PEPSHOP NOISE: FLEET STREET AND AGENCY CHIEFS JOIN FORCES TO LAUNCH ‘MEDIA SHOP FOR TOUGH TIMES’

• Ex-Metro editor Kenny Campbell and agency award-winner Howard Bowden launch Pepshop media consultancy to help clients weather gathering economic storm
• Heavyweight duo with extensive client CV across Westminster, global brands and showbiz offering ‘big agency expertise without overheads’
• Amid recession fears, founders say it is ‘vital to invest in value-for-money media expertise’, pledging ‘more pep for your pound’

A new comms agency is launching to help organisations and high-profile individuals weather the global economic depression, with ‘affordable expertise’ and a lean business model.

Pepshop is the brainchild of former Metro editor Kenny Campbell and award-winning PR agency head of news Howard Bowden, who have worked together on multiple campaigns, including recent high-profile Westminster political battles.

They see the growing economic crisis as a critical time for businesses, when it will be more important than ever to invest in value-for-money comms expertise to maximise the chances not just of surviving a recession, but taking advantage of it.

Campbell said: ‘Countless studies show that those who invest in good communications during an economic downturn get a multiple boost – not only are they staying visible, but many of their competitors go quiet. 

‘And if you think it’s a challenge to hold on to customers in a downturn, wait until you discover the cost of trying to win back former customers years later. That’s why we’re launching Pepshop as a media shop for tough times.’

The pair recognise how critical it is to minimise unnecessary expenditure, though, and are keeping Pepshop’s overheads to a minimum, allowing them to pass savings on to clients.

Bowden added: ‘We can operate anywhere in the country, wherever a client needs us, and we don’t need expensive office space, or the associated costs of running a traditional agency.  Pepshop can bring in additional expertise on an as-needed basis, keeping the operation super-slim and efficient. We offer big agency expertise without big agency overheads.’

The founders have a huge amount of comms experience between them: Campbell worked for 20 years in newspapers, including 13 years as the national editor of commuter favourite – and Britain’s most popular newspaper – Metro. For the last decade, he has worked in PR, with a focus on coaching and strategic communications.

Bowden’s CV includes award-winning campaigns at Grayling and Mischief, and was previously behind Clarion’s PR Week Campaign of the Year and Cannes Lions awards.  At Westminster he was comms director for various Remain campaigns and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Covid, and has also worked for global brands and showbiz clients.

One of Pepshop’s key pledges is that clients will deal only with the company directors.  Bowden said: ‘Time and again, we hear businesses complaining that they’ve hired an agency thanks to slick pitching by the top team, only to find that they’re dealing with a junior staffer on a day-to-day basis. It’s not a scenario they’ll encounter here.

‘We’re proud of the creativity and expertise we bring and, when it comes to adding life to your communications, we certainly offer more pep for your pound.’

Campbell added: ‘We’ve got a holistic approach to media, based on our experience across multiple sectors – legacy and digital, editorial and PR, as interviewers and interviewees, in good times and bad.

‘We all know there are tough times ahead and we also know that organisations which rise to the economic challenges are likely to emerge stronger in the long run. That’s why Pepshop has been set up – we’re rising to those challenges and we’ll help others who recognise how essential gold-standard communications are right now.’

Source: Pepshop

  Agency, Launch, Pepshop