Rembrandt Flores of EFG Feature Story

Today an interview with Rembrandt Flores. 

Start from the beginning, how did your career happen? 

My career was a pure accident! I was working in production on an international TV show for E! and was put on a shoot that sent me on a trip with the show’s guest celebrity host and their publicist.  That publicist and I discussed our jobs and goals and by the end of the trip, she convinced me to get into PR.  Needless to say, I ended up leaving E! and we started our own PR agency called Fusion Publicity.  We mainly did talent PR and I honestly fell out of love with it; I found myself more attracted to brands and events, so we changed the direction of the company and renamed it EFG: Entertainment Fusion Group, or EFG PR which we are still known as today.

What types of things does EFG PR provide as an agency- has it always or was there an evolution? 

We grew rapidly in the 2000’s and back then were a full service 360 agency with 3 offices and 100+ employees, repping large brands such as Guess, Oakley, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Capcom, as well as many spirit brands including Tanqueray, Johnny Walker, Zaya Rum and DeLeon Tequila.  Since the acquisition of our New York operations 3 years ago, we are now a much smaller, more nimble agency primarily handling brands in the consumer and lifestyle spaces.  We work mainly in 3 areas; Media Relations, Influencer & Celebrity outreach and Events (pre-pandemic). The Media Relations department handles overall press which includes online/digital, print, broadcast and podcasts. Though the outlets continue to evolve, the overall process is the same. The Influencer & Celebrity Outreach department has changed much over the years, and continues to grow as probably one of our strongest assets; as it’s based on very personal relationships personally developed by me. It’s an area of the business that is very hard to penetrate, but we have been able to build an unprecedented trust with managers, agents, assistants and glam teams of these talents or directly with these celebrities and influencers themselves. The Events department is pretty self-explanatory and since we are not doing “events” right now, that division is a bit on the back burner.

What are your stand out, most recognized or just WOW moments in EFG's history? 

We have been fortunate enough to work on some very well-known people and brands since our beginnings; some that stand out and were quite memorable for our agency:

Oakley's “Learn to Ride Series” in collaboration with Audi
PR for Prince’s exclusive Oscar parties
LG Mobile’s Malibu Beach House and Cabo San Lucas experiences
Event Launches for video games franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, NBA Live, Madden NFL
PR and Launch for Tinder (we had previously co-founded adl.ly with Sean Rad)
PR for Neon Carnival at both Coachella and Stagecoach.
Buzz Press and/or Influencer/Celebrity Outreach for the hottest DTC brands including Away, Casper, Altwell, Sonos, Moon, American Vanity.

How is the company shifting during COVID, what types of campaigns are working for you? 

With Events not happening until 2021 and the uncertain times ahead, we are focusing on more genuine campaigns that speak and engage more directly to the individual consumers, leveraging both influencers and celebrities networks to do so. The campaigns that are working best (IMO), are the ones that understand the sensitivities needed due to COVID and the Black Lives Matter movement. It is cliché to keep saying we are living in unprecedented times, but truth be told, we are here and there is no blueprint of how we move forward from where we currently are.  We’re ALL learning as we go, and we are working with the media, the brands, their marketing & advertising teams in ways we never could have ever foreseen to come up with winning strategies. Clients that are flexible and willing to give us their full trust are the ones who are winning.  We have managed to advise our clients, not only how to navigate this and be successful at it, but also how to stay relevant and have a distinct voice through this crucial time.

Tell us how we or future clients can find you.

You can find me on Instagram @rembrandt or you can follow my new talk show on TikTok appropriately named 1 Minute with Rembrandt @1MWR.