
We are very proud to be The PHA Group: Vibrant People Who Deliver. Simple
