INSIGHTS

Boutique PR in a rapidly shifting world: GT Podcast Interview

Jamie Brownlee 10 September 2025

This article is based on an interview with Jamie Brownlee, Director at Greentarget for the ‘Growth Advantage’ podcast by business consultancy CWP Growth. In it, Jamie outlines the agency’s growth ambitions, its positioning as a boutique challenger, and its views on the fast-changing communications landscape.

Talking on the Growth Advantage Podcast, Director Jamie Brownlee outlines Greentarget’s plans for bold expansion.

As Jamie makes clear in the podcast, Greentarget (GT) is determined to compete not just with its boutique peers but also to challenge the dominance of the industry’s larger players.

Founded with a strong emphasis on capital markets and financial communications, GT has steadily broadened its remit.

Today, GT’s clients span financial services, professional services, and increasingly, corporate consumer PR (through GT Sage) as well as social media and digital marketing services.

At the heart of Greentarget’s strategy lies a simple but uncompromising principle: sharpened focus on clients’ real needs in a landscape where speed, boldness and adaptability matter more than ever.

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Politics, policy and PR

The UK’s shifting tax regime and the ongoing debate about wealth migration exemplify the kind of issues where Jamie believes strong communications matter most.

Clients, he explains, do not want merely to be told what is happening, but to understand its impact.

“They want to know what’s happening, why it’s happening and crucially, what the effect is. That’s the most important thing. What does it actually mean for them or for their industry over the short and long term?”

Here, Greentarget encourages clients to embrace difficult political conversations rather than shy away.

Engaging with regulatory and policy developments, sensitively but substantively, builds credibility, even where risk-averse firms might prefer silence.

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Navigating an uncertain world

PR, at its sharpest, mirrors journalism: reading the news cycle, anticipating narratives, and inserting clients into the dialogue before the opportunity evaporates.

In today’s climate, marked by geopolitical conflict, rapid regulatory shifts, and the dizzying advances of AI, that task has grown exponentially harder.

“You can sit down and write a great piece of prose and a great piece of content but if you’re… more than an hour after the event you might as well move on—it’s gone.”

This intensity, Jamie argues, can even advantage smaller firms. With less bureaucracy and fewer layers of approval, nimble operators can beat larger institutions to the punch, securing their place “at the table” of debate. Journalists, he stresses, no longer care exclusively for size; they crave “a view that’s perhaps not vanilla,” opening space for Greentarget’s bolder clients.

The case for communication amid turbulence

If there is one message Jamie wants to leave, it is that silence is the wrong strategy in turbulent times. Uncertainty, he argues, makes communication more, not less, important.

“If anything it’s actually the reverse. It’s the best time to communicate and to reassure clients and prospective clients… Prospective clients will remember that in the future you were there for them.”

A Boutique with global reach

Jamie underlines that the firm thrives on long-standing relationships but is also drawing in project-based clients testing the waters.

“The large majority of the clients that we have at Greentarget are in financial services and professional services.

We’re increasingly doing more project work as well as more and more firms like to dip their toe in and see how PR and communications services work.”

Unlike many boutiques, Greentarget also benefits from global exposure through its US sister office and strong connections with clients headquartered across North America and Asia.

Jamie is quick to highlight London’s unique positioning as an international hub: a cost-effective platform for clients wishing to test new markets or broadcast across Europe without fully embedding resources on the ground.`

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Strategy for the next 12 months

A woman with long brown hair, wearing a blue top, is smiling and looking at a laptop screen.

Asked about the next 12 months, Jamie is direct: growth depends on both winning new clients and expanding the sophistication of existing retainers. Crucially, Greentarget is intent on differentiating itself from larger competitors.

“It’s really important for us to make sure that our marketing is tactical, it’s clever, it’s strategic… to really get that message across of what we can do and how we operate as a boutique agency and perhaps how we differ to larger firms.”

That difference, he insists, lies in total client-centricity: a hands-on, senior-led approach that larger agencies often cannot sustain once the pitch is won.

Greentarget wants to be seen not just as a corporate PR outfit but as a multi-offering firm across digital, consumer, financial and professional domains.

The ambition is clear: to become the go-to boutique agency in the sector.

Challenging the industry hierarchy

Ultimately, Greentarget’s ambition is not only to grow but to reshape perceptions of what a boutique can achieve. Jamie wants prospective clients to interrogate whether big agencies are really giving them priority, or whether smaller firms with senior attention might serve them better.

“We’d love to become the go-to boutique financial services and professional services communications agency… and I think challenging people to really understand that there are lots of different types of agencies out there [is vital].”

Technology and the PR toolkit

Perhaps the most striking evolution in Greentarget’s playbook is its reassessment of artificial intelligence.

Initially cautious, the firm now embraces AI as a powerful co-pilot.

“Clearly we never use it for origination. Nothing is ever written from AI. Nothing is ever devised from it. But AI is such a great co-pilot… it’s another layer into what we’re doing.”

For Greentarget, AI has two immediate benefits: eliminating the drudgery of reporting and sharpening earned media’s centrality in the digital future.

As Jamie notes, if AI-driven search prioritises authoritative editorial content over paid placements (GEO vs SEO), then Greentarget’s craft, getting clients covered credibly and in an editorial manner by journalists, becomes even more valuable.

Measuring impact

The perennial challenge for PR remains proving its worth.

While wins are easy to measure when clients directly attribute new business to media coverage, Jamie admits the industry still has further to go.

He sees AI as the likely enabler of better and more high quality bespoke platforms offering real-time brand tracking against competitors. Until then, success remains a blend of metrics, testimonials, and intuition.

People first: building a team for growth

No PR agency grows without nurturing its people.

Greentarget rejects homogeneity in its hires, instead seeking recruits from diverse educational and social backgrounds. The agency also empowers juniors unusually early, pressing them to think independently.

“One of the policies that I try and employ is… what would you do?… Nine times out of 10, invariably the person who is responding is absolutely spot on.”

This philosophy, Jamie believes, accelerates learning, builds confidence, and ultimately fosters a pipeline of sector specialists. Coupled with a culture of trust, three days in the office, two at home, Greentarget wants to treat people as responsible adults, not task-runners.

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Conclusion

Greentarget’s positioning is ambitious but clear: a nimble, globally connected boutique that thrives on speed, boldness and credibility. It seeks to grow not just in size, but in reputation, known equally for its digital and consumer expertise as for its financial pedigree.

In an era where AI is reshaping search, politics is reshaping markets, and speed is everything, Greentarget’s challenge is to remain both agile and authoritative. Jamie’s conviction is unmistakable: the boutique model cannot only survive but thrive against the giants.