It’s that time again where I get to sit back and reflect on the past year, both at PRG and also for the Groves family. Every year, I’m surprised by how much we’ve achieved and this year is no exception. Despite a challenging UK economy and international relations generally being more unsettled than I’ve ever known, the overarching theme of 2025 for us has been “celebration”.
PRG turned 45 years old this year, which has been a major cause to celebrate! This is an incredible milestone and one that we’re all really proud to have achieved. From the early days of my father, Ray, working on a notepad in the spare room at home, to where we are now – ten members of the team (about to become 11) working with some amazing brands locally, nationally and internationally. But the core principles of Family, Authenticity and Excellence are still at the heart of PRG.
To mark the milestone, we decided that the PRG brand needed a freshen up, so we’ve been very busy putting our creative skills to the test. As you’ll have seen, back in June we launched our new branding and website. The new look, developed by our in-house team, is designed to both reflect our heritage along with our forward-thinking approach.
The new website is again designed to have a modern and user-driven approach and is optimised heavily – which has borne fruit swiftly as ChatGPT soon began serving us up as THE agency to speak to for marketing businesses in a number of our key sectors.
Celebrating 45 years of PRG is a great milestone, and one which I’ve been proud to share with Ray, when we sat down earlier this year to do a joint interview for one of the trade publications that we support, Elemental, and share the PRG story.
This year, I personally hit another milestone – 25 years at PRG. I’m amazed to see how much the business has changed in this time, through ups and downs, recessions, pandemics to where we are now – Jo, Kathryn and I as the Senior Leadership Team running a strong, dynamic agency with a brilliant team and some of the best clients you could hope to work with. Plenty to celebrate for sure!
Kathryn has had an incredibly busy year, working with Jo and I on the direction and growth of the business (big shout to Martin Riley for the support with this), but also thanks in part to our long-standing client Carrier utilising our skills in several of their European territories. This has meant Kathryn working alongside our partner European agencies to deliver a number of key launches and projects in different countries, whilst Stephen has been getting stuck into European SEO. Kathryn’s team has grown in number in 2025 and she’s led and developed everyone, ensuring that they’re all supported at all times, regardless of how busy she is.
Talking of Stephen, he was instrumental in working with Guy on our new website and has pushed hard to grow our digital offering, which as we round out the year is really bearing fruit. When we return in January, we’ll be starting with three new Google AdWords PPC clients, as well as undertaking another sizeable European SEO campaign. All this, whilst he and his wife welcomed their first child, Pippa, into the world – so, if you see him looking tired, then that is why.
The year hasn’t been without its challenges, of course, both internally and externally. Economic challenges in the UK and Donald Trump’s shenanigans are well documented, but they create ripples that affect everyone. We’ve seen contacts at some of our long-term clients move roles, taking them away from direct contact with us, but the strength of our relationships mean that we stay in contact and it is, in many cases, opening doors to fresh opportunities. We were sorry to say goodbye to Ashley, as he headed off back to his roots in further education, but we’re really grateful for all the hard work he put in and we regularly catch up with him. We like to stay in contact with people when they leave, and sometimes they even come back. So, in October, we welcomed Alex back into the team full time, following just over a year away travelling to New Zealand and then to Wales. It’s great to have him back in the team and we’ve got him powering into PR campaigns for Carrier, both in the UK and in Europe.
Anita completed her first year at PRG, having now moved into her new house in sunny St Leonards, just along the coast. She’s been getting her teeth into the work we’re currently undertaking for Wealden District Council, celebrating their successes and developing a raft of materials to showcase it, including some truly emotional video content. When not doing that, she’s been helping Carrier to win a selection of key industry awards and in January will be embarking on a campaign with long-standing client Condale Plastics to amplify their profile in a number of key vertical sectors.
Once again, we supported Eastbourne Airbourne as a contra sponsorship, producing all promotional materials for the event. In my humble opinion, 2025 was the best one yet (and we had four days of glorious sunshine to boot), with a great selection of planes, including some making their first visit, along with huge numbers of visitors to the seafront. The airshow has just been awarded the UK’s Best Free Airshow for the 6th year, quite an achievement and something to celebrate. Matt is particularly proud of this, as he is responsible for creating a new and dynamic look each year, then providing a complete service to the Council’s team, all whilst delivering for so many other clients, including Eastbourne Theatres, Chubb Fire and Security, East Sussex Growth Hub and Fristam Pumps, to name but a few.
Our long-standing client Rapid Locking System Europe has been keeping Amy busy this year, as we worked on several sizeable exhibitions, including stand design, collateral production and pre and post event PR, both in the UK and in Europe – not to mention the new push into the Middle East. She has also worked closely with our HVAC specialist, Andrew Bailey, to begin working with one of our new clients, compressor manufacturer Bitzer, based in Milton Keynes. Luckily, it is a sector that she is no stranger to and has really hit the ground running.
When Guy hasn’t been developing new websites for The Big Futures Show or our dynamic Eastbourne MP Josh Babarinde (to support his successful bid to become party President), he’s been working closely with Amy on two big projects. The first was the creation of the brand and website for the Eastbourne Neighbourhood Board. This is a campaign that we successfully pitched for and won, which is very close to our hearts. PRG was born in Eastbourne and the business operates from our office in the heart of the town centre. To be able to contribute to engaging communities that will make Eastbourne better is something that we’re hugely proud of – watch in 2026 as we see some of these community projects brought to life.
The second is a sizeable new business pitch that we’ve been working on for months, involving presentations to the management company, the pension fund that owns it, as well as the centre’s management team. But I’m pleased to announce we’ve just found out that we’ve been successful in winning The Beacon as a client, starting in January. I fully intend to celebrate that over the festive period! More on this story early in January…
Alongside these wins, we’ve also introduced other new clients, including retail security experts Agon Systems (another hidden gem in Eastbourne), alongside Arthur C Towner, a sixth generation family business that is the oldest business in St Leonards. In order to deliver for these new clients, along with the increases in projects and campaigns for our existing clients, Mark has joined Kathryn’s team to add his skills and dry wit, providing a welcome boost. Mark now lives locally, having made Eastbourne his home a couple of years ago with his wife and kids. He’s settled really well into the team and got his teeth into agency life.
I’m so incredibly proud of the PRG family and everything they’ve achieved this year, as well as what has been achieved by PRG over the last 45 years. In order to really mark this, we decided we would do something that was very in keeping with the PRG ethos, was celebratory and that we could share with our clients and friends. So, we got together with the awesome team at Long Man Brewery and we created “The Big Four Five” PRG Pale Ale. Have a look at our video for it (big thanks to Chris Welch), and read the story here. We’ve had loads of wonderful coverage, social media engagement and wonderful feedback from everyone. If I haven’t seen you to give you some cans yet, then give me a nudge, or even better pop in for a cold one with us!
Our great friends at Colbran and Wingrove completed the second phase of the works at PRG, installing double glazing and decorating the rear of the building. We’re now much warmer and energy efficient, but the building looks really smart and inviting.
Jo and I have had a year to celebrate, although it’s only now as we sit down for the festive break that we get to appreciate it. We finally moved house, having been in our previous house for 15 years, moving straight in after getting married and right before starting a family. Everyone knows how stressful a house move can be, coupled with running a business and a family it is downright exhausting. Luckily, Jo and I make a great team, both at home and at work, so we navigate everything together and get the best from each other.
Lara is now 12 and has joined her brother at senior school, where she’s settled really well. She’s developing into quite the artist, which she clearly gets from Jo. I’d love to share some of her artwork on this blog, but she’d be mighty cross with me.
Jenson is 14 and has just headed off on his school ski trip. Despite breaking his wrist during a match in October, he’s greatly improved at football and has chosen his GCSE options. What’s more, he’s now as tall as me!!! Despite being deathly embarrassed by me, I still managed to support mock interviews and Eastbourne Youth Radio at their school, even being interviewed by Jenson and his friends live on air.
Looking to 2026 – it’s going to be a busy one! We kick off with several new clients at the beginning of January, so we’re in the process of bolstering the team further in preparation. We’ve been working on plans for several clients, for event and launch support in various European countries.
The digital side of the business is set to grow further, in line with customer demands. We’ll continue to support business in our home town of Eastbourne, as well as our continued support for local schools and charities.
My hope is that 2026 will also be another year of celebration and positive growth for the PRG family. We’re all looking forward to a festive break and reset, getting ready to hit the ground running in January.
Although we have our Christmas party on Friday 19th, we finally shut the doors for Christmas on 23rd and we’re back on Monday 5th January. As always, any emergencies, please contact me on my mobile or email. I’d like to wish all of our clients, suppliers, friends and, of course, the PRG team a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2026.
