Absolute PR and Marketing Celebrates Second Birthday as an Employee-Owned Business Following Most Successful Year to Date
Exeter-based, employee-owned communications agency, Absolute PR & Marketing is celebrating two years since becoming an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) — marking the milestone as the agency’s most successful year in its 25-year history.
Since the transition in March 2023, the award-winning agency has expanded its client base, and delivered measurable success for clients, all while embedding its values-led culture and commitment to sustainability at the heart of the business.
The move to employee ownership followed a decision by Founder and Managing Director, Rachael Whitson, to sell 90% of the business in its 23rd year. Rachael’s goal was to ensure Absolute’s long-term future by entrusting the people who helped shape it — creating a structure that enables employees to take a more active role in decision-making and benefit from the agency’s success.
Rachael explains:
“Becoming employee-owned was about honouring the culture we’ve built and ensuring it would be carried forward by the people who helped shape it. Two years on, seeing the team take ownership of our direction and contribute to our most successful year ever has been incredibly rewarding.”
She continues:
“Each one of us helps to build on our newfound status and sustainability commitments. The EOT transition goes hand in hand with our B Corp certification. Both ensure that Absolute prospers and grows well into the future, whilst preserving longstanding relationships with our clients – some of which span 10 years – and staff who’ve worked with the company for up to 20 years.”
Despite the challenging backdrop of a sluggish economy in 2023, becoming employee-owned and a B Corp business has had a positive impact on culture and morale within the agency. The EOT model has helped embed a shared sense of responsibility and collective ownership, empowering team members to actively shape the agency’s future.
Absolute PR and Marketing is one of only two B Corp certified, employee-owned PR and marketing communications agencies in the South West. B Corps are businesses that balance purpose and profit, and Absolute achieved its certification in 2023 after meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
Achieving a score of 105.5, significantly above the minimum B Corp threshold of 80, Absolute had already been “walking the talk” long before certification. As a purpose-driven agency with sustainability at its heart, the business has one of the lowest carbon footprints of any agency in the South West – reducing from 1,129kg in 2021 to 766.05kg in 2023, a 33.81% year-on-year reduction.
Absolute PR and Marketing has also been benchmarking and reporting on its social and environmental impact since 2022 and continues to champion ethical business practices and fair wealth distribution through its EOT structure.
For more information about Absolute PR and Marketing and its commitment to social and environmental responsibility, please visit www.absoluteprandmarketing.com.
