Woodrow Launches Emerging Technologies Practice With Tech Entrepreneurs

LONDON — Fast-growing strategic communications agency Woodrow has launched an emerging technologies practice, with experienced tech firm founders embedded into the firm to offer a hybrid of business and communications advice to tech entrepreneurs.

The Woodrow Emerging Technologies team is made up of strategic comms professionals alongside tech founders and advisers who have worked with the likes of Nike, Puma, Universal, and MoonPay.

These include Freddie Becker, Adrian Pang and Semyon Germanovich, who together founded Web3/NFT development platform HyperMint and later held leadership roles at cryptocurrency payments firm MoonPay, as well as creative director Samuel Muir, who has worked with a number of tech start-ups. 

Services offered by the new practice include product thinking, brand strategy, business growth and sales communications, from a first-hand commercial standpoint, as well as media relations, crisis preparedness, strategy, and employee engagement.

Woodrow Emerging Technologies will be overseen by founder Charlie Tarr in London with teams in Miami and New York, led by Kendall Clark and Andrea Capodilupo respectively. The agency is currently in talks with major blockchain companies as prospective clients.

Tarr (pictured, right) told PRovoke Media that the innovative move was a response to feedback from emerging technology businesses with the lack of deep sector experience in areas such as AI, blockchain and web3 within their communications and business advisory teams.

“AI, blockchain technology and Web3 are epoch-defining and will change our lives forever – PR firms might be getting away with not understanding emerging technologies now, but not in three years. We’ve spoken to clients in the US and they are frustrated that PR firms and big management consultancy groups are masquerading as experts when they are not.

“If you’re an entrepreneur looking for comms support, you’ll find that very few advisers have experienced the ride of building a company in this space. They haven’t worked in an AI start-up or built a product; they may be interested in it, but struggle to bridge the gap between the technicalities and speaking to big financial institutions.”

Of the new launch, Tarr – who has studied AI and business strategy at MIT Sloan – said: “There’s nothing lightweight about our approach: we’re bringing in the cavalry. We’ve built a talented team of experts from all backgrounds – leadership, business development, product and marketing – to advise leaders on the next stage of brand and business growth.

“This is the first time that globally renowned PR consultants meet proven tech entrepreneurs in one team. It’s incredibly exciting –  it resets the thinking of how our industry can help to solve business problems.”

Becker (pictured, centre) said: “When Charlie approached me, I knew his idea for the Emerging Technologies practice was a unique one. I’ve been on the other side of the agency client relationship many times and seen what works and what doesn’t. It’s very rare to meet a consultancy like Woodrow, which really gets it and brings immediate impact. The simple fact is that most agencies aren’t doing what they need to do to help innovative technology develop. This is a completely different proposition.”

And Pang (pictured, left) added: “Breakout technologies always start niche and move mainstream. This shift for AI and Web3 means that the discussion needs to be mainstream as well, given their enormous impact on society.”

Woodrow is one of the fastest-growing agencies based in the UK, according to PRovoke Media data, and is also listed in the FTSE1000 listing of the fastest-growing companies in Europe for 2024.