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The Milan-based luxury communications firm has expanded its global presence, opening new outposts in London in the UK and Los Angeles in the US alongside its New York and Milan offices.
The new outposts are intended to strengthen the agency’s global connections to better serve the needs of clients in the post-pandemic era, founder Silvia Negri Firman told BoF.
After cutting her teeth at companies like Karla Otto, Giorgio Armarni and Calvin Klein, Negri Firman launched her namesake communications firm in 2008, expanding into the US market four years later. Unlike traditional fashion agencies, Negri Firman’s client roster extended far beyond the luxury industry, working with famous names like conservationist and primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall and the Dalai Lama.
”I wanted to find a different way to work. PR and communication had become very political, mostly based on investments and budget … a bit of a kill[er] for creativity,” Negri Firman said. “We saw space on the market for a new, different type of international agency: independent and with a soul.”
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In 2020 Negri Firman bolstered the suite of digital services the agency could offer to clients by merging with web marketing and digital services agency WSM, led by Leonardo Guagenti, who remains CEO of the company.
The firm has made a number of new hires to lead the new satellite offices: former Gap public relations vice president Tracy Le Marquand has taken up the role of managing director of the Los Angeles office; while Catherine Bowman, formerly of Net-a-Porter and ModusBPCM, and Cloudia Charalambos, who also worked at Gap and BPCM, are working together as co-managing directors in London.
They join Chris Constable, who was named as New York managing director in September, and Ottavio Gallone, who heads up the Milan office.
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As mid-sized and large-scale communications firms build out their operations, boutique agencies are placing value on quality over quantity.
