Our Story
We are an unconventional, independently-owned PR firm specializing in food, drink and hospitality. We don’t thrive on jargon, we don’t measure results in billable hours and we only partner with genuine innovators.
Our founder, Lisa Donoughe, is a cultural anthropologist who spent the first half of her career in New York City handling PR campaigns for global brands and world famous chefs. Today, she leads a small team of curious, talented young professionals who are passionately interested in place-based marketing, social media, artisanal brands, indie winemakers and natural foods.
Lisa with winemakers Marcus Goodfellow and Jason Lett at the James Beard Foundation in New York City for the annual Indie Wine Foundation Celebration
Lisa thinks it’s an advantage that she has never taken a marketing class. The firm’s style is to look at a client partner’s problems in a very straightforward manner. LAD’s approach is to keep everything flexible, personal and simple. Why not come up with solutions that cut to the chase, save the client money and increase revenue while challenging convention? That’s what we think makes sense. It might not be the classic formula for agency success but we’re not interested in peer pressure.
Whether it’s our idea to start a blog for a Seattle restaurant that led to a front page New York Times story (www.lifeofapig.com) or our repositioning of Erath Vineyards for acquisition by Chateau St. Michelle, or coming up with the identity of a new world-class restaurant (Lucier), our work is highly creative and expressive. It’s a process that didn’t come from a textbook or set of standards, it’s more organic than that.
We think like writers and producers. What’s the story? How can we tell it? and Who would care?
It kinda of sounds like an oxymoron. But if you think about PR like we do, it’s more about the editorial process and less about smoke and mirrors, and certainly we think it’s about genuine friendships, connection and deep understanding of how to share a compelling narrative.
This is LAD communications.
A dash of genuine passion for fresh, seasonal ingredients. A world-class understanding of how art and science combine to create a transformative experience. And the ability to find and tell a memorable story.
We are a national company based in Oregon with a New York satellite office. Please join us in our quest for connecting meaning and truth to your brand.
