LONDON — Look After, an initiative set up in April by a former Frank staffer to provide charities with pro bono communications support during lockdown, has formally become a PR agency, after growing a network of 350 consultants.

Look After was conceived as a temporary volunteering project to help UK charities and organisations working directly on the Covid-19 frontline, including in areas such as domestic abuse, homelessness, hunger, international relief efforts and supporting sections of the NHS.

The network of freelance, laid off or furloughed communications professionals who have volunteered has since grown well beyond the expectations of its founders, to around 350 across the UK, as well as other countries including the US, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

Look After has now become a full-service communications agency, with original founder Nic Young joined by young entrepreneur Felix Henderson and another former Frank and Ogilvy staffer, Scarlett Stephens-Smith as the core team running the freelance network. Frank founder Graham Goodkind has also come on board, and becomes non-executive chair of the agency.

Young had left Frank and was due to head to another large London consumer agency when a hiring freeze was put in place as a result of lockdown. He told PRovoke Media: “It was clear I wouldn’t have a job for at least six months, so I decided my time would be best used helping charities. I put a post on LinkedIn and expected a few people to join, and it spiralled. About two months in, businesses started coming forward because they liked the work we were doing for charities, our ethical stance and the freelance model, and asking us to do paid projects.

“We know when the UK furlough scheme comes to an end there will be even more people in our industry who will be looking at freelancing or consultancy, and we decided we wanted to run a hybrid model for profit. A lot of our network have said it’s refreshing to do work that matches their values.”

The agency will still carry out pro bono charity work but is now focused on paid work for businesses that are doing social good, including PR, social media, branding and web development. Clients have already included an ethical fashion collective and a B-Corp brewery, and the founders confirmed that they would also start working towards B-Corp status as soon as they were eligible.

Henderson said: “We’re not out to create just another agency. I think there is a place for a young, vibrant, credible, consumer focused agency that does positive social work for brands with an ethical focus.”

And Goodkind added: “I really liked the idea for Look After when it was hatched as a pro bono volunteer initiative trying to make sense of the unprecedented times we were all experiencing.  Like most people in our industry, I was proud of the fact that the PR skills of such passionate younger practitioners were being put to such a good and important use.  And I wanted to do my bit to help out where I could.

“As the grey-haired person in the room it’s really rewarding providing guidance, advice, mentoring and strategic counsel to Nic, Scarlett and Felix on their inspiring mission to look after organisations that want to look after the world."