Jolie Hunt on Breaking the Mold of a PR Agency

Jolie Hunt set out to create a different type of strategic communications agency when she launched Hunt & Gather in 2014. Hunt was shaken by her brief, unpleasant stint as AOL’s chief marketing officer. It was the first time in her career that hard work didn’t equal professional success, and she knew it was the right time to open her own firm. Nearly seven years later, the move has reinforced her belief that listening to your gut is essential. Hunt & Gather’s work focuses on three areas: content, experiential, and executive counsel and positioning. “I don't think that what breaks through is what a typical or traditional PR firm does these days,” Hunt told Adweek. “It's far more nuanced.” Describing what Hunt & Gather does in a few simple words isn’t easy, so Hunt offers examples. One day the team curates the audience for Vox’s Recode Conference, and the next they’re guiding executives on how to define their corporate mission or are organizing Tina Brown’s Women in the World journalism summit. Their last event before the Covid-19 lockdown was a party at the new Hermès store on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in February 2020. “Media is my first love,” Hunt said. “Starting this business meant I didn't have to be monogamous with one media brand. I could work with a few at a time. For the first 15 to 17 years of my career, I didn't even know that was possible, so it was like a big unlock.” Before starting the firm, Hunt spent much of her career in communications at major media outlets including The Financial Times and Thomson Reuters, as well as in corporate affairs at IBM. When she took the role of chief marketing and communications officer at AOL in 2013, she felt in her gut it wasn’t the right move. “I remember saying to myself, ‘I will outwork and outcharm people to the point where I will be successful here,’” Hunt said. “I knew within two weeks of getting there that it was a terrible, terrible fit for me.” She started Hunt & Gather right after leaving AOL as a way to take the best of her learnings from the corporate world and apply them to a reimagined PR and communications firm. The goal was to create a smaller agency of industry specialists who pay attention to nuances that aren't always visible to the public. The firm now has offices in Manhattan, London (run by her brother-in-law) and Los Angeles. Much of what she and her team do is experiential, something that’s only now coming back after the darkest days of lockdown. “I feel very lucky that I get this opportunity to work across all different categories, from the future of food to retailing to news to Amazon,” she said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be this fun or that I would learn so much.” Big mistake "When I didn't listen to that gut feeling, that inner voice, it always came back to bite me," Hunt said. Lesson learned Hunt urges everyone, at every level, to understand what their skills are worth and keep reevaluating. "Your worth is different at 22 than it is at 32 and 42," she said. How she got the gig Getting her foot in the door of communications right out of college was the easy part. "It was back in the day when you brought your resume to recruiters and they were like, ‘Which of these five jobs would you like?’" Pro tip "Be one of the five people picked for the team, no matter what the sport is," Hunt said. "Just be capable and competent."

Leadership & Talent

Jolie Hunt on Breaking the Mold of a PR Agency for Her Communications Company

Hunt & Gather gets away from 'the typical or traditional'

Tara Weiss

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Tara Weiss