72Point

About 72Point

72Point is a creative PR and newswire agency based in London, England, United Kingdom, operating as the PR and creative arm of SWNS Media Group. Describing itself as a newsroom built for brands, the agency combines journalistic story creation with in-house creative production and direct access to a national newswire, producing survey-led news campaigns that are crafted to national newsroom standards and filed straight to newspaper and broadcast desks. It is distinguished in the British PR market as the only major consultancy with its own newswire, giving it an unusual ability to generate and distribute editorially credible stories at scale. Its client roster has included household names such as Sky Mobile, British Airways and National Express alongside start-ups and small businesses, and the agency reports securing more than 60,000 pieces of media coverage in 2025 alone.

Overview

72Point operates at the intersection of public relations, journalism and content production. Rather than functioning as a conventional PR consultancy selling media relations hours, it behaves like a news agency working for brands: its teams of creatives, copywriters and media relations specialists craft stories to the standards of national newsrooms, then file them through the newswire to journalists across the United Kingdom. The agency thinks visually from the outset, producing photography, animation, video, interactive quizzes and campaign microsites to boost pickup and engagement. A signature method is the integration of market research – typically through its sister company OnePoll – so that campaigns are built on survey data with genuine news value, from quick opinion polls to in-depth white papers. The agency’s own materials describe the combination as a 40-year newsroom heritage, an insight-first strategy, full visual production capability and direct national distribution that consistently produces agenda-setting coverage.

History and development

72Point emerged as the creative PR division of SWNS, the British news agency originally known as South West News Service. SWNS Media Group was founded in the early 1970s as the Bristol Agency by Roland Arblaster, building over five decades into the United Kingdom’s largest independent supplier of news content to national and regional media. 72Point was developed to bring that newsroom expertise to brand communications, sitting its teams inside the SWNS newsroom so that campaign creatives benefit from daily editorial insight. Company data aggregators date 72Point’s formal establishment to around 2014, and it has since grown into one of the country’s notable PR consultancies. In 2023, 72Point’s creative capabilities were extended with SWNS Media Group’s acquisition of PinPep Media, a picture and video agency whose founders joined 72Point as head of visual and creative director. In August 2025 the group acquired the digital content consultancy Creatorville and appointed its founder Sam Barcroft as group chief executive, and in early 2026 the group rebranded as Attention Industries, with 72Point continuing as its PR and creative division.

Services and campaign model

72Point’s services are organised around news generation: the creation and distribution of newsworthy campaigns in page-ready formats that achieve high-volume coverage across print, digital, social and broadcast. The process begins with story creation, in which the team uncovers insights, trends and truths that journalists value and audiences connect with. Editorial campaigns are then built with headlines in mind, designed for top-tier pickup. Visual and video content – from on-location shoots to viral social edits – turns messages into shareable moments, while media placement uses direct routes into national and global outlets. A defining feature is the agency’s guarantee: it sets a minimum key performance indicator of four top-tier national pieces of coverage for every campaign and continues working until that target is delivered. In 2025 the agency reported more than 60,000 pieces of coverage secured, averaging 68 pieces per campaign across national, regional and online outlets.

The newswire advantage

What sets 72Point apart from other British PR agencies is its direct access to a newswire. As part of SWNS – the United Kingdom’s largest independent press agency – 72Point can file client stories straight to national news desks up and down the country through a proprietary distribution platform plugged into major publishers and broadcasters. This gives its campaigns speed and reach that a standalone consultancy cannot easily replicate, and it underpins the agency’s claim to be the only PR consultancy in the country with its own newswire. The newsroom heritage also shapes the agency’s editorial judgment: its teams sit at the heart of the SWNS newsroom, and its staff include editors, writers, producers and researchers who understand what catches an editor’s eye. The agency has also published research on the pressures facing journalists, surveying national journalists through OnePoll on resource constraints, shrinking editorial teams and the rise of artificial intelligence, positioning itself as a bridge between the PR and journalism professions.

Ownership and leadership

72Point is owned by SWNS Media Group, the privately held British media company that also operates the SWNS news agency, the OnePoll market research firm, PinPep photography, OATH design and, since 2025, the Creatorville digital content division. The group is run from offices in London and Bristol; following the Creatorville acquisition, Sam Barcroft became group chief executive with former CEO Paul Walters as non-executive chair, co-founder Andrew Young as non-executive director and Martin Winter remaining as SWNS managing director. 72Point itself is led by chief executive Chris Pharo, who has overseen the agency’s growth as a creative powerhouse and championed its expansion into visual content through the PinPep acquisition. In early 2026 the parent group rebranded as Attention Industries, described as a modern media group built to create trusted stories, original formats and meaningful attention, with 72Point continuing as its PR and creative arm.

Client base and reach

72Point generates national media exposure for some of the United Kingdom’s biggest brands, with its published client list including Sky Mobile, British Airways and National Express, alongside what it describes as the nation’s most promising start-ups and SMEs. Its scope is national with trade and business-to-business dimensions, and its campaigns reach the United Kingdom’s biggest news titles, which the agency notes reach more than 47 million adults per month. The agency also operates in the United States through 72Point Inc, which works for brands and PR agencies across America creating survey-led stories for the US media, using OnePoll’s American consumer panels. Its media relationships span print, broadcast and digital, and its newswire access gives it direct filing routes to national desks across the country.

Notable work and results

As a PR agency, 72Point’s notable work is measured in coverage rather than in published bylines. The agency’s headline result is its 2025 performance: more than 60,000 pieces of coverage secured across its client campaigns, averaging 68 pieces per campaign, with a guaranteed minimum of four top-tier national placements on every project. Its survey-led methodology has become a recognised earned-media strategy in the British market: data-rich stories built on OnePoll research are designed to give journalists credible, publishable material, and the agency’s case studies showcase campaigns that moved from creative concept to mass media coverage across print, broadcast and digital news. The agency’s thought leadership, including its “Navigating the Newsroom” report on PR-journalist collaboration, has also contributed to industry debate about how brands and newsrooms can work together effectively.

The OnePoll and research connection

Central to 72Point’s model is its relationship with OnePoll, the market research arm of SWNS Media Group. OnePoll powers online market research and PR surveys, running studies with consumer panels that provide the data framework for engaging, relevant campaign content. 72Point frequently integrates OnePoll research into its campaigns, from quick opinion polling to in-depth white papers, on the principle that credible data adds weight and helps secure broader coverage. The agency’s teams brainstorm survey questions around themes relevant to the commissioning brand, conduct the research through OnePoll’s panels, and transform the resulting data into news stories written to newsroom standards. This research-led approach is one of the most consistently effective earned-media strategies in the agency’s repertoire, and it is the basis on which 72Point guarantees results to its clients.

Industry role

72Point occupies a distinctive position in the United Kingdom’s communications industry. It is simultaneously a PR consultancy, a creative content studio and an extension of a working news agency – a hybrid that few competitors can match. Its newswire access gives it distribution power, its newsroom heritage gives it editorial credibility, and its research capability gives its campaigns the data backbone that journalists increasingly demand. As traditional media relations has become more competitive and newsrooms more stretched, 72Point’s model of page-ready, visually rich, research-backed stories has proved durable, serving major consumer brands and challenger businesses alike. Under the Attention Industries group, alongside the SWNS newswire, OnePoll, PinPep and Creatorville, 72Point represents the brand-communications end of one of Britain’s most diversified independent media businesses. For the worldnm.com news media directory, 72Point is listed as a PR newswire and creative content agency in the News Agencies category, based in London, England.