Elena Davidson CEO of Liberty Communications on the PRmoment Podcast

This week on the PRmoment podcast I chatted to Elena Davidson, CEO of Liberty Communications.Liberty is a boutique technology public relations firm based in London with a fee income of about £2 million. The business was founded by Dee Giibs in 1998. 75% of its fee income is from the UK and mainland Europe and 25% from the US. There’s a link in the show notes to an interview I did with Dee back in 2019.Before we start, thanks so much as ever to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.And if you haven't taken a look yet, all the categories for the PRmoment Awards 2021 are on the awards microsite PRmomentawards.com Here’s a summary of what Elena and I discussed:1 min We got the inevitable COVID question out the way first! How has the lockdown been for Liberty?4 mins How even in tech, some sectors were hit harder than others during the lockdown.6 mins Why Liberty doesn’t want to grow beyond a fee income of about £2 million. 8 mins What does boutique agency actually mean!9 mins Liberty has increased its profitability in the last three to four years, how has it done that?16 mins How the PR sector, along with the rest of the economy, is quickly evolving its practices for working from home17 mins How commercial landlords are having to change their model to “stay relevant.”18 mins 25% of Liberty’s business is in the US - how has it managed to get the US office up and running?23 mins “Don’t be afraid of failure...you’ll learn a lot of things along the way”25 mins Why do a lot of agencies find growing beyond a £2 million level difficult?32 mins Elena talks about her time at Hotwire which was spent alongside a bunch of young PR account managers who have gone on to have impressive careers including Emma Hart, Nicola Koronka, Brendon Craigie, Daljit Bhurji, Emma Hazan, Ivan Ristic, Narel Morrison, Ian Hood, Peter Bowles, Rebecca Honeyman, Alistair Townsend…34 mins What was it about Hotwire at that time that led to so many young PR entrepreneurs being inspired?36 mins Elena talks about Liberty's Academy Programme41 mins How Elena and Liberty founder Dee Gibbs’ relationship has been built on trust, loyalty and fun!