The Atticism
The Most Innovative Public Relations Agency of the Year
The Stevie Awards are known as one of the world's premier business award programs. Created in 2002, they recognise the achievements of organisations worldwide, across eight award categories.
The 14th annual Stevie Awards saw an incredible number of submissions from businesses around the world, with Australia's The Atticism taking out bronze for the category, The Most Innovative Public Relations Agency of the Year, behind Switching-Time in Shanghai (Gold) and KP Communications in Seoul (Silver).
Renae Smith, the Director of The Atticism says, "Coming in with a bronze in this category is such a wonderful honour. Sometimes, standing alone in your business ideas can feel more isolating than it does innovative, so it's so fantastic to be celebrated on a global scale for what we're doing differently."
The Atticism is a boutique PR and business development agency based out of St Peters in Sydney. The agency has a range of clients, but specialise predominantly in the urban lifestyle and hospitality industries. (See past/present client list here)
The Atticism captured the media's attention back in 2016 when they implemented a flexible work week for all staff, and shifted focus onto their staff's wellbeing and work/life balance rather than the global lean towards the "glorification of busy."
Again, in 2016, The Atticism made waves in the PR scene for calling out 'fake influencers' and actively discouraging their hospitality clients from working with people who were asking for free meals in exchange for coverage.
In 2017, The Atticism were named as finalists in the Mumbrella CommsCon Awards for "Best PR Employer," and awarded one of the Top 100 Coolest Companies by Anthill Magazine.
In early 2019, The Atticism completely ditched social media services, turning away clients who approached them with a social first campaign, or who were interested in "vanity metrics." This bold move gained The Atticism global attention, with the agency praised by business media from Asia to Europe, the USA and South America.
One of The Atticism's core business practices has been 'ditching traditional PR' which means that wherever possible, they avoid sending out press releases. Instead, the team opt for a more targeted and personalised approach. Whilst it takes a lot more time and effort by the account managers, clients love the results it brings.
"When we engaged with The Atticism, the first thing they said to us was 'we don't just do press releases, we do PR'. This really resonated with us because their business plan was about being different and standing out, that's exactly why MATE was established. The constant determination, ideas and their approach to their work is very refreshing but overall its effective. Renae, Alice, Emma and the rest of the Atticism team are creative, responsive and just bloody good people to work with," says Mark Fazio, the CEO of Australian telco, MATE.
The Director, Renae Smith, is a familiar face for many thanks to her stint on Masterchef Australia in 2014, where she placed 8th overall. She now spends her time consulting with The Atticism's clients in Australia, the UK and Asia and is also a small and medium business expert for MYOB Australia.
Renae notes that due to COVID-19 and the resulting travel restrictions, this year has been a tricky one. "Whilst we have always worked with global clients and I've travelled a lot between the UK and Australia, the coronavirus border restrictions have meant that I have been unable to travel back to meet with my staff in Sydney." She continues, "Whilst we are still able to work via email and other cloud programs, not being able to sit with my team in the office has been hard."
The Atticism's General Manager, Ash-lea Gazzola has taken on even more responsibility this year, and has been working hard to ensure that the team remains connected, despite the lockdown and the travel restrictions.
"We've knuckled down on the importance of staff wellness. This includes regular 'check-ins' to ensure everyone feels supported both with their workload and their mental health and also ensuring the team still get 'face time' with our Director, even though she's in the UK," explains Gazzola.
The Atticism's staff first focus, their unique approach to PR and their strong position on vanity metrics and social media has now gained them further global recognition as the only Australian company to receive a placement in the 2020 Stevie Awards for the innovation category.
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