There has never been a greater demand for strategic communications and deep expertise in corporate affairs, according to Oriztonas’ co-founder and partner, Vanessa Liell, but an industry-wide “confidence issue” is holding it back from truly delivering for clients.
Brands and organisations the world over are struggling to manage an increasingly complex world, moving at an inexorably faster pace.
From the conflict between Iran and the USA to recent bungling of cyber security breach communications (see Origin Energy) or the many, well-attested-to comms failures resulting from telco network outages in Australia, there are myriad pressures on organisations and brands not to stuff it up.
But the corporate affairs and communications industry is struggling to give clients the guidance and assistance they need for two reasons, Lielll told B&T as she reflected on winning the inaugural Corporate PR Agency of the Year trophy at the 2025 B&T Awards.
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“The agencies that will thrive are those that can combine communications excellence with expertise in the issues that are shaping their clients’ future,” Liell told B&T.
“That aligns with the model that we’ve built in that we have senior strategic communicators and senior creative directors but we have experts in policy, regulation, economics and the energy transition both on our core and expanded team,” she said.
At the 2025 B&T Awards, Orizontas was recognised by judges for its ability to deliver a vast array of projects involving corporate affairs, policy and regulatory strategy crisis and issues management, and creative execution across a litany of categories. At the time, it had just seven full-time staff supported by a suite of specialist contractors.
In the race to win the inaugural Corporate PR Agency of the Year title, it beat other finalists GT Communications and Herd MSL.
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“What concerns me is communications and advertising agencies positioning themselves as sustainability experts with no actual expertise within their organisation,” said Liell.
“I’m not saying that comms agencies should be hiring scientists and things like that. But I do think we need to look more seriously at the skills that we have in our agencies on really complex issues. That’s what’s going to make a robust and resilient agency in the future: combining communications with real expertise.”
However, not for one second does Liell believe that communications skills and experience are subordinate to sector or issues expertise. After all, a sustainability or policy expert is unlikely to be expert in corporate affairs and communications.
“We need to know our strengths and we need to know where our gaps are,” said Liell, “and we need to be open-minded and honest about how we fill those gaps. That means we need to partner and consult with academics.”
“That means we need to do the work and do the reading, and be honest about our positioning as communications experts… It takes more effort and depth than perhaps what we’re doing at the moment. We’ve been quite siloed. We can’t afford to be anymore because the issues are too complex.”
However, this isn’t a one-way street. The nation’s PR and comms agencies need to get about talking about the value they bring to businesses at large, not just within narrow, campaign-focused executions.
“It’s a confidence issue for our industry. I would love to see us much more vocal in mainstream business about the role communication plays in trust and reputation,” Liell said.
“In recent crises, with things such as cyber breaches, the only difference between the organisations that succeed and fail are in the way that they communicate.”
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Since Orizontas won the inaugural Corporate PR Agency of the Year trophy at the B&T Awards, the business has expanded its services.
“Winning was incredibly rewarding for us. We were only four years old, so to be the inaugural winners was fantastic because it validated our model. What’s been even more rewarding since then is that you know it wasn’t a one-off,” Liell said.
“Over the past year we’ve continued to grow. We’ve expanded our services in doing more economic analysis. We’ve secured a place on the Federal Government’s people panel and taken on some major new mandates to deliver fully integrated campaigns to both communication and policy outcomes.”
Liell also said it continues to work with Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation following its UNESCO World Heritage listing. It also delivered the ‘Keep Our Hot Water Flowing’ campaign for the Australian Water Heating Manufacturers that resulted in regulatory change.
Will Orizontas be able to defend its title? Only you can stop it.
Find out what you’re made of by entering the 2026 B&T Awards, presented by Rokt!
