Mat Wilcox of Wilcox Group announced yesterday that she is closing her shop. In the world of a Vancouver PR agency, that’s big news. There have been several iconic Vancouver PR agencies close over the past year, including our good friends at QUAY Strategies.
The women that began these agencies are smart and innovative and are moving on to different chapters of their lives. I think it is important for those of us who have learned from them, looked up to them and modeled ourselves after them in so many different ways, to take a moment to acknowledge their contribution to PR in Vancouver.
They have changed the perception of PR professionals from one of people who run events to one of being strategic partners that have earned a seat at the executive table. They have mentored and inspired many people in the world of PR and have made an indelible imprint on the PR industry in Canada.
I am one of the women who have followed their careers and built my career – and AHA Creative Strategies Inc. – with their influence and inspiration, guidance and mentorship. In fact, we are fortunate in that we still get to work with (and call a friend) the incredibly smart and talented Della Smith formerly of QUAY and now of Q Workshops. Working with Della is like receiving an ongoing master’s in strategic communications!
It means something about how the industry and the world are changing when some of the top Vancouver PR agencies, like Wilcox Group, close their doors. There is a shift in how we deliver PR and, if I am interpreting Mat’s announcement correctly, in the business model of how we run our PR agencies. At AHA, we took a flying leap into this new paradigm when we opened our doors. Our vision for AHA was to be a hot Vancouver PR agency that served the North American market. Taking a page from the book of QUAY Strategies, we kept ourselves lean and flexible, and we have had exceptional results.
We have amazing clients; some that are high profile enough that you might have expected they would be at a larger agency. That’s our special touch – we deliver the large agency results with the approach of a small, hands-on Vancouver PR agency. It’s the best of both worlds and we’re pretty excited about the future. Thanks to those who have broken down walls and crushed the barriers. We hope we will do you proud.
…If you noticed the writing for SEO in this release, thanks for paying attention. This post is a part of our SEO experiment – but the sentiments described here are real!