PR agency Seventy Seven has a number of big clients, of which Sony, Tesco Bank, Peroni, Hamley’s and lastminute.com are a few examples. But in an interesting development, the company has decided to chase after… small clients who can’t pay much. Well not chase, exactly, but make their services available to... 

Behind a new sub-brand, Seventy Seven Salon, the agency says it plans to work with some “smaller clients that might not be able to afford our services as an agency, but which have a great story to tell and which, we think, we can help to become big enough to be able to retain us full-time (however modestly).” 

According to the agency, the plan is to take on projects for small brands across a range of sectors and offer them senior counsel and media relations support for launches and new products or services. The first client to be signed up is School of Comedy, “the after-school comedy club so good that they gave it its own Channel 4 show. We've also agreed to support a brand-spanking new menswear show called ...matter which there will be more news on in the not-too-distant future we can assure you ...” 

Method behind the madness 

While the benefits to clients are obvious, what’s the rationale from Seventy Seven’s perspective? In its company blog, it reveals the method behind the madness: “The idea of the Salon is that it'll take us into some interesting new areas (where we have skills and contacts but not clients), it'll mean that we can do some work that might not be commercially sensible but which gives us real fulfillment and a chance to make a difference ... and it gives younger members of the team the chance to learn and grow their skills. All in all, we think that it's a good thing and we're looking forward to making sure it develops & flourishes.” 

Initially, the agency plans to take on four start-up clients each year. The plan is for Salon clients to get the same treatment as any other client in the agency, though it will be interesting to see how that works out once the scheme is fully-established.