#WPRD2026 | You can't expect great PR if you don't empower your agency
Many brands spend months searching for the perfect PR partner, looking for an agency with creative, out-of-the-box ideas and strong media relationships. Yet the moment the contract is signed, they fall into what I call the "supplier trap". They isolate the agency, gatekeep critical business information and expect magic to happen from a one-page brief sent over the digital wall.
For me, the solution is simple, although it requires a fundamental shift in mindset. If brands want exceptional, business-changing PR results, they need to stop treating their agency like a transactional supplier and start equipping them to succeed.
The brief is just the starting line
One of the biggest mistakes I see is the assumption that a PR agency only needs to know about the product or campaign launching today. That narrow focus limits an agency's ability to think strategically.
If my agency only receives a standard campaign brief, we can only deliver expected, middle-of-the-road outcomes. To create the kind of campaigns that genuinely move the needle, we need much deeper business context. We need to understand what keeps your leadership team awake at night, where the business wants to grow over the next three years and what commercial challenges stand in the way.
When brands share those long-term realities, it allows us to identify opportunities proactively and develop media strategies that support real business growth rather than simply chasing vanity metrics.
The best agencies don't just execute instructions. We challenge assumptions, ask difficult questions and help solve problems our clients may not have identified yet. But we can only do that if we're invited behind the curtain.
Great PR requires time, not just budget
In today's fast-moving business environment, communications often become reactive, with agencies brought in to respond to the latest fire drill. In my experience, the strongest client-agency relationships are built on consistent, intentional collaboration rather than sporadic crisis meetings.
One of the phrases I hear most often from brand leaders is, "We just don't have the time to brief the agency properly." I believe that mindset costs businesses far more than they realise. You can't simply sign a contract, step away and expect an agency to build a compelling brand narrative in a vacuum.
Consistent access to decision-makers is often far more valuable than bigger budgets. When clients invest time in regular conversations with their PR partners, they build shared understanding, stronger trust and a relationship that shifts from reactive firefighting to proactive storytelling.
From supplier to strategic partner
I've always believed that the quality of a campaign reflects the quality of the relationship behind it.
As the communications landscape becomes increasingly crowded, cutting through the noise requires authentic, highly contextual storytelling. That isn't something that can be automated, rushed or achieved through a transactional relationship.
This World PR Day, I'd encourage brand leaders to ask themselves one question: Have I genuinely equipped my agency to succeed, or am I asking them to run a marathon with their hands tied?
The brands that achieve the greatest success aren't always those with the biggest budgets. They're the ones that invest in building trusted strategic partnerships with their agencies. Stop looking for suppliers. Start building relationships that set everyone up to succeed.
