When and why did you start Dani Lombard PR?
I started DLPR in Feb 2007, so we celebrated our 5th birthday last month. Actually, the celebration is still to come! But the milestone has passed.
I wanted to create an agency that had the professionalism and brains of a larger agency, but the creativity, flare and willingness to push boundaries of a boutique agency. I also wanted to ensure that my clients would always have access to senior counsel at all times. This means that we only look after a select, tightly-edited list of clients at any one time, to ensure that we can give them premium, knock-your-socks-off PR service, day in, day out.
What started out as lil’ ol me working on one client at my dining room table, has evolved into a full service boutique PR agency with an array of impressive Australian and international brands on our client roster.
What excites you about working in beauty PR?
I’ve been working in beauty PR in some way, shape or form for almost 10 years now. And it definitely still excites me. I have to say that aside from the bevy of fabulous client products I’ve been fortunate enough to use over the years, what excites me is the people. I’ll never forget the first time I was assigned a beauty account and had to hold an event for the beauty editors. I was convinced I would find a whole lot of attitude among the group but couldn’t have been more wrong.
The beauty editors are the loveliest, friendliest, funnest, most fabulous journalists in the biz (not sucking up much am I?) and feel lucky to be able to deal with such awesome people on a daily basis.
And let’s face it, being paid to write about, talk about and play with makeup and skin care, isn’t exactly a girl’s worst nightmare is it?
What area of PR do you find most exciting?
PR is a highly diverse business and the best part about it is that your day is more often than not filled with 100 different things. We also work across multiple industries – not just beauty, which adds to that
I definitely love planning events and pulling them off. And I get a special kick when we can pull off a brilliant event for a tight budget. I’ve learned over the years that big budgets do not necessarily mean good events. Some of the best events I can remember doing over the years have utilised a pretty small budget.
But undoubtedly, the most exciting part of PR is securing media coverage for a client. It may sound relatively lame, but literally EVERY TIME I see a piece of coverage for a client, I have the urge to do a Leyton Hewitt fist pump and say yessssss.” At the end of the day, that’s what we’re paid for, so I suppose it’s good that I still find that exciting.
What makes Dani Lombard PR a unique agency?
In terms of beauty PR, we are unique because we have developed a specialty in working with natural brands. I’m not too shy to say that I think we are the most knowledgeable and experienced agency in the country when it comes to working with and understanding the natural beauty industry.
What has been the most exciting project you have worked on?
Oooh so many, so many! I couldn’t possibly choose or each and every one of my clients would weep if they weren’t chosen. I have to say though that when we won the business for , I was incredibly excited, as what they’ve achieved in bringing natural beauty to the masses is nothing short of triumphant.
I also loved the event we put together last year to celebrate Youngblood’s 15th birthday. Those that were there will tell you that the magician we had perform at the event was MIND BLOWING. I loved watching people’s eyeballs virtually pop out of their sockets while he did his show!
What would you say is the key to running a successful PR agency?
Snacks. You need good snacks. My cupboard has all manner of delights from rice crackers to protein bars and miso soup. Mmmmm. But aside from snacks, like any business owner, you need to be extremely dedicated to running a business. It is an all consuming job that definitely has the power to overwhelm you at first. There is a vast difference between being an excellent PR practitioner and being an excellent PR agency owner and director. They’re two different jobs, and you need to do both of them as well as each other.
The key to running a successful agency has got to be finding and retaining good talent. While I am across all of my clients, my small team of staff are the most dedicated, inspiring and passionate people I have had the pleasure of meeting in this business. I am grateful every day for the amount of energy and hard yakka that they put into our business, every day of the working week. They are extraordinary.
If you weren’t in PR, what job would you be doing?
I think if I won 17 zillion dollars tomorrow, I would probably have to do something with rescue dogs. I am a dog lover from way back and a long-time vegetarian. We rescued an eight-year-old Staffie called Tibby last year who is the love of my life (except for that man I married that lives in my house also). She is so amazing and the thought of her being put down makes me want to CRY. So maybe I would build a doggy rescue shelter and spend my life re-homing and rehabilitating dogs.
