INDUSTRY PROFILES

I never decided to get into PR, it sort of just happened. I remember being at university and being asked to select PR or advertising to complete my psychology and communications majors, and that is where it all started. After working my way up through the ranks, I took a keen interest in technology PR and specialised in this sector for more than a decade after which I got my teeth stuck into consumer & corporate PR. I joined Pead PR in 2016 after my family and I immigrated to New Zealand from South Africa – and its been an amazing journey. I now manage 30 exceptional consultants as the managing director of Pead PR and I am blown away every day by the enthusiasm and desire of the entire team to deliver the best work they can for clients.

Creativity, integrated campaigns, content creation and brand building. We’ve also grown our corporate and crisis comms division in the past few years adding to our skill set.

Some of our key brands include Nespresso, Best Foods, L’Oreal, My Food Bag, Huawei, Peroni, Precinct Properties, New Zealand King Salmon and Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards.

Always hard to pick just one, but Best Foods National BBQ Day is certainly one of the campaigns which we are proud of. This was a fully integrated campaign which we conceptualised and delivered in a really short timeframe and it’s a great example of how effective these types of campaigns can be. What’s more is that we pretty much delivered every element of the campaign through our in-house team from creative ideation to video production and media pitching. It is now in its second year thanks to the outstanding work the team delivered on this project last year.

I would say there are two main challenges. Firstly, attracting and retaining top talent is becoming more and more difficult in this market. We lose so many great consultants to the big OE and finding the right talent to fill those gaps can be challenging.
Secondly, the lines between sponsored content, influencers and PR are continuing to blur. Educating clients that their budgets now need to be allocated differently is an ongoing process and a journey we’ve been taking clients on for the past few months.

I am lucky enough to work alongside a senior management team consisting of outstanding women at Pead PR – and I love it. Our industry is fast-paced so being part of a female leadership team enables us to support each other and the wider Pead PR team with empathy but also with a real sense of purpose.

Beside the dishwasher not being unpacked at home, probably when I see great & talented people, under estimate their ability. There is a line between confidence and arrogance but when someone doesn’t take the time to recognise the great job they’ve done or they doubt themselves, I want to give them a shake and tell them that they are not giving themselves enough credit.

Personally my focus is to build on the great foundation that our founder and CEO Deborah Pead has built over the past 18 years. As a business, we’re always looking for the next challenge or industry trend so that we can stretch our creative thinking. We’ve got our eyes on a few emerging trends so watch this space.

It’s highly possible that I would be training for an Iron-man or an ultra-marathon as I’d have the time to do it well. (Can you tell I like to do things to a high standard

E: sarahm@peadpr.co.nz
I: @sarahmunnik
T: @sarahmunnik