Why We Started ACID, and What Startups Should Look for in a PR Agency
Most founders in Singapore and the region approach PR and comms agency selection backwards, prioritising media contacts over strategic capability, campaign ideas over systematic execution.
Cutting through the local agency landscape, we identify what actually drives results for early-stage companies in Southeast Asia's ultra-competitive startup ecosystem and share how ACID was started to create a win-win-win situation.
As a fractional comms consultancy, ACID taps on senior comms leaders who have spent decades across international agencies, multinationals, high-growth startups, and listed companies.
And if there’s one thing we really know, it’s that we didn’t like how traditional agencies operated, and the reason boils down to two things: misaligned expectations, and an incentive structure that created poor quality work.
Misaligned expectations
Founders, marketing leaders, and business owners typically approach comms agency selection with four core assumptions that we’ve seen lead to subpar outcomes.
An agency’s media contacts are what matters: Absolutely wrong. You can be golf buddies with an editor and have been to their son’s birthday party, but if you’re a startup with no idea how to make an announcement newsworthy, you’re out of luck. Reporters care only about the news value, not the relationship—pitching a story that won’t fly tarnishes their credibility in their newsroom, which means there’s absolutely no reason for them to do it. The real skill is not the ability to establish personal rapport, which is a fundamental skill that goes without saying, but to have a keen understanding of what each reporter considers newsworthy, then tailoring a story angle specifically for them.
When it comes to media relations, that’s what you pay comms and PR professionals for—everything else is noise.
Award-winning directors = we’ll be fine: For reasons we’ll get into further into this piece, you’ll almost definitely not receive senior-level counsel for your account after signing an expensive retainer with a senior director. Traditional agencies are just not designed to work this way, and this is a huge reason we started ACID—to do things differently and do great work.
Public relations is meant to get me awareness: Awareness—the extent to which your audience has heard of your brand—is the job of paid marketing (and advertising), not comms. True strategic communications is about brand equity, not awareness. Because if you don’t give people a reason to remember your brand, it almost doesn’t matter in the long run that you got their attention for five seconds. A resonant brand narrative, consistent messaging deployment, along with a cohesive communications strategy, are what build brand equity over time—so the next time you run an ATL campaign, more people who trust your brand actually click.
Their clients are big names, we’ll be fine: Perhaps the most insidious of all, this one is particularly counterproductive for startups simply because they end up going with agencies that have no idea what being in a startup is like, the unique challenges associated with it, and how founders and investors measure success, often to the detriment of business growth.
The highest-performing communications partnerships focus on structural communications challenges: developing compelling narratives, establishing a differentiated thought leadership presence, and creating systematic communications strategies that work across multiple channels and contexts.
How startups are paying for a broken Agency model
Traditional agencies typically price retainers on the promise of senior-level counsel, but junior associates are often the ones running point on each account. Network agencies can charge upwards of S$15,000 a month while a couple of junior executives with under two years of experience do the bulk of the work.
This dynamic massively shortchanges brands, leading most to feel frustration and disappointment. When that is conveyed to the agency, the "solution" is typically to do more extra work for free, ultimately leading to the high levels of burnout in junior associates in this industry, which then exacerbates the poor work quality over time.
This model particularly damages startups operating in Southeast Asia's most expensive business environment. Early-stage companies cannot afford the 6-month learning curves that junior associates typically require to familiarise themselves with a company’s unique positioning, regulatory considerations, or business roadmap.
This is ultimately why we started ACID. After being on both sides of the equation, we learned that the traditional agency model is fundamentally flawed, incentivising a dynamic in which every participant ultimately loses while the people sitting at the top of the agency hierarchy laugh all the way to the bank.
We believe there’s another way that can lead to a win-win-win situation—where brands pay less, founders and business owners receive high quality work and comms support, and agencies do not contribute to a culture of burnout and sweatshop dynamics.
ACID’s Win-Win-Win Model
What if we told you that you could pay less, get more work done better, and actually be friends with your comms agency?
ACID’s fractional consultancy model achieves exactly that.
By operating its unique fractional model, ACID works with fractional comms leaders and domain experts with decades of experience from global advisory firms, multinationals, regional newsrooms, and international startups, to provide senior-level strategy and execution for brands and companies.
With ACID’s fractional model, founders and leaders get:
Access to senior comms and PR practitioners only—all of our consultants have at least a decade’s worth of experience in the comms industry, from creative advertising and brand management to journalism, PR, and corporate communications
Lower retainers or rates due to ACID’s savings on overhead
Flexibility in retainer structures, including fractional and project options
Higher quality output stemming from the deep domain expertise of comms veterans
Similarly, ACID’s model incentivises a culture of accountability, deep sustained work, and comms leadership, avoiding the forms of overwork or burnout typically seen in traditional agencies due to misaligned expectations from clients and the lack of experience in junior executives to execute on an endless amount of work.
Red Flags to look out for in agencies
Certain agency characteristics predict poor outcomes. These red flags appear consistently across both local and international firms operating in the market:
Media relationships as differentiation: Agencies leading with journalist relationship lists rather than strategic methodology in media relations
Execution-first thinking: Proposing executions before understanding business objectives and market positioning, developing a narrative structure, and agreeing on communications objectives
Promises over processes: The ability to promise specific amounts of media coverage each month, while sometimes necessary, should never take precedence over the how. Ask the agency questions about their process of landing media coverage, how they approach media relations, and how they cultivate media allies for brands, because even mediocre PR practitioners can promise media coverage—what matters is the quality of coverage, the strategy behind publication selection, and whether it unlocks business value or supports business goals.
Vanity metric focus: Emphasising reach and impressions over qualified pipeline generation, brand equity metrics, and organic search
Inflexible retainer structures: Requiring long-term retainer commitments without demonstrated results or project-based and fractional engagement options
How Much should a PR Agency Cost in Singapore?
PR agency retainers in Singapore vary dramatically based on service scope and agency positioning, from as low as S$5,000 a month for a basic media relations scope to as much as S$40,000 for comprehensive communications support including multi-year strategies, investor relations, crisis communications, adhoc media training, and multistakeholder engagement.
However, our cost analysis reveals systematic pricing inefficiencies across the market:
Prominent PR firms in Singapore often price based on brand prestige rather than startup-specific experience and support
Fractional communications models offer 40-60% cost savings compared to traditional retainer structures
Specialised agencies or consultancies that focus on startups tend to provide better ROI than generalist firms
Most agencies bundle services startups don't need, inflating costs without benefit
Our general advice for startups, small to mid-sized companies, and lean teams is to seek out an agency that truly understands your needs and that is willing to work with you to tailor a scope and retainer that make financial sense.
Especially in today’s uncertain business and economic climate, this flexibility and willingness to meet each other halfway is incredibly key, and should tell you how genuine and confident an agency is at creating business value.
methodology & strategy Over perfect Pitches
The agencies that deliver sustainable results for early-stage companies often present less impressively on a superficial level than those focused on winning pitches. They prioritise methodology over ideas, strategic media relations over name dropping, and strategic positioning over tactical campaigns.
The key decision criteria should centre on whether the agency can develop and execute integrated communications strategies that evolve with company needs and growth stages. This includes long term media relations, consistent message deployment, and positioning work that supports business development, GTM strategies, regulatory engagement, stakeholder cultivation, and fundraising objectives—not just brand awareness.
For Singapore founders specifically, prioritise agencies that understand the unique dynamics of operating in Southeast Asia's most sophisticated startup ecosystem. This includes experience with government relations, financial communications, multicultural stakeholder management, and positioning Singaporean companies for regional expansion whilst maintaining credibility with local investors, customers, and regulatory bodies.