Our Managing Director, Tanya Houston, talks Wildwood turning 25 years old and our team’s plans to celebrate this year…

ISE 2019 saw Wildwood kick off our birthday celebrations, with a daily Happy Hour in the Press office and a birthday celebration on the Wednesday of that hectic week in Amsterdam – any excuse for cake as anyone who follows the @WildwoodPR twitter feed will know…

In 2019, we hit 25 years in business and I’m immensely proud to be celebrating such a marker. I certainly didn’t set out for world domination back in May 1994 when Wildwood PR was born.  Honestly, I was trapped by my unhappy experiences of agency life, and I felt I had no alternative but to strike out on my own. I did, however, have a vision to create an agency focused on delivering for clients, in a media-friendly manner, an agency to work hard, for a fair price, and to make sure that clients and media alike appreciated working with us so much that we wouldn’t have to do too much ‘new business’ pitching. 

Over the years, we’ve seen a fair few highs and one or two lows – but with a breadth of clients operating in a variety of markets, we’ve been able to withstand the ebb and flow of economic downturns, the explosion of the digital media-scape and the whims of clients and media alike. Withstand?  What am I saying, we are positively flourishing.

I’ve been asked what are the secrets of our success – and I’d put it down to several factors:

  • Never forget where the money comes from: keep in mind clients’ needs and work hard to deliver for them.
  • Be flexible: priorities change, people change, life sometimes gets in the way, so just try and be as adaptable, friendly and flexible as possible – people genuinely appreciate helpful and understanding people to work with, in whatever area of business.
  • Be open: I was at a recent AVIXA Diversity Event – and one of the speakers was talking about how businesses with a strong culture will have a policy to recruit a diverse team, with new ideas and fresh approaches – but then put the new recruits through an orientation process, effectively knocking away the very aspects that attracted the organisation to them in the first place. And I thought – yes, that is such a good point, and it was a timely reminder to me that an open attitude takes work, keep at it and welcome change.
  • CLICHÉ ALERT – Work to live, don’t live to work: I know, that seems like an odd thing for a business owner to say, BUT, if we have satisfying and rewarding personal lives, our contribution to our work lives actually improves – so yes, selfishly because I want the best for Wildwood – have a good Work:Life balance – work at it, and it will deliver for you.

Anyway, enough about what I think – here’s a little more about Wildwood and how we are celebrating 25 Years in Business.

Over the course of the year, our team will be taking part in activities that vary from giving our time to charity, fundraising and taking part in charitable events and doing a bit of team-building. Of course, if anyone feels moved to donate, every penny is very gratefully received. 

We will be updating these pages on our website with progress over the year. As so many of us have been affected by a variety of different issues, we have decided that different charities will be supported in different ways. Keep an eye on our social platforms to be updated!

Thank you for reading – and here’s to the next 25!