Q1 2021

114 | Q1 2021 High-Impact Campaigns As a PR consultancy firm to the travel and tourism sector, The PC Agency has a vast expanse of knowledge and experience which stems from the CEO’s past career as a renowned broadcast journalist. We speak to Paul Charles about what makes the agency so unique in its offering. The PC Agency is a dynamic PR consultancy specialising in the travel and tourism sector. The company advises airlines, hotels, tourism boards, cruise lines, tour operators and villa specialists, among others, on how to achieve world-class publicity, with a firm focus on consumer, corporate, digital and crisis communications and amplifying brands worldwide. The firm has many well-known, premium brands who are clients, and having substantial experience within the industry ensures that The PC Agency is well positioned with its vast knowledge and expertise in the sector. “Here at The PC Agency, our mission is to offer world-class consultancy to established and emerging travel and tourism brands, and help them boost sales,” explains Paul Charles, the company’s Founder and CEO, who set up the agency in 2016 with the core values of transparency, proactivity, innovation, accuracy and world-class delivery in mind. A renowned commentator on the travel and tourism industry, Paul is perhaps best known for his award-winning work as Sir Richard Nov20813 Branson’s Communications Director at Virgin Atlantic, and for rebuilding the brand at Eurostar while in charge of Communications. A former BBC news presenter, Paul set-up his own travel consultancy, wanting to deliver high-impact strategy and media coverage, on and offline, for clients. Paul was named PR Professional of The Year by PR Week; one of “London’s Most Influential” by the Evening Standard; and has been recognised in the PR Week “Power Book” every year since it launched in 2006. Recently, he was named by PR Week as the most influential PR in the travel sector. Paul attributes the success of The PC Agency to the high-quality results that it achieves for its clientele. Often it is such positive media exposure that the effects stay with the client for many years which, in turn, means that the clients stay with the agency for many years too. It is this DNA, based on Paul’s highly successful broadcast journalism background, that gives the agency the edge and enables it to create impactful news-driven campaigns for its clients time and time again. Regarding the firm’s internal culture, Paul describes it as friendly, highly-productive, yet flexible. “We enable our colleagues to build substantial expertise in the sector and turbo-charge their own careers by working with world-class brands,” he states. “We offer a huge range of benefits to help the team rest and relax, intertwined with their work. For example, we offer days off for a birthday and team-working sessions building gingerbread houses or making pizzas over Zoom!” It is this refreshing approach to management that makes the staff play a leading, and pivotal, role in the overall success of the agency. The team are encouraged to come up with creative ideas to keep clients happy; to think of campaigns that will have a huge impact; and to dream up new business opportunities. Paul elaborates: “Staff are undoubtedly our number one asset - if you look after them, they will look after your business and ensure its growth.” And it seems that this is very much the case as new clients are coming onboard with The PC Agency at a consistent rate. Working through word of mouth, Paul finds that recommendation of the agency is key to finding potential new clients. Obviously, the travel industry took a huge hit with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the sector saw a drastic decline in business and leisure trips worldwide, but Paul was at the forefront of lobbying the government for changes to quarantine rules, via the Quash Quarantine and Save Our Summer campaigns. However Paul is confident about its return to normality and foresees the next stage of growth for the agency. “Travel will bounce back further as vaccination programmes are rolled out and clients are searching for stand-out publicity in a cluttered world. We are also expanding our new data division, called Thrive, which offers unrivalled market intelligence and analysis about the travel and tourism sector, as data is key to success in the next decade.” Company: The PC Agency Contact: Paul Charles Website: www.pc.agency