A statement of intent from US PR firm Prosek Partners, which has just hired Fiona Laffan as managing director. (Press release here.)
Laffan is well known to banking reporters, since she was latterly in charge of corporate comms at Lloyds after a stint doing the same at Goldman Sachs.
Prosek says the hire is part of a wider plan to build its presence in London (its new-ish City HQ is on St Swithin’s Lane).
They’ve been in London for a while in truth but let’s assume they are sincere about the desire to grow.
The challenge here must be twofold. 1) Competition is intense and big accounts just don’t move that much. 2) American firms, from my experience, don’t always quite get the UK market. One of the great things about Americans in general is that they are sincere and enthusiastic. But that means they can’t understand why hacks, and probably some clients, prefer downbeat sarcasm. (Laffan should be a help here.)
Prosek’s pitch is that it is a specialist in financial services and has integrated its comms and marketing offering in a creative way.
Very best of luck…
