Lauren Cockerell: Making Invisible Brands Visible

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Lauren Cockerell on PR Storytelling for Overlooked Brands and Less Glamorous Industries

Lauren Cockerell is a public relations professional who rose from intern to vice president at a Fort Worth, Texas, agency before launching her own PR firm. On Your Brand Amplified, she tells Anika Jackson how a layoff became the start of her business and how she helps overlooked brands, including companies in less glamorous industries, tell their stories. Her belief: every brand has a story worth telling.

How did Lauren Cockerell start her own PR firm?

She started it after being laid off. Lauren began as an intern at a public relations firm in Fort Worth and spent the next decade working up to vice president, building skills in client relations, strategic communication and brand management. After ten years she wanted to build something of her own. The push came when she was laid off while pregnant with her second child. She used it to launch her own firm, confident her experience could help businesses that felt overlooked or undervalued.

How can PR make a less glamorous brand visible?

By finding the core of the brand's story and turning it into messages that reach the right audience. Lauren specializes in companies in less glamorous industries and those without the resources to market themselves well. For her, effective PR is more than media coverage. It is about building relationships and genuine connections, and about long-term relationships over short-term wins.

How should PR firms balance data and the human touch?

Use data to inform the story, not replace it. Lauren uses technology and data analytics to strengthen storytelling and improve client results. She also holds that PR is about understanding the emotional connections that drive behavior, so the best results come from pairing data-driven insight with authentic storytelling.

Inside her firm, she built a culture around collaboration, creativity and integrity. She hires people who have the right skills and share the company's values, and she wants team members to feel valued and free to contribute.

Key takeaways

• Lauren Cockerell went from intern to agency vice president in ten years, then turned a layoff into her own PR firm.
• Any brand, however unglamorous, can be visible when its story is told well.
• Good PR is about long-term relationships, not only media coverage.
• Pair data analytics with an understanding of what moves people emotionally.
• Hire for shared values as well as skills.

Listen to Anika Jackson's full conversation with Lauren Cockerell on Your Brand Amplified.