Laika, headed by former Ballou PR Germany general manager Michaela Krause, has been created to provide a new type of PR to Germany’s booming tech industry. Laika is dispensing with the standard approach favoured by other companies – fixed hierarchies, limited range of services and regional specialism – and instead developing a new model. The agency works on the flat structure favoured by startups and it includes team members who boast a range of specialist skills from media relations, graphic design, copywriting, to media training and video production. 

Laika has already built an international group of complimentary PR and marketing agencies in countries including the UK, France, the US, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. As a result, despite being smaller than its competitors, Laika is able to service German companies with international ambitions with needs for services beyond traditional PR, while also catering to international tech companies worldwide who want to make it in the DACH market.

Krause says, “I didn’t want to set up ‘just another PR agency,’ I wanted to create something different that approached communications and agency design in a better way. Germany’s tech community is so dynamic and innovative that I think that the PR agencies that serve it need to respond. By mimicking their approach to projects and business organisation, we’re building a flexible and diverse team that can take on any challenge. Tech companies don’t have to choose between a global agency for international reach or a boutique agency for personal service - they can come to us because we do both.”  

Prior to founding Laika, Krause ran the Berlin office of Ballou PR, a boutique PR agency for technology startups for four years. At Ballou she built a new team from scratch and significantly expanded its client base. Two of her new colleagues, Julia Murray and Julia Ströhle, follow her from there after previous positions at companies such as EyeEm and GettyImages.

Krause, says, "We cover the essential requirements for modern corporate communication in-house, such as professional photography, influencer relations and crisis communication. In addition, we are developing a range of speaker and media training courses. For this we have a trained opera singer and speaker trainer on board, who knows from personal experience how to put on a big show.”