Friends & Co is a strategic PR and marketing agency headquartered in London with an office in Toronto that promotes global brands with design at their core. We fuse creative concepts, collaborations and product development with many years of media relations experience to ensure our clients’ stories are told and heard.

Our Approach

Volume of clients has never been our goal – we only work with companies for whom we can add value in some way. Our select portfolio ranges from craft-driven products and exceptional design and architecture practices to world-class materials and high-profile events.

Furniture, Lighting & Craftsmanship
Flos, Gabriel Scott, SoShiro, Sé, Charles Burnand

Designers & Architects
Run for the Hills, Sarah Wigglesworth, Simpson Studio

Industry Products & Materials
Aritco, Ultrafabrics

Design Fairs & Events
ARCHITECT@WORK, MET Studio

At the start of every client relationship we establish key objectives, markets and audiences. Drawing on our backgrounds in journalism and marketing, we then work out a strategic communications plan that fits in with the company’s business strategy.

As well as launching new projects and products to the press, we devise creative, relevant collaborations that will raise the client’s profile, and elevate their voice or aesthetic through fresh photography, marketing collateral or new speaking opportunities.

We see ourselves as an extension of our clients’ team – by working with Friends & Co you have direct, daily access to senior practitioners. We also have a network of freelancers that we can call on when particular expertise is required.

 

PR & Creative Collaboration

If we didn’t count some of the most influential design and interiors journalists as friends, we wouldn’t get the results we do. Our global press database includes writers, editors and influencers, as well as an international network of people who we call on to activate particular regions. 

Friends & Co is adept at developing broad, strategic global campaigns that generate effective, responsive press coverage. As well as promoting installations or collections that have been planned for months, the team can call on friends across the industry to pull together press-worthy creative collaborations with almost no notice.

Friends & Co called in expert curators who were looking for an exhibition space including Brian Kennedy who put together Crafting A Difference at SoShiro. The spectacular exhibition featured an international line-up of top artists and makers. It was first seen online but was then open to the public once Covid restrictions were lifted.
We worked closely with client American Hardwood Export Council to develop the concept behind Connected, an exhibition at the Design Museum. It was one of the first 'open' events after Covid restrictions were lifted, and journalists, diplomats and design enthusiasts were able to see these stunning connections made by some of the world's most prolific designers. [image: Studio Pepe]

Marketing & Thought Leadership

Friends & Co offer expertise in the design marketplace beyond public relations to reach consumers, B2B audiences and the design and architecture community.

We support in-house marketing teams to strengthen their brands through thought leadership initiatives, refreshed collateral, new photography and networking opportunities that have impact and deliver results.
Friends&Co produced a high-quality, magazine-style brochure for natural stone client SolidNature, writing copy in-house, hiring a top still-life stylist and managing design and production.
When design trade fairs were cancelled in 2020, Friends&Co proposed and produced a thought leadership white paper on innovations that will transform the home, seeding it out to industry press.

Online Events & Social Media

Events supported and promoted via social media are a critical way to animate any design or architecture brand to the press, bloggers, influencers and the public. We also offer broader advice on digital content and social media strategy.

When the annual Architect@Work trade show was cancelled due to the pandemic, Friends & Co was asked to put together a digital event with key speakers. We developed the themes and organised six talks that addressed current and relevant issues. They were so well attended that Architect@Work asked us to organise the Toronto version later in the year.
When Clerkenwell Design Week launched a B2B digital initiative BSPOKE Contract in spring 2021, Friends & Co secured high-profile speakers for a panel discussion hosted by Swedish lift brand Aritco on the future of office design and the evolution of work.