What began as a side business is becoming a brand in its own right: in early June, international PR agency PR/TICULAR — founded in 2012 by Lucy Tallo and known for mandates in the luxury, lifestyle, and hospitality segments — launched sister agency TRANSP/RENCY. The new unit focuses exclusively on strategic corporate and crisis communications.

Katja Grauwiler heads the unit from Zurich as managing partner, while remaining chief executive for Switzerland at PR/TICULAR. Joining as senior partner in Lausanne is Nicolas Rossé, who spent decades as a business journalist at RTS, the Swiss French-language public broadcaster, covering the country's biggest corporate upheavals — from Kuoni to Swissair to Credit Suisse.

From Side Business to Flagship

Speaking with finews, Grauwiler and Rossé describe the launch as a response to demand from their own clients. «Existing mandates kept asking us whether we could cover this part of communications too,» Grauwiler says. «It kept growing — and even though we come from the luxury and lifestyle segment, the cases increasingly leaned toward crisis, strategy, and corporate work.»

Until now, this business ran on the side through Grauwiler's own desk — for major hotel clients, for instance, preparing multimillion-franc investments communications-wise and setting up crisis scenarios as a precaution. «Many clients spend heavily on communications and marketing but neglect crisis planning. When an emergency hits, they are unprepared as a result,» Grauwiler says.

Crossing Over

For Rossé, the move from journalism to consulting is a late first. «Companies kept asking whether I would be available for support, advice, or media training. As a journalist, I never did that,» he says. «But after more than 25 years as a business journalist, I thought: now is the time to do something else.»

With its dual presence, the agency aims to bridge Switzerland's language divide, following the model PR/TICULAR already established successfully in the luxury goods business. «Katja is in Zurich, I'm between Lausanne and Geneva. That's a big advantage,» says Rossé, who once worked as a correspondent at the Swiss parliament in Bern and in Zurich, and who cites his personal network of journalists across the country as a trump card.

Global Corporation, Real Estate, Finance Boutique

A few weeks after launch, business is off to a strong start, the two partners say. Close to signature is a mandate from a large international corporation, for which TRANSP/RENCY is to take over all corporate communications across the German-speaking region. A mandate from the real estate sector is also under negotiation.

Added to that are early assignments from French-speaking Switzerland: a wealth management boutique with a strong track record but no media presence, a long-term mandate, as well as a fast-growing industrial group looking to professionalize its internal and external communications. For existing PR/TICULAR clients, mandates will in future be split according to client wishes — anything touching corporate or crisis communications will move to TRANSP/RENCY.

«Transparency Builds Trust»

The two also see plenty of potential in the financial sector. Many banks and wealth managers were caught off guard by the severity of the crises of the past 25 years — banking secrecy and pressure from abroad among them — and were simply unprepared, Rossé says. The rigid communications mentality left over from the old business-model era persists in some places to this day. His credo: «A bank can be transparent and communicate about its own activities without touching client confidentiality. That transparency builds trust with society, politics, and the media.»

As a role model, he points to a bank once dismissed by skeptics that has since overtaken Vontobel, now carrying a market value of more than 6.3 billion Swiss francs ($7.8 billion). «The development of Swissquote over the past 20 years is incredible,» Rossé says. He calls it the greatest achievement of the Swiss financial center this millennium, crediting the bank's consistently heavy communication for much of its success.

What's True Today Is Old Tomorrow

Grauwiler, in turn, sees the agency's roots in the luxury world as a competitive advantage in finance too — speed, social-media know-how, and ties to younger media outlets. Many people assume luxury and lifestyle topics are easy to communicate, she says, but it is in fact a tough business where the pace has increased enormously. «What's true today is old tomorrow,» she says. Established corporate agencies in particular, she adds, often lag behind when it comes to handling new media and online backlashes.

The fact that many smaller wealth management players still consider silence the best communication strategy doesn't deter the two. On the contrary, says Grauwiler: «Not communicating is old school.» Firms may have long-standing clients, she notes, but winning over younger ones is no longer possible without communication. Rossé adds: «That's why there's plenty of work to do.»