It’s exactly the kind of story Tony DeFazio would pitch to the media: Guy gets laid off, brings people together around a tragedy, and builds himself and others back up again. It’s at the heart of the story of today’s new economy, and it’s exactly what the 20-year PR veteran lived through in the last two years.
DeFazio was the director of public relations (a department he built) for American Financial Realty Trust when the economy forced the company, like many others, to eliminate his position. A few months later in the summer of 2008, a devastating fire displaced about 400 residents from a Conshohocken apartment complex, and DeFazio found a way to get back to work. He organized the
RiverWalk Tenants Association to tell the tenants’ story and help solicit resources for those who were displaced.
Since then,
DeFazio Communications has been a fixture in Conshohocken, and DeFazio has been a busy man. The company grew 45 percent last year largely thanks to DeFazio’s presence in the community, his stature in key sectors and his breath-of-fresh air approach to public realtions.
“We’re positioned as an independent, lean PR agency. That’s contrarian thinking,” says DeFazio. “That allowed me to be more nimble and agile in this unqiue economic environment where I could take on work other agencies wouldn’t and double down on that investment and create more value out of those relationships.”
Indeed, a senior practitioner leading a boutique agency is nothing new, but one that is less concerned about building billable hours and more concerned about building relationships is somewhat of a rarity. DeFazio utilizes a team of contractors to which he farms out duties like design or photography to help keep costs down for clients.
DeFazio has a strong background in emerging growth companies, working with many while he helped build nearby Gregory FCA from a $250,000 to $3.5 million agency from 1991-2005, and that shows in his current work with the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center. He also serves president of the International Association of Business Communicators.
“You can either pay for media or earn it. We deal specifically and exclusively in the earned media category,” says DeFazio, recently hired by Willow Grove manufacturer
EF Precision for an integrated marketing campaign. “There’s no distinction between traditional and new media to us. It’s media. Fundamentally it’s about storytelling and relationships.”
Source: Tony DeFazio, DeFazio CommunicationsWriter: Joe Petrucci