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What It Means to Be a Design Publicist in 2020
AD PRO speaks to five industry veterans about how they’re changing up their game
A decade ago, a savvy design publicist would have two key goals for designer clients: to get them exposure in the key print magazines, and to help them get distributed by the right brick-and-mortar retailers and showrooms. Those with stables of top-tier clients enjoyed a certain status as gatekeepers, using that power in their relationships with editors and buyers.
But with a diminishing magazine industry, a mushrooming digital media landscape, and a flood of younger PR firms and designers entering the market—not to mention the unprecedented global turmoil we are encountering—the fight to make sure clients’ work is seen by the right eyes is becoming more complicated than ever. And design PR has had to change with the times.
There has also been an expanding game of musical chairs, as designers and architects move from one PR firm to another or, in some cases, choose to take their public relations efforts in-house. Younger designers on tight budgets who find the retainer of bigger PR firms cost-prohibitive are instead turning to freelance communications enterprises, like Jenny Nguyen’s recently launched Hello, Human, which offers a range of flat-fee services.
What does it mean to be successful in PR in 2020? AD PRO picked the brains of five seasoned publicists—Sarah Boyd, Chesie Breen, Rebecca Goldberg Brodsky, Sarah Natkins, and Melissa Skoog—to learn how they’ve adapted to changing times and what they think the future holds for the industry.
Print is still kicking—but it’s not the only thing that matters
“Years ago, PR was more formulaic,” says Sarah Boyd, founder of Sarah Boyd Co., whose clients include Field + Supply, Waterworks, and Beth Webb. “You gave an exclusive news item to one publication and then waited many months to secure more print stories. That’s not the way it’s done now.” Instead, print is just part of the equation.
You’ve got to be more nimble than ever
The arrival of COVID-19 sent the design industry scrambling to change course. But these veteran publicists know that being able to shift their sails at a moment’s notice has always been a necessary skill. In fact, many of them relished the chance to think creatively when the coronavirus hit.
For Goldberg Brodsky, whose clients depend on design fairs and trade shows to drum up much of their new business, that meant creating virtual showrooms where editors and customers could “walk through” spaces to see their products in situ. For Boyd, who worked on the launch of Waterworks cofounder Barbara Sallick’s book The Perfect Kitchen, it meant canceling a national tour and connecting Sallick with readers via Instagram Live. “We knew we had to do it,” Boyd says of her thinking at the time, “but how do we make it feel natural and on brand?” After several practice runs on FaceTime, Sallick proved to be a natural—and Boyd came up with a similarly creative strategy for Carrier and Company, who set up a textile showroom in their living room.
