The agency landscape is constantly evolving, with new and emerging firms bringing fresh thinking, sharper specialisations and new approaches to the way brands communicate. From “What If?” to “What’s Next?” explores the ideas, ambitions and strategies shaping these agencies as they build their place in a changing industry.
After nearly 16 years across established PR firms, large consumer portfolios and a tech startup, Nidhi Agarwal, Founder, Ebony & Ivory PR, entered the agency-building journey with a clear idea of what she wanted to create. Rather than pursuing scale through a larger client roster and bigger teams, Agarwal wanted to build an agency that could work more closely with fewer clients, understand their businesses deeply and create work that went beyond conventional media relations.
For Agarwal, building the agency was not about replicating the traditional agency model of constantly pursuing scale, more clients and larger teams. Instead, she wanted to work with fewer clients and understand their businesses closely enough to challenge briefs, offer an informed point of view and create work that the agency could genuinely stand behind.
“I wanted the opportunity to go deeper with fewer clients. Agency life can very quickly become about scale, more clients, bigger teams, more deliverables. I wasn't interested in recreating that. I wanted us to know our clients' businesses well enough to have an opinion, challenge a brief when required, and do work we were genuinely proud to put our name on,” she says.
That approach also extends to how Ebony & Ivory views the role of PR itself. Agarwal believes communication can no longer be confined to media relations, with culture, communities, creators and brand owned platforms increasingly becoming part of the larger brand conversation.
“I also felt that PR could no longer only be about media. A lot of our work today sits around culture, communities and influence. We look at which communities a brand can genuinely become part of, which creators make sense, what is happening culturally around the consumer, and whether there are interesting IPs we can build,” she adds.
Starting with the business, not just the brief
For Agarwal, the connection between communications and business outcomes begins with understanding the business itself. She says most of the agency’s weekly client conversations begin with a deceptively simple question: “How was business this week?”
That approach becomes particularly relevant when working with F&B brands, where community building can have a direct impact on customer discovery, engagement and repeat behaviour. Ebony & Ivory works with running clubs, music communities, creative groups, food communities and other interest based groups to help brands become part of conversations that exist beyond conventional media coverage.
“Community building has become a significant part of our work and, in many cases, a real revenue generator. We work on associations with running clubs, music communities, creative groups, food communities and other very specific interest groups. The idea is about getting the right people to discover the brand, come back and eventually become part of its regular customer base,” Agarwal explains.
While earned media remains central to the agency’s approach, she sees it as one part of a wider ecosystem involving creators, communities and owned platforms.
“Media continues to be extremely important because nothing quite replaces the credibility of good earned coverage. But today it works alongside creators, communities and what the brand is doing on its own platforms,” she says.
At the same time, Agarwal is cautious about attributing every commercial outcome directly to PR. For her, understanding the business allows the agency to assess whether communication is influencing something beyond conventional coverage metrics.
“I don't think PR can or should take credit for every sale. But if we understand the client's business, we should be able to see whether our work is moving something beyond coverage numbers,” she says.
From influencer reach to creator relationships
As influencer marketing becomes increasingly integrated into brand communication, Ebony & Ivory is approaching creators as part of the strategy from the outset rather than treating them as an amplification layer added at the end.
“For us, influence marketing is never a separate line item at the end of a PR plan. We are always thinking about an integrated approach, media, creators and communities together from the beginning,” Agarwal says.
She points to a broader shift in how brands are working with creators, particularly the idea of involving them earlier in the planning process. At Cannes, one recurring conversation was around bringing creators into the room as business advisors and partners rather than approaching them only once a campaign has already been developed.
“Brands have traditionally made all the important decisions and then gone to creators when they need amplification. But creators are speaking to consumers every day and can bring a very different perspective to a product, an experience or even a business decision,” she notes.
undefined
That also means moving beyond follower counts when evaluating creators. Depending on the brand and audience, the most relevant voice may come from food, music, fashion, fitness or a specific city based community.
“We don't start with follower count anymore; we start with who we are trying to reach and who they actually trust,” Agarwal says.
For her, the next phase of influencer marketing is therefore less about transactional reach and more about building relationships that can develop over time.
“PR has always been a relationship business. Influence shouldn't be any different,” she adds.
AI can accelerate the work, but judgement remains human
AI is another force reshaping the communications industry, from research and monitoring to content creation and audience analysis. Agarwal acknowledges its growing role within the agency, but sees it primarily as a tool that can remove repetitive work and create more space for strategic thinking.
“I use AI. My team uses AI. There is no point pretending it isn't changing how we work. It's extremely useful for research, monitoring, analysing large amounts of information and taking away some of the repetitive work. Used properly, it should actually give PR teams more time to think,” she says.
However, she believes the fundamental currency of PR remains human relationships and judgement. AI may provide information about a journalist or creator, but it cannot reproduce relationships built over years or replace the instinct required to recognise the right story, person or moment.
“AI can give me information about a journalist, but it cannot recreate a relationship built over ten or fifteen years. It can't replace being able to call someone and know when you have a genuinely good story,” Agarwal explains.
The same applies to influencer selection, where data can provide information about audiences but cannot necessarily determine whether a creator is genuinely right for a brand.
With access to similar AI tools becoming increasingly widespread, Agarwal believes differentiation will increasingly come from the human capabilities surrounding the technology.
“AI will make all of us faster. But if everyone is using the same tools, access to technology isn't going to differentiate a great PR person. Judgment, ideas, perception, intuition, creative thinking, and the relationships you have built over years will,” she says.
Building what comes next
As the boundaries between earned, owned, social and creator led communication continue to blur, Agarwal believes the next generation of PR agencies will need to move beyond defining themselves through individual channels.
“We need to stop defining PR agencies by channels. Consumers don't think, ‘I discovered this brand through earned media and then engaged with its influencer strategy.’ They saw something interesting, somebody they trust spoke about it, a friend sent it to them, or they experienced it somewhere. It all becomes one impression of the brand,” she says.
For Ebony & Ivory, that means building a team that understands not only media and communications but also the wider cultural forces shaping consumers.
“You need to understand what's happening in media, but also what people are watching, eating, listening to, joining, sharing, and talking about. Culture and communities are going to matter enormously,” Agarwal adds.
The agency’s next phase, however, will not necessarily be defined by how large it becomes. Agarwal wants growth, but with the same emphasis on depth that shaped the agency from the beginning. She also sees an emerging opportunity in how brands show up in AI driven environments, with media stories potentially playing a role in shaping those conversations.
“I want us to grow, of course, but I'm quite conscious that growth shouldn't mean taking on every client we can. I still want us to be able to sit with a client, understand what's happening in their business, and spend time thinking about the work,” she says.
For Agarwal, the ambition is ultimately less about building the biggest agency and more about building one that is recognised for the quality of its thinking.
“We are still a young agency, and there is a lot I want to build. But I would much rather E&I become known for the quality and thinking behind a smaller body of work than simply become a very large agency,” she concludes.
