PR consultant Jennifer O’Grady has launched Democracy – Manchester’s first consultancy created to offer skills and expertise in traditional and social media PR.

Democracy will meet the escalating need for organisations and brands to communicate with their diverse publics in the online and offline world using interactive technology.

Founder Jennifer O’Grady is a digital PR advocate with eleven years of award-winning PR experience, working for brands including Lambrini, Phones 4u, Chicago Town Pizza, Shearings Holidays, Swizzels Matlow and Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank.

The ex-Brazen Senior Account Director launches the agency boosted by a team of three handpicked advisors chosen for their specialist skills in digital media and podcasting/vodcasting.

Commenting on the launch, O’Grady says: “The world of PR has changed. The days of relying on the trusty press release to reach all of your publics are over.
“Journalists, employees, consumers and stakeholders are all talking about you – and their voices are getting louder. These conversations will happen with or without you, the only way for a brand to shape them is to get involved - and that's exactly what we do at Democracy.”
Tactically, Democracy will offer retained clients the traditional PR mix alongside blogging, podcasting, vodcasting, RSS feeds, virtual communities, social communities and more.

For in-house PR teams who are looking for extra strategic insight and practical advice for using social media in their PR mix, Democracy has devised a series of seminars and workshops.

The online and offline mix continues with the evaluation process, with web analytics and blog comments, adding to the usual column inches and equivalent ad value measures.
Jennifer continues: “It’s not simply about talking to the press anymore – it’s time that the public were put back into Public Relations, so if your current PR agency doesn’t offer the right tools to reach them, then it’s time to start looking for an agency that does.”
Democracy is currently in negotiations with a number of clients and further information will be released soon.

Democracy is based in Chorlton but is in the process of securing offices in Salford Quays close to the Media City site.

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