North East PR consultant, Christian Cerisola has launched a new agency that he says “will help businesses of all sizes better get to grips with its communications.”
New agency Welcome To The People promises a model that allows both clients and fellow marcomms agencies to access specific skills for particular briefs.
Cerisola has worked independently for the last two years, since leaving North East digital marketer Mediaworks, both directly with clients and as a consultant and adviser to other PR, comms and marketing teams.
He explained: “I’m creating a flexible agency model that allows me to operate hands-on with clients, but also hire the right support for each brief. My experience has given me a very clear understanding of who and where the great operators are in their field.
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It’s been really exciting working both independently, as part of wider comms teams and as an individual charged with bringing specific teams together. I won’t be confined to solutions that can only be administered from people within these proverbial four walls. Launching Welcome To The People is a way of formalising that proposition.”
Since leaving Mediaworks, where he spearheaded its Digital PR division, Cerisola has worked on a range of briefs covering strategic communications, SEO-led digital PR, media relations and brand positioning for the likes of North East music development agency, Generator, Newcastle Theatre Royal, WTTB.co.uk and health tech startup, Daiser and pan-European boutique bowling destination, Lane7.
He’s also worked closely as a consultant, training partner and ‘plug-in’ to a range of in-house comms and PR agencies across the UK and says Welcome To The People will remain an ally, not a competitor, when agency briefs require certain skill sets.
He added: “Having gained experience in both traditional PR and digital-first agencies, I’ve seen first-hand how some PR agencies have lacked the confidence to fully tackle digital PR briefs. With the onset of large language models and the continued evolution of search-led communications, I’m well-positioned to continue to help those agencies best respond to client needs in this field.”
Cerisola added that he wants to put the enjoyment back into the client-agency relationship. “I have a lot of experience in the agency world and it’s consistently perplexed me that so many clients find their experience unenjoyable, sometimes painful. I’m a big believer in doing great work, producing great results and, in the process, being able to enjoy it too.”
Cerisola co-founded his first agency, Quay2 Media in 2010 and also headed up W North from its base in Central Newcastle for London agency W Communications. He joined North East digital marketers, Mediaworks to lead its Digital PR division in 2020 and left there to pursue solo projects in early 2024. Originally from the South East, he moved to the North East in the early 2000s having previously trained and worked as a journalist on regional news outlets, gaining his first experience in PR and brand building at Freud’s in London.
