Winning attention today takes more than great PR — it’s about bringing every specialty together to shape how people discover and connect with brands. We spoke with leaders of integrated agencies to see how uniting PR, social, experiential, and creative under one roof drives cultural moments, amplifies campaigns, and delivers real results.
‘It’s Not Just a Bag, It’s a Samsonite’ campaign featuring Payton Pritchard, courtesy of H&S Communications
Elizabeth Harrison, Founder & CEO, H&S Communications
“At H&S Communications, we’ve always believed that the most powerful ideas happen when you break down barriers. When brand strategy, PR, talent, experiential, content, and social storytelling all work together under one roof, you don’t just launch a campaign, you create cultural impact. Integration is not a buzzword for us; it’s the operating system. It’s how we ensure that every touchpoint – whether it’s a headline, a piece of content, a press trip, or a social post – moves in lockstep toward both brand love and business results.
“Take Samsonite’s Defied Gravity campaign. We combined brand strategy, creative ideation, content creation and earned media to literally send the brand’s lightest suitcase into space. That integration meant the product story wasn’t confined to a press release, it became an experience that top editors lived firsthand, that consumers watched millions of times online, and that sales teams felt in real time. Within a week, we secured 100 million media impressions, generated 12 million video views, and drove a 2.2x sales spike year-over-year in key markets. Those kinds of results don’t happen when PR and creative work in isolation, they happen when every discipline is pulling toward the same gravitational force.
“We saw the same power in reframing what it means to move with purpose for Samsonite’s It’s Not Just a Bag, It’s a Samsonite campaign. By pairing NBA guard Payton Pritchard with cutting-edge XR technology and a PR engine designed to amplify, we blurred the line between physical and digital worlds. That fusion of talent, content, and media delivered feature stories across verticals, as well as a 52% spike in direct traffic and engagement rates more than three times the industry average. Integration didn’t just elevate the creative; it multiplied the return on every channel.
“When you connect all these specialties – creative, talent, experiential, content, PR – you create exponential momentum. One discipline fuels the next, and the brand benefits from a holistic narrative that’s impossible to ignore. That’s the H&S model: break barriers, connect specialties and prove that integrated communications isn’t just the future – it’s the only way to win right now.”
Shelley Reinstein, Founder & Ashley Carone, Managing Partner, Autumn Communications
“Brands today aren’t just looking for a PR agency, they’re looking for a partner who can do it all, and do it well. They want one team that can help them earn attention, move product, build community, and show up in culture, not five different agencies fighting for a seat at the table. That’s why more and more companies are choosing fully integrated partners like Autumn.
“We’ve built a model where every discipline, PR, Affiliate, Talent, Experiential, Creative, and Insights, operates under one roof, with a shared vision and a shared strategy. That means our teams don’t just coexist, they collaborate, building layered campaigns that are as smart as they are seamless.
“For brands, that’s a game-changer. Fewer handoffs. Faster execution. Clearer reporting. And most importantly, a story that actually connects across every touchpoint." -Shelley Reinstein
“The reality is that brand-building today requires more than just a great story. It demands a seamless, multi-channel approach that meets consumers everywhere they are, with messaging that is clear, consistent, and discoverable. That consistency is no longer just a nice-to-have. It is essential to how brands are understood and surfaced in an AI-driven world, where fragmented narratives can lead to diluted visibility, misinformation, or confusion. This is exactly why integrated, full-suite agencies are winning.
“A single brand narrative threads through every channel, from affiliate content and press to influencer storytelling and experiential moments. That means a product seeding moment drives sales and discoverability. A PR headline informs what shows up in search. An influencer’s post supports the same positioning as an on-site headline. We have seen the results firsthand." -Ashley Carone
Rebecca Goldberg Brodsky & Defne Aydintasbas, Co-Founders, DADA Goldberg
“We’ve expanded outward from the design space over the last decade, growing both in industry reach and in skill set. We thrive with creative entrepreneurs, acting as thought partners and bringing their ideas to life.
“What began with traditional public relations quickly evolved—layering in gifting, events, social media, brand advisory, and business development. I think people would be surprised by the depth of our consulting. We look at clients holistically, challenge them to be the best versions of themselves, and enjoy surprising the market. It’s only early September, and we’ve already managed two art and design events on both coasts—one with Ulysses de Santi and Christie’s, and the second edition of the Collectible Design Fair at WSA. Next, we’re bringing Jenni Kayne back to New York Fashion Week before moving into hotel openings around the world. We’ve always believed that our clients are better together, and we see endless connectivity across our universe.
“Traditional PR has long relied too heavily on relationships alone. We’ve excelled by creating better content—amplifying moments not just through press but through happenings, digital, and creative storytelling. We’re one of the few agencies with an in-house creative director who produces graphics and photography to push clients further. Our PR and events work doesn’t just court media attention; it brings actual buyers to our clients’ work.
“Over time, clients have pulled us into their adjacent worlds—culinary, hospitality, fashion, art, and real estate—teaching us the nuances of each while trusting us to lead with insight. While our values remain constant, we take a bespoke approach to every project: asking deep questions about the business, its founder, and its future, and then shaping a clear path forward.” -Rebecca Goldberg Brodsky
“Integrated agency models work better because the bar is high for visibility nowadays and the more versatile the talent, the more successful they are. You can’t land a great story and not think of the social visibility or an event with the right people in the room. PR people work and think more like their marketing counterparts, coming up with the story, drawing a crowd, organizing the social roll out and amplification in all platforms.” -Defne Aydintasbas
John Chamberlain, Rockefeller Center; Photo credit Chris Mottalini courtesy of DADA Goldberg
Giselle Lafaurie, Founder, The Dot Lab
“The real impact comes when PR, affiliate, talent, experiential, and social are connected rather than siloed. Each brings unique value—credibility, conversion, authenticity, memorable experiences, and amplification—but together they create something much greater. When these specialties intersect, a story can flow seamlessly from press into talent, spark conversation on social, drive measurable results through affiliate, and live on through experiential content. That’s how brands move beyond campaigns to create cultural moments that truly resonate.”
Madeline Bourque, Vice President, US Communications, SEEN Group
“Integrated, full-suite marketing communications agencies are driving competitive advantage in today's fast-moving market by connecting specialists across every function; from earned media and influencer marketing to brand experience, affiliate, and strategy. At SEEN Group, this integrated model not only ensures cohesion and agility but also delivers the speed of work required to keep pace with culture itself. By linking multiple specialties within one agency, brands can quickly determine the right message, the most resonant creative, and the appropriate channels that will drive meaningful engagement.
“Consumer-centric marketers understand that impact is achieved when there is alignment on how people actually discover, consider, experience, and communicate about products. While earned media, digital, influencer, and experiential efforts all play roles individually, their true power comes when they operate synergistically. Integrated agencies create consistent narratives across all touchpoints to ensure that creative, messaging, and brand experience work together to effortlessly move consumers along their journey.
“A foundational element of this approach is strategic alignment. In-house strategists provide valuable consumer insights and help brands answer critical questions, such as, what are the interests and concerns of the target audience, where they encounter the brand, and the barriers that exist at each stage. Intel gathered, alongside creative minds, inform positioning, campaign direction, and calls to action. Agencies that combine strategy with execution ensure that every division is working towards shared outcomes, making campaigns more efficient and impactful.
“Once strategy is aligned upon, collaboration across all specialties is key in bringing concepts to life with cohesion. At SEEN Group, our earned media experts determine the best outlets, storytellers, and organic advocates, working collaboratively with clients to highlight key stakeholders and voices. Our affiliate specialists ensure amplification aligns with messaging across platforms, while influencer teams secure timely partnerships across both UGC and large-scale collaborations to create content that resonates authentically with audiences. Brand experience experts alongside in-house creatives translate campaign concepts into physical or digital activations that best drive engagement for target audiences. Each team reinforces the other, amplifying results beyond what siloed efforts can achieve.
“Ultimately, integrated agencies win because they provide brands valuable guidance on meeting consumers where they are and adapting in real time. By providing a full suite of expertise, they provide clients with agile workflows that are best for cultural integration and meaningful campaign outcomes. In a competitive attention economy, this seamless integration, matched with culturally connected campaigns, is what sets brands apart.”
