How to Choose a PR Agency for Your Luxury Brand
The Short Answer
Choosing a PR agency is one of the most consequential brand decisions you will make — and one of the least straightforward. Unlike hiring an ad agency (where you can evaluate creative work directly) or a digital agency (where performance metrics are clear), PR requires you to assess something more elusive: the quality of a firm’s relationships and their judgment about when and how to deploy them.
This guide will walk you through what to look for, what questions to ask, and the red flags that should give you pause.
What to Look For
Relevant category expertise matters more than general prestige. A firm that has worked deeply in your vertical — luxury goods, hospitality, design, fashion — will have the editorial relationships and category instincts that generalist firms lack. Ask for specific examples of brands they have worked with in your space and what coverage they generated.
Media relationships should be current and specific. A PR professional who can name the editor of your target publication, describe their editorial focus, and explain how they have worked with them in the last six months is demonstrably more valuable than one who offers a general claim about being well-connected.
Strategic thinking beyond the press release. The best luxury PR firms think at the brand level — helping you identify story angles, develop positioning, and sequence your media strategy across a year. Ask how they approach the first 90 days of an engagement and what that looks like in practice.
Team continuity. In boutique firms, you are often buying access to a specific person’s relationships and judgment. Make sure you understand who will actually be doing the work on your account and whether you will have consistent access to senior leadership throughout the engagement.
Questions to Ask in the Pitch Process
Which editors and journalists do you have active relationships with in our target publications?
Can you give me a specific example of a brand in our category and what you achieved for them?
How do you measure success, and what does a good month look like?
Who will be the day-to-day contact on our account?
How do you handle a slow news cycle or a period when pitches are not landing?
What does your onboarding process look like, and how quickly can we expect to see activity?
Red Flags
Guaranteed placements. No credible PR firm can guarantee specific coverage in specific publications. If someone promises this, they are either being dishonest or describing paid placements (which are not PR).
A roster of clients in competing categories. Some firms spread thin across industries and lack the depth that luxury brands require. Others have genuine conflicts of interest.
Opaque reporting. If a firm cannot show you clear, regular reporting on what pitches were sent, to whom, and what the response was, that is a problem.
Over-reliance on press releases. Effective luxury PR is pitched, not blasted. If a firm’s primary tool is a broad press release distribution, they are not operating at the level your brand needs.
No discussion of strategy. If the first meeting goes straight to tactics without any conversation about positioning, goals, or what success looks like, you may be buying activity rather than outcomes.
What to Expect Once You Sign
A strong agency will spend the first two to three weeks in an orientation and strategy phase: learning your brand deeply, reviewing existing coverage, and developing a press plan. You should receive a clear roadmap before any outreach begins.
After that, expect proactive communication, regular reporting, and a consistent cadence of pitching activity. You should never have to ask your PR team what they have been working on.
Pembroke Collective works with luxury brands in design, hospitality, fashion, and lifestyle. If you are evaluating PR partnerships, visit our About page or reach out via our Contact page.