Cognito PR Expands as Others Contract

In these trying economic times it is refreshing to see some PR firms actually doing well. One such firm, Cognito, just announced the opening of a branch office in San Francisco. According to the news, the finance and technology specialists at Cognito are building upon their successes in London and Sydney by opening this new branch in the financial district there in SF. PR veteran and San Francisco native, Deborah Eisenberg, is in charge of the new office, and currently there are 5 employees operating there, with plans for hiring more.

Cognito – Public Relations and Communications

Cognito has established itself as an up and coming leader in the world PR and communications game. This move is obviously intended to further engage the US market, and particularly the financial component in Silicon Valley. Cognito already has a pedigreed client list including Oracle, Intel, CitiSoft, Lionhart, and many others. Founded in 1994, the company is led by CEO Tom Coombes, who commented on Cognito’s latest move:

“This is an important development for Cognito and substantially increases our capability in the US as well as our international footprint. It is appropriate now for us to offer a more concrete presence to the many clients we already have in the region and support new firms who need specialist help in the financial sector.”

In keeping with our ongoing scrutiny of digital communicators, it is appropriate at this time to say a little about Cognito’s digital branding of itself. Their reach online is not quite as vast as some of the other companies we have reviewed, but it is significant to note that their business is fairly niche oriented right now toward the financial side of things – not exactly the poster child segment for social media and cloud marketing. This is not to say Cognito is not “wired”, but rather that their focus is not toward Internet engagement as of yet. However, what Cognito does offer in the way of Internet capability, is very credible and business like. What does that mean? Let me illustrate briefly.

Any communicator these days has to really walk the line with regard to “telling it like it is.” Cognito, at least from my brief analysis of their online “talk tools”, pretty much does what they say they can do. I do not always agree with PR firms or other entities who say they can do too many things, like creating websites? Cognito does this, but in a tailored and no nonsense way. The screen below reveals one of their websites made for a company called Netik. You will note it is a no frills, but somehow crisp and beautiful site. Functions wise, probably just what the client needed (although they could use some help promoting it). There is a hidden value superimposed on the frame if you will look.

Symbolism of compliance W3C atop clean professionalism

Cognito Public Relations Solutions

This may not seem significant, but in every service Cognito offers the “promise” exactly matches what the end result is. In the area of web design, they are not offering Google or Wikipedia, but usable W3C compliant solutions. The same appears to be true with regard to their other aspects. W3C compliant, in this case (and BTW the indicated site is predominantly compliant) reveals quality. As for other indicators, take for example the image below from Cognito’s corporate site. This section displays a nice multimedia element to show a print marketing element.

Rather advanced media view element

Certainly, viewing a few digital elements cannot reveal the full scope or excellence a company has, but given that this company is expanding, given their Web “face” is so refined for a smaller company, the client list, and the refined and direct way their content is focused, I believe Cognito can be put into a higher class of traditional or online communicators. As a final note, we have just completed a rather extensive white paper dealing with “new age” communications via press release.

One aspect of this paper deals with almost exactly what Cognito’s release to us revealed, Transparency, directness, and a no “fluff” level of media outreach. Just what the doctor ordered with regard to PR for the future. I am not going to post the press release, so take my word for it, Cognito appears to be wired into a new type of discourse. Look out Edelman and Waggener Edstrom, at least in the financial services space.