The New Zealand public relations industry has a serious gender inequality issue; it needs more men! While preparing for my meeting with Gemma Ross and Andrea Hammond, the affable co-founders of PR and brand experience agency Hustle & Bustle, I discovered that their core team is all-female, and wonder if this is a deliberate effort in empowerment.
“The PR industry in this country does have a long, proud history of female trailblazers, it’s streets ahead,” says Andrea. “When we are recruiting, our applicants are predominantly women, but we’d love more males—well, all genders, actually.”
“PR is one of those industries that you can easily come back to after having a family,” adds Gemma. “Plus, there are lots of ways to work; we have part-time mums, babies in the office—and dogs, too!”
I arrive for the appointment early and am rewarded with a feed—it’s Andrea’s birthday and the candles are just being lit on her cake. The ladies—all of whom look as though they’ve just stepped off the pages of a Vogue fashion shoot—sing happy birthday and laugh lots.
I doubt an office full of men would bring a cake.
Gemma and Andrea first met around 10 years ago while working at a leading PR consultancy and discovered that they “work really well together as a team”. With disruption, influence and social media on the rise, in 2013, the duo decided it was the right time to synergise their skillsets.
“Brands had to change the way they were communicating and connecting with their customers,” says Andrea. “And so, we provided the fuel.”
“It was a case of taking the best bits of advertising, and the best bits of PR, and blending them together,” says Gemma.
The Hustle & Bustle client base is as diverse as it is esteemed. Working across fields as varied as sport, property, design, hospitality, tech, fashion, and food, it has represented the likes of: Josh Emett; America’s Cup Sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke; Jockey and the All Blacks; NZ designer Maggie Marilyn; Chivas whisky; the Bumble app; the ASB Classic; and Meatless Farms.
“We have intentionally become really diverse,” says Gemma. “But the businesses are all purpose-led that believe in community, with sustainability at their heart. One of our methods is also to mash clients together to create intriguing collaborations. Ours is a very deliberately curated portfolio.”
Their reputation is such that they are now on the pitch-lists of major corporations and global brands, but cut their teeth working with “disruptive” startups—relationships that they still nurture.
“A fun thing about startups is that they’ve often identified a problem that needs solving,” says Andrea. “And that’s a really great place to start.”
Hustle & Bustle was once, of course, also a startup, so naturally attracted likeminded enterprises, and formed a “bit of a gang” with fellow new businesses, including other PR and marketing brands.
“It was amazing how many people gave their time to us when we first started out, people like Justine and Geoff Ross of 42 Below vodka, and Peter Cullinane at Lewis Road Creamery,” says Gemma. “So, we now try to give our time to people. There is a supportive peer group, a bunch of indie agencies that started up at a similar time and instead of being in competition, are a supportive network.”
“If something is not right for us, then it is often right for one them,” says Andrea. “There’s enough work to go around, if we can’t do something then we always recommend someone who can.”
The rise in greater awareness of all manner of cultural, social and environmental issues has dramatically altered the industry landscape.
“It is an opportunity, for us to help brands navigate such issues, to be accountable for the product and messaging that they put out there,” says Gemma. “Whether it be in terms of sustainability or diversity or socially, how they behave.”
“These are the new agendas,” adds Andrea, “what customers care about and want to pull brands up on.”
Gemma laments that one of the biggest misconceptions about their industry is that it is one of spin, “which couldn’t be further from the truth”: “It’s our responsibility to ensure our clients ‘walk the talk’, that there is no area where they are exposed, which means that there is actually no room to spin.”
Hustle & Bustle has built its own ‘sustainability promise’ around how it operates, including not distributing needless sendouts, ensuring all packaging is biodegradable, and organising plastic-free events. The group has also recently returned from a tree-planting expedition at Lake Hawea station in the South Island—now an annual event. Popular too is their ‘work from home Friday’ meaning staff “don’t need to get out of their pyjamas” or can “type away at a café or at the beach”.
Gemma admits to following a philosophy of work-life integration, rather than work-life balance, but the pair do set aside some downtime. Both have labradors—who are also the best of friends and share the same adventures with the same dog-walker—while Andrea is a trustee of the Arts Foundation, and mentors at workshops for start-ups. Gemma you’re often likely to find waist-deep in a tributary in Taupō attached to her fly-fishing line or off the grid somewhere in New Zealand: “Anything to get me away from my phone!”
In 2017, the company placed 32nd in the Fast 50 list that recognises the nation’s most promising companies, an especially proud moment for an endeavour that was born around Gemma’s kitchen bench.
“We started with zero—no capital and no clients—so every millimetre of growth has been hard earned,” Andrea says.
“It’s a fast-paced industry, with no two days the same, and that’s what everyone who works here thrives on,” says Gemma. “There are lots of things that can go wrong, especially with live events and in the media, and we’re really experienced at making sure it goes to plan, if it doesn’t we are expert problem solvers! Seeing it all come to life is what gives us the biggest kick. We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
