INSIGHTS
M.D. Jeff Watt on celebrating 20 years of specialist PR agency Greentarget
Celebrating two decades in business is a stand-out milestone in the PR industry.
If a week is a long time in politics and the digital news cycle has made a few hours a long time in journalism, then GT has achieved quite the feat among Public Relations agencies.
Research into Companies House found that around one-third of UK public relations agencies close within their first five years. So, to reach the milestone of 20 years, having grown yet retained our unique identity as a specialist PR agency, is an achievement worth celebrating and reflecting on.
Boutique specialist by design
GT was always about rejecting ‘Big Agency’ bureaucracy, replacing it with boutique corporate specialism and deep client relationships.
Early pioneers at what would become Greentarget – last year rebranded as GT – were Dafina Grapci-Penney, Melissa Rowling and myself.
We had started at some of the UK’s biggest PR agencies, which were great places to learn and build our experiences.
But all of us, in our different roles, landed on the same conclusion: perhaps a boutique, specialist agency built for financial services and professional services from the outset was a better model for helping clients achieve great results.
“We always wanted to be an agency dedicated to serving the financial and professional services worlds – and the technology and infrastructure that powers them. We always wanted to be the opposite of generalist.
Jeff Watt, Managing Director of GT
And we always wanted to provide deep technical and regulatory expertise, delivered by people who were genuinely passionate about – and understood – the industries that we serve.”
GT’s 3 Core Principles:
01
Always invest in and nurture long-term, meaningful client relationships.
02
Retain a sector specialism where our depth of knowledge and media contacts provide unrivalled client value.
03
Build an international team and foster a global media and market outlook, ideally positioning us for multinationals.
Reflecting on GT’s milestones
Over 20 years, it hasn’t always been plain sailing – plenty of challenges have been thrown our way.
But looking back, I am incredibly proud of what we have built.
• We’ve grown into a multi-discipline communications agency.
• We’ve hired and developed some exceptional talent; many who cut their PR teeth at GT now lead communications for some of the world’s most prestigious firms.
• We’ve built a team of 25 client-facing consultants speaking 10 languages.
• We’ve worked with an incredible roster of global financial and professional services brands.
• We’ve won numerous awards for our work.
• And we’ve been acquired – twice!
Not a bad list, if I may say, and one that reflects the contribution of everyone who has been part of GT’s story over the past 20 years. We can all look back with a real sense of pride about what we have achieved, and look to the future with even more excitement about what comes next.
Get in touch
We are always keen to hear from companies operating in our specialist sectors.
If you have an RFP or simply wish to have an informal conversation about the state of PR in 2026 and how to leverage digital tools applied through integrated strategic communications, Id’ love to hear from you.
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