Partner Article

Robin Owers gives an insight into OPR

OPR is a PR agency with strong focus on integrated media campaigns that embrace the future of social media alongside creative press & media, events and community engagement programmes. It is The Drum North East PR Agency of the Year and one of the Most Awarded Agencies outside London 2011. OPR is based at Woods Pottery in Ouseburn.

Robin Owers, Managing Director & Head of Digital Content answers bdaily’s questions:

What key challenges has your company recently faced?

As the media landscape continues to explode online and contract offline, the PR industry is changing at a rate of knots, so we sit in shifting times. Traditional press and media activity is often no longer enough to meet our clients’ objectives, and we have a job to do to challenge and reshape their strategies.

Luckily we were early adopters of social media and the use of multi-media communications techniques, so we have been able to ride the wave of change. We’ve obviously therefore had to invest heavily in this whilst still keeping a tight eye on budgets being a small business, so managing that balance has been a challenge.

What is your biggest achievement over the past 12 months?

We’re a new agency; just six years old this year, so it’s the first time we have lived through a recession. We are just proud to be still going strong, when our sector has seen some major casualties in the last year.

We are immensely proud of our team, they have embraced everything we’ve thrown at them and have worked incredibly hard to keep delivering award-winning creative campaigns, learning new skills and developing great client relationships all the way.

Our biggest achievement is to have picked up some high profile clients such as the Nexus Tyne & Wear Metro Pop Card launch and Benfield Motors’ social media campaign, and to see the work we’ve done creating direct impact on their business. We are lucky to be able to challenge how things are done, and create new ways for them to communicate with their customers; creating content that attracts people to their brands to start conversations.

What is your biggest focus for the coming year?

We will continue to invest in digital PR services, bringing true integration to those clients not yet embracing social media channels fully.

We are also keen to work with more creative and digital agency partners, here and across the UK in bringing our PR 2.0 ideas to bear on their client campaigns.

Looking towards London and opportunities to work in a more global community is on the horizon too, all being well.

If you had to choose one top piece of advice for someone just starting out in business, or is currently operating within your industry sector, what would it be?

Don’t sweat the small stuff and plough your own furrow. Have a picture in your mind of your end game, and stay focussed on it. Growth should be in line with your overall vision, not just something you blindly aim for. Profitability is far more important, so if I have one piece of advice, it’s know your numbers inside out and check your bank account daily!

Can you share with us your view of the current landscape of business, in this region or generally and where your organisation sits within it?

Let’s not ignore the fact it’s tough out there, and it’s likely to remain tough for a couple of years. But those companies that have made the necessary adjustments to their business, and have strong leadership, should hopefully be fine.

Growth is still out there in some sectors, but it is rare at the moment. Most companies are focussing more on fine tuning their offering and looking outwards from the North East to secure their position.

We’re no different. We believe heavily in partnership working, and the creative industries are fragmenting rapidly as niche specialisms come to the fore. Our pure focus on PR and social media allows us to bring our skills and ideas into the integrated creative mix and work with other companies in our field like advertising or marketing agencies. It is this type of open collaboration and blending together of our talents that the region needs to embrace to survive.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kari Owers .