New strategic consultancy features former agency and in-house leaders
Corporate and financial PR veteran Stephen Benzikie has brought together some of the UK’s most senior communicators to launch a new strategic consultancy.
Hydra will offer both board-level advice and senior-only execution across all key areas of corporate comms, focusing on supporting CEOs and communications directors. The firm aims to deliver substantial integrated programmes, led by consultants with typically more than 20 years’ experience of advising leading companies.
Commencing with nine partners and a similar number planning to join, Hydra’s first members include former Barratt and Centrica comms director Patrick Law, FTSE100 investor relations supremo Andrew Mills, former Gavin Anderson director and American Express comms chief Sally Brown and Air Miles co-creator Geoffrey Bean.
Stephen Benzikie is a former MD of Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial, having previously led Edelman’s financial practice.
Based in Mayfair’s Grosvenor Street, Hydra’s team believes its mix of specialisms reflects the communications priorities of clients in 2017. Services will comprise corporate, financial, IR, brand strategy, internal and change communications, litigation support and the full range of digital communications.
Stephen Benzikie said:
“Hand pick the best practice heads from leading agencies, add well-known comms directors from global companies and offer them as a single team of top advisers from day one. That is Hydra. We have been in a unique position to put this together because we were all working independently in our own businesses or had started to ‘go plural’, combining comms work with non-exec roles. Even the biggest agencies would be hard-pushed to hire a group of this quality all in one go.
“We are a senior team, working alongside our clients’ most senior people. They demand ideas, insight, objectivity, expert knowledge and joined-up thinking across stakeholder groups. That’s what’s missing in both strategy and implementation and what we believe clients are interested in discussing with external advisers. Many already have excellent comms teams more experienced than the agencies they retain.”
Hydra’s consultants are already working on programmes for NYSE-listed Choice Hotels, private equity firm Duke Street, corporate turnaround group Buchler Phillips and London Asia Capital.