Ewing

Czechia

Ewing has been a leader in the Czech market for more than three decades now, and has been recognized by this publication—it was Eastern Europe Agency of the Year last year and a finalist for Global Public Affairs Agency of the Year—and others for its corporate advisory and public advocacy work as it focuses on “helping clients be the best versions of themselves” in order to earn the trust and support of stakeholders. The firm is led by Pavlina Rieselova and Jakub Hrabovsky, managing directors and co-owners. The latter joined in 2018, triggering a transformation that saw Ewing evolve from a traditional corporate and public affairs agency into a modern firm with digital, content creation and design capabilities.

After achieving 32% growth in 2023, last year was set to be a year of consolidation, but fees were up by another 24% and the firm added 10 people—it now has 65—to its headcount. Significant additions include David Tschorn as head of art and design; Ondrej Stec as senior public affairs consultant; and David Macek as director of the brand practice. The firm’s culture remains a key differentiator. Ewing has a #sharesuccesssharefailure ethos that emphasizes teamwork without sacrificing accountability and includes a generous profit-sharing bonus system. As the firm has grown, there has been a greater emphasis on values, and 2024 saw the firm’s first ever Impact Report. 

The public affairs and transportation practice groups more than doubled in size after Ewing picked up a new Ministry of Transportation High Speed Train assignment, securing public support for the new Dresden-Prague route. The real estate and finance practice group also grew, driven by a prestigious client in The Julius Fund, as did the energy and environment practice and a new social impact and sustainability group. And the PMI account, won in 2023 in competition with firms from the UK and US, has helped the firm to build out its international communications capabilities through its membership in the PROI network.

The 'Unsmoke' campaign for PMI has been one of the highlights of the past year, and the firm has been working internationally for another new client from the crypto world, providing strategic counsel, design, social media content and campaign management for Marinade Finance, a rising star in the Solana ecosystem. In terms of its own thought leadership, Ewing launched its Hatched by AI offer in 2022. Powered by Open AI’s LLMs, the offer serves as an early idea incubator as well as automating a number of key tasks. In 2024, the firm designed, coded, and tested a persona module to test  messaging with synthetic audiences and hold conversations about what resonates and what doesn’t. Finally, the firm has completed the acquisition of Advolution, a media buying and data analytics agency.—PH