These are some of the questions we get asked most often. If there is something else you would like to know, we would love to hear from you. Get in touch and we will get back to you.
FORWARD is a fully integrated consumer PR and communications agency. We bring together earned media, social, influencer and creator engagement, content, events and experiential, and corporate and reputation services under one roof. Every campaign is built from strategy through to execution and measurement, so there is no gap between the big idea and the work that delivers it. Explore our full range of services to see how we can help your brand.
Look for an agency that plans earned and social together from the start, not as separate workstreams bolted together at the end. The best integrated campaigns share a single creative idea that is designed to work across media coverage, social platforms, influencer content and paid amplification simultaneously. That is exactly how FORWARD operates. Our Vaseline Slugging campaign is a good example: earned media, influencer content and paid social all worked from the same creative platform and delivered 172% retail sales growth. See also our Ben & Jerry's x Tony's Chocolonely campaign for another integrated approach.
We do not just book influencers. We build long-term creator relationships grounded in shared narrative and genuine cultural relevance. Our approach covers strategy, identification and vetting, partnership development, content co-creation, and campaign measurement. We work with creators across lifestyle, beauty, sport, health, food, entertainment and more, always matching the right voice to the right audience for your brand. See how this works in practice across our case studies.
Yes. We help consumer brands tell their corporate story with clarity and confidence. Our corporate and reputation services include messaging strategy, executive positioning, ESG and sustainability storytelling, reputation tracking, scenario planning, crisis communications and rapid-response frameworks. With 15 years of experience advising brands through complex situations, we bring both strategic depth and practical expertise. Get in touch to discuss your needs confidentially.
The best PR campaigns do not just generate coverage. They change how people think and feel about a brand, and that shift in perception drives commercial results. At FORWARD, we design campaigns where earned media builds trust, social content drives engagement, influencer partnerships add authenticity, and experiential activations create memorable moments. When all of these work together from a single strategic idea, the impact compounds. Our Vaseline campaign is a strong example: the integrated approach delivered 58.8% year-on-year sales growth during the campaign period, with Chemist Warehouse seeing 172% growth.
Look for an agency that genuinely understands consumer culture and can demonstrate commercial results, not just coverage volumes. Ask to see case studies with real business outcomes. Check whether they integrate earned, social and influencer capabilities in-house, or outsource them. Make sure they understand your category and audience, and ask how they measure success beyond media impressions. Chemistry matters too: you want a team that feels like an extension of your own. We would encourage you to explore our case studies and awards to see how FORWARD delivers for consumer brands.
AI visibility refers to how your brand appears when people ask AI tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews or Perplexity for recommendations. With hundreds of millions of people now using AI-powered search, brands that are not visible in these responses are missing a growing share of discovery and consideration. The good news for brands investing in PR is that the vast majority of AI citations come from earned media sources, which means the work you are already doing in PR is directly feeding your AI visibility. FORWARD helps brands understand and optimise their presence across AI platforms as part of our integrated communications approach.
We measure success by commercial impact, not just media clippings. Our campaigns have delivered results including 172% year-on-year retail sales growth, 58.8% overall sales uplift, 50.2 million paid impressions with engagement rates four times the industry benchmark, and 12.2 million organic impressions with engagement rates well above target. We have won more than 50 industry awards across the PRIA Golden Targets, CommsCon Awards, Sabre Asia Pacific and APAC Effies, spanning earned media, influencer strategy, experiential, digital and agency excellence. See specific results in our Vaseline case study or explore our full portfolio.
Costs vary depending on the scope, duration and complexity of the brief. Monthly retainers for an integrated consumer PR programme typically start from around $10,000 per month, while project-based campaigns are scoped individually. Beyond agency fees, great consumer campaigns often need to factor in additional investment for spokespeople or brand ambassadors, events and activations, content creators and influencers, and paid social boosting to amplify content reach. Paid boosting can be managed by FORWARD as part of your campaign, or by your existing media agency. The best way to get a clear picture is to get in touch and talk us through your objectives.
Absolutely. PR is one of the most powerful tools for challenger brands precisely because it levels the playing field. You do not need a massive media budget to earn attention. You need a sharp story, cultural relevance and the confidence to be bold. Earned media, influencer partnerships and smart social strategy allow challenger brands to punch well above their weight by building trust and credibility that paid advertising alone cannot deliver. Many of our most successful campaigns have been for brands challenging established category leaders. Explore our case studies to see this in action.
Any brand that sells to consumers and cares about how it is perceived can benefit from consumer PR. That said, we see particularly strong results in FMCG, beauty and personal care, food and beverage, health and wellness, lifestyle, entertainment, and purpose-driven brands. These categories lend themselves to storytelling, cultural conversation and influencer engagement, all areas where earned media thrives. FORWARD has deep experience across all of these sectors, working with brands from global household names to ambitious Australian challengers. See our case studies for examples.
These disciplines overlap, but each plays a different role. Consumer PR focuses on earning media coverage and shaping public perception through storytelling and media relations. Influencer marketing uses trusted creator voices to reach and engage audiences through authentic content. Brand strategy sets the overarching direction for how a brand is positioned, what it stands for, and how it communicates. At FORWARD, we bring all three together. The strongest campaigns are those where PR, influencer and brand strategy are designed as one integrated effort, not managed as separate activities. Learn more about how we integrate these disciplines on our services page.
The media landscape has changed dramatically, and the old approach of blasting press releases no longer works. Today, earning coverage requires stories that are genuinely newsworthy, culturally relevant and tailored to specific audiences and platforms. At FORWARD, we invest heavily in understanding what journalists, editors and content creators actually want to cover. We develop creative hooks, leverage data and insights, build strong media relationships, and create content that is ready to share. We also think beyond traditional media, designing campaigns that earn attention across social platforms, podcasts, newsletters and AI-powered discovery channels. Read more about our thinking on the FORWARD blog.
A great consumer PR campaign in 2026 does three things: it earns genuine attention, it moves through culture at speed, and it delivers measurable commercial results. That means starting with a sharp strategic insight, building a creative idea that works across earned, social and influencer channels, and executing with precision and agility. The campaigns that stand out are those that feel culturally relevant rather than forced, and that can show clear business impact beyond impressions and reach. FORWARD has been recognised with more than 50 industry awards for exactly this kind of work.
Absolutely. Many of our clients work with multiple specialist agencies, and we thrive in collaborative, multi-agency environments. FORWARD often takes the lead on creative strategy with social and earned media at the core, bringing the cultural insight and audience understanding that shapes the big idea. But we are equally comfortable playing a specialist role within a broader agency village, working alongside creative, media, digital and experiential partners to deliver integrated campaigns. We believe the best work comes from teams that genuinely collaborate, and our clients value the fact that we bring strong ideas to the table while respecting the wider team dynamic. Talk to us about how we can work with your existing partners.
