Covet PR Acquired, CEO Says Traditional PR Is ‘Broken’

This week Covet PR, a public relations firm focused on CPG and wellness, announced it had been acquired by digital marketing company Power Digital. The firm, which was founded by Sara Brooks in 2014, will now be known as the Covet Consumer Business Unit, with Brooks taking on the role of President.

The deal was expected to close in late March, but the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in both companies deciding to hold off a few months.

Both companies have their headquarters in San Diego, where Power Digital employs 140 people. Brooks said she met Power Digital CEO Grayson Lafrenz years ago as part of an entrepreneurship organization, and in 2019 asked him to present to her team about new marketing technologies. The presentation originally inspired Brooks to consider integrating more digital marketing services into her company, but ultimately, after discussing it with Lafrenz, the two decided to work together instead.

“I know that if I had kept doing what I was doing at Covet, a year from now or two years from now we wouldn’t be as impactful,” Brooks said. “We’re a single service agency: we do earned PR. But with the rise of influencer and affiliate and the lines being blurred between paid and earned, it’s getting more challenging to do our job and it’s getting more challenging to show clear ROI to clients for their PR spend.”

Power Digital, meanwhile, works mainly with more established organizations, such as Jenny Craig, P&G, Audible, and Bed Bath & Beyond. While the company did offer PR services, these were largely centered around SEO or link building efforts for clients, Brooks said. Covet will now also offer these same brands more “creative” PR opportunities, as well as integrate its portfolio of emerging brands, which include Wandering Bear Coffee, Core Bar, Bear Naked, Otamot, Pipcorn and Bomani.

Brooks said while she didn’t start Covet with the hopes of one day selling the business, she felt the move was needed due to how the PR industry has changed. In addition to social media and influencer marketing becoming more prominent, clients have begun to ask how they can use analytics to determine how PR is building their brand awareness, and ultimately, driving sales. Power Digital has its own technology platform called Nova that will allow Covet to now offer this benefit as well, she said.

Though some brands may continue to work with Covet just on PR, the goal is to offer those that want more service lines the option.

“PR is broken because you can’t just do marketing with a siloed approach. For the brands people think are killing it, it’s because their PR is talking to their social and their social is talking to their SEO and their SEO is talking to their email marketing team,” Brooks said. “The hope is that now we can take the same approach and work holistically together.”