The newly installed executive creative director of PR firm One Green Bean has denied the agency is looking to compete with “traditional” creative agencies.

Founder Kat Thomas has taken on the role today, with Matt Buchanan, who joined in October from Ogily’s Pulse agency, taking the helm as managing director.

However, Thomas today told B&T the move, which she claimed was a first by a PR agency in Australia, was a repositioning of the agency as a creative firm, after it took a lead on last year’s Virgin Mobile Fair Go Bro campaign starring Doug Pitt.

She added: “We’ve creative, but our specialism definitely sits in the earned media space, rather than the traditional media space.

“For Fair Go Bro we brought in a traditional creative partner, but we’re not going in the direction of a full-service agency.

“We’ve seen the need to invest in creative from a more upstream perspective and show n our clients the power of investing in earned media earlier on in the piece.”

She said the business has always been “agile”, pointing to the growth of the digital side of the business making up almost 50% of the agency, where three years ago there were none.

“You can only anticipate in three-years-time the dynamic of the business will be very different once again. But we’re committed to ensuring we’re nimble enough to evolve in line with what needs to happen,” she added.

In the new role Thomas will focus on the creative output, allowing Buchanan to take a business leadership role.

He added: “Knowing that Kat has grown the agency from scratch, it was a fantastic feeling to come into a thriving business, yet immediately see areas where I could add value and support the recent growth. 

“We will continue to be a hands-on leadership team, but the delineation of responsibilities will ensure we continue to produce big ideas that work hard.”

One Green Bean picked up the PR Agency of the Year gong at the 2012 B&T Awards.