creativebrief: As President of SERMO Communications at Talk PR, what is your primary focus?

Tanya Hughes: To lead Talk PR’s global network of 14 specialist lifestyle/luxury PR agencies, SERMO. It's a network built on relationships, not ownership, so it's my job to keep those relationships close and productive. It's also my job to promote the value of the network to clients, influencers and internal audiences as well as recruiting new partners. 

Clients value our global, specialist perspective and the connections and creativity that come with that. We're a valued alternative to the monolithic, one-size-fits-all major networks.

creativebrief: Please share a para on your career to date – specifically talking us through the high points.

Tanya Hughes: I should have been the minister for culture, media and sport. After failing my audition to be a newsreader for the BBC, I landed a graduate trainee job at The Communication Group. I then went on to an in-house role at a brilliant design company, Fitch. Five turbulent years of fashion and youth culture at Lynne Franks PR followed. I then spent seven years immersed in F1, cricket, film and literature as MD at M&C Saatchi Sponsorship. Now at Talk PR, I've been able to go global, whilst working with some of the world's leading brands. 

Like I said - culture, media and sport. But I still want to be a newsreader.

creativebrief: What's unique about your agency / business? Why did you join Talk PR?

Tanya Hughes: I joined Talk PR because its founding principle was that our senior people, all of whom come from large agency backgrounds, would be hands-on with client business, not distanced by layers and layers of management. We combine the highly connected and in-touch approach of a boutique agency with the global intelligence and strategic approach of a major player.

creativebrief: Who are the people new to you (either within your business or externally) who have particularly impressed you in the last twelve months??

Tanya Hughes: Hong Mahe, who runs Adventi Communication, our network partner in China, is the most impressive person I've met in the last year. She impressed me from the minute I met her. Not only does she have an engineering degree from a Japanese university, she runs her business and family between Shanghai, Paris and New York, she is ridiculously multi-lingual, highly connected and is one of the most serene people I have ever met. Hong embodies clever luxury.

creativebrief: What has been your agency's best work in the last year?

Tanya Hughes: The agency was proud to handle the global PR strategy for Procter & Gamble's new licensed fragrance, Alexander McQueen. The opportunity to work on a leading fashion house’s first scent is rare, and of course was a huge success in terms of coverage and sales. But that's easier said than done and required complex planning, delicate negotiations and immaculate, creative execution.

creativebrief: Industry wide, what work has excited you most this year?

Tanya Hughes: Luxury skincare brand, SK II’s ‘Marriage Market Takeover’ is one of the most powerful global campaigns I’ve seen this year. The case study film had me in tears. The campaign shines a light on the issue of China’s ‘Sheng Nu’ – a term used to label unmarried Chinese women over the age of 25. It translates to ‘leftover women’. What's so heartbreaking is that parents label their own daughters Sheng Nu and try to 'sell' them to potential husbands at the now famous marriage market. Through filmed interviews of parents and daughters that expose entrenched views, and an exhibition celebrating the achievements and lives of single women (held alongside the marriage market itself), it reframed what the lives of single Chinese women can be.

creativebrief: Who or what inspires you?

Tanya Hughes: My kids (three teenagers are useful for keeping up with the latest social media developments). Everyone in the agency under 30. Everyone in the agency over 30. London culture. For all the travelling I do, I always love being back in London - it's the most inspiring, diverse and culturally exciting city in the world. There's always something brilliant to see or experience. The burning model that recreated the Fire of London, floating down the Thames last month, blew me away. 

creativebrief: How do you stay in-touch with the industry's best work and culturally relevant news?

Tanya Hughes: Contagious, L2, The Drum, Business of Fashion, FT Weekend, all the weekend supplements. And The Today Programme is absolutely essential listening.

creativebrief: What work or agency from outside the UK do you think is particularly influential?

Tanya Hughes: Almost any creative work that comes out of Sweden seems to get noticed - they also sweep up at industry awards. I've judged loads of awards and the Swedish work stands out because they always base work on simple, brilliant insights and the creative seems effortless, never overblown.

creativebrief: What do you think are going to be the main challenges for agencies in the next two years?

Tanya Hughes: Recruitment and Robots. Recruitment because of the struggle to find and retain top talent. Robots through the threat of off the shelf, commodotised, push button PR.

creativebrief: How do you see the media landscape unfolding in the next five years?

Tanya Hughes: Social influencers are the new publishers – that's where budgets are increasingly going. Newspapers are continuing to decline, although there is innovation going on, such as the Times' combined online and print subscription model. The world needs journalism, not newspapers. But journalism is expensive, so it remains to be seen how it'll be funded in the future. Consumers have proved reluctant to pay for news, so it could be Facebook and Google that will have to start paying for the content they use.

creativebrief: What's your attitude to the 'traditional' pitch? Do you think there is a better/more modern way?

Tanya Hughes: That old chestnut. Agencies always moan about the hoops they're made to go through for a creative pitch. So of course, we should charge for pitches. But we don't. And won't. What would make the process more productive and fair for both clients and agencies would be a very short list for competitive pitches and a very tight brief - one strategic approach and one creative solution. Expecting a whole year's plan at pitch is unreasonable and unworkable. In the end, it comes down to chemistry - do you like each other, can you imagine working together. 

creativebrief: What's the best pitch you've been involved in?

Tanya Hughes: My favourite recent pitch was for FIAT. It was the perfect combination of a client wanting to move beyond their traditional coverage territory and our lifestyle approach. We based the pitch on a genuine love for the brand, its untapped Italian flair and the potential to get men back on board. It also helped that we all got on - there was real rapport and excitement about what we could do together.

creativebrief: In what ways do you think the industry can change for the better?

Tanya Hughes: Be more confident and take a leadership position on influencer marketing - otherwise ad agencies, digital agencies, social agencies, content agencies will eat our lunch, if they're not already.

creativebrief: What's the next big thing for Talk PR?

Tanya Hughes: Home – in London we’re planning on moving into new sectors. 

Away – new network partners on the US West Coast and South Korea.

We are also planning a new global digital media offer….