Can Indie PR Scale Without Selling Out?

When Hervé Léger hired designer Michelle Ochs in 2023 to revamp its signature bandage dresses for the TikTok generation, Melissa Lefere-Cobb, the brand’s SVP and division head, knew there was a need for more than just a creative shift.

Hervé Léger had been working with fashion PR giant Karla Otto since 2020, but Lefere-Cobb had her eye on Accent Projects, an independent firm founded by Gabrielle Katz, who had previously worked on the Hervé Léger account at Karla Otto before launching her own firm in 2021.

“I saw what she was doing, and I just felt like we needed a change,” said Lefere-Cobb. “We needed new energy.”

Since hiring Accent Projects in April 2025, Hervé Léger has seen a 142 percent increase in Instagram followers, a 60 percent lift in new customer acquisition and a 45 percent increase in net sales since last year, thanks to the agency’s multi-pronged approach. That included traditional PR channels — its dresses have been worn by the likes of pop star Tate McRae and Rhode founder Hailey Bieber, and the brand landed a splashy New York Times feature lauding the “return of the bandage dress” last summer. But Accent also deployed newer levers, like placements in Substack newsletters and gifting through influencer monetisation platform ShopMy.

Accent is just one of a larger cohort of independent firms launched at the start of the decade in the wake of pandemic-era layoffs at big agencies and burnout from the intense workload that often comes with them. Even pre-Covid, founders like Nate Hinton and David Siwicki went out on their own in search of more freedom, better alignment with clients and often, more money. While most began working with emerging designers, today, they’ve proven themselves legitimate competitors to their much larger counterparts, often competing for major global accounts, who are attracted to their agility, creative thinking and lack of bureaucracy.

Now, these agencies are looking to chart their next chapter. While some want to maintain their independence, others are open to an acquisition or merger to ensure financial support and provide additional scale and capabilities. The good news is that the appetite is out there: Larger agencies and holding groups have ramped up their M&A activity in recent years, such as Purple PR parent Together Group and The Independents, which has acquired more than 20 smaller agencies in the past nine years.

“PR is changing super fast,” said Ash Smith, founder of Lobby PR, which joined forces with communications agency KiNC in January to create a new group, CultureComm. “The more voices in the room, the better, as everyone navigates everything that’s changing.”

The Indie Edge

One of boutique PR’s most frequently touted value-adds is that a smaller client list and less hierarchy enables closer relationships between brands and publicists.

“I want it to be an open line of communication,” said Sofia Bibliowicz, founder of SBPR, which specialises in bridal brands. “You can talk to me.”

Radical PR, which launched in 2017 and now operates offices in Paris, Milan and New York, still ensures every potential new client meets with founders Danesh Domingo and Paul Lavel first for a “vibe check,” said Domingo. Once approved, teams are heavily invested in each client, with a minimum of three team members working on each project, with each staffer working with an average of five clients.

With smaller staffs and less red tape, there’s more opportunity to take creative risks that a larger firm might not. Last year, Molly Van Etten Hall, who founded her PR agency Van Etten in 2023, decided to move from New York to London to expand her agency’s global presence, opening a London showroom before even registering her business in the UK or having a single British client. Seven months on, her agency’s UK branch generates nearly equal revenue to the US.

“I probably take risks that [company] boards would look at and say, ‘you’re insane,’” said Hall. “But I just really follow my intuition.”

Savannah Engel, founder of Savi, a New York- and London-based PR agency, said she’s built her business by excelling at “really crazy ideas and out-of-the-box events” that brands might not have otherwise considered. One example is a “foot fetish” party at a New York City bathhouse in honour of a collaboration between menswear brand Tombolo and the artist Tom Wesselmann, who once painted a series of feet. At the party, guests could tickle a prosthetic foot with a feather in exchange for a charitable donation, and were encouraged to wear branded slippers instead of shoes. At a “crush party” for footwear label Larroudé, guests were invited to bring their crush or a “pass” they wanted to pass off to someone else. At the event itself, the Savi team enlisted an Elvis impersonator to marry attendees.

Smaller agencies also often have more of a pulse on culture. Just two years after launching her namesake agency in 2019, Gia Kuan began working with Nike’s Jordan brand, helping it connect with the WNBA before the fashion industry paid the league much attention. Kuan’s agency matched three WNBA athletes with emerging NYC-based designers, Luar, Kim Shui and Vaquera, to create tunnel walk looks styled with Jordan Brand pieces, as well as custom covers for Office Magazine. Those larger accounts are instrumental in allowing burgeoning agencies to grow.

“Some of the larger brands are starting to also pay attention and think about other ways to tap into our expertise about … different subcultures and different worlds,” said Kuan.

The Cost of Independence

While their scrappiest days are behind them, the majority of these agencies still have ambitions to keep growing.

“I have no intention of being small,” said Katz. “I want to have lots of PR directors … so that they can grow their own teams and continue to grow their own client book within the Accent portfolio.”

Her firm also offers employees a percentage of client retainers as a commission in order to encourage them to seek out new business. This type of motivation is particularly important in today’s PR landscape, where teams are responsible for an ever-growing list of needs, from affiliate marketing to hosting after-parties.

“Long gone are the days of PR girls tottering in in their heels and being like, we’re here to do the door,” said Georgie FuTong, founder of New York-based agency FuTong & Friends, which debuted in 2023. “It’s full service now.”

As they look to the future, several are curious about a potential acquisition by a larger agency or a merger with a peer. Jesse Derris, founder of his namesake agency Derris and president of its parent, Orchestra — which has ten agencies under its umbrella, including BerlinRosen and Small Girls PR — said he has seen well over a hundred firms up for sale since Orchestra was formed in 2024.

The right team-up can free up agency founders and their teams to focus on creative thinking and client relationships — rather than “being so scared about their overhead, payroll,” said Engel, adding that it also means they can be choosier with what clients they take on.

Lobby PR’s Smith said that in teaming up with KiNC, he’s been able to dedicate more time on the creative and client work without the burden of managing the business’s operations. When acquiring a new agency, The Independents’ pitch is that they can enable those under their umbrella to benefit from each other’s expertise, co-founder Isabelle Chouvet said in an email.

Still, even those who are open to such a path are cautious.

“I’ve had PE funds come for us already, but it’s not the right time, and it’s not the right fund,” said Engel. A mismatch is, after all, what could lead an indie to lose its identity.

Plus, the appeal of independence remains. Many founders, enjoying their freedom, hope to stay in charge for the foreseeable future.

“I don’t know if I want an empire of 60 or 70 people, I like to be working very closely with a team,” said Kuan. “I want to do it until I’m tired, but I’m not tired of it yet.”