Fantastic Ms Fox

Like all start-up businesses, it began small but Lysbeth Fox can now look back fondly on the humble beginnings of her luxury brand PR agency, Fox Communications.

Sitting at her kitchen table 10 years ago, the PR professional and Manchester Met graduate set up her business to help luxury brands promote their services to high-wealth clients around the world through a mix of marketing, communications and events services.

It has since gone from strength to strength, even with the global economy grinding to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My first hire was the biggest risk because I suddenly had somebody whose salary I was responsible for paying every month,” said Fox, who graduated from the University in 1995 with a degree in Fashion Marketing.

“When I started, I did everything: I did the press clippings and reporting, through to the strategic element that the CEOs or the managing directors would do. You have to really get your hands dirty.

“But I think that’s a great skill for a CEO to have because you know from grassroots level upwards what is time consuming, what works and what doesn’t. It really gives you a good organic 360-degree approach to the whole industry, and what your colleagues and employees are working on and how they’re finding it.”

Fox’s journey to running her own business began back in London, the city she grew up in and that is still home.

Unsure what to do after college – and with a strong a case of wanderlust taking hold – Fox sought to convince her parents that she should join her friends on a big, post-college trip to South America.

The deal was she would take up a course when she returned from travelling and it was a place at Manchester Met that Fox chose, attracted by the skills with which it would equip her.

Fox set off on her trip overseas and was good on her promise to her parents, coming to the University to study first on the diploma, before converting into a full degree.

“It was the Hacienda heyday, Oasis had broken through, so Manchester was where it was at,” said Fox.

“Then coming from London, I couldn’t really see myself going to a small village or small town university. Manchester gave me the diversity of a great university in a major city.

“Within my first week, I made some of the best friends I’ve made in my life. I think the city draws in really good quality students from many backgrounds from across the UK.

“Everybody’s door was open, ‘come in and have a cup of tea’, and that warmth I’ve carried with me throughout.

“What I liked throughout the course – and the reason I’m here – is that one of the subjects that stood out was consumer behaviour. Every day we had a different subject, and we had quite a lot of class time compared to other courses.

“I really liked that. It made my class interact on a very social level, and I’ve kept in touch with lots of them since. The people I met, the subjects I studied have all enabled me to go on to achieve things and network in avenues I wouldn’t have thought previously possible. The connections I made have had a lifelong impact.

“The people I met at Manchester Met have been instrumental in Fox (Communications) doing some phenomenal international work that has transformed the way people are living, as well as within the wellness area.

“Some really great connections have come out from it.”

That wasn’t to be Fox’s last association with Manchester, later working in the city pursuing a career path in PR that was initially inspired by a friend who was looking into the industry. Fox worked across a range of PR agencies, learning the core skills of publicising her clients in the media, in pre-digital days when posting out a press release to journalists was the norm.

Fox said: “From Manchester I went on to Weber Shandwick, a very big agency and it was all about the strategic element. Brands, how they communicate, what they want to communicate and then developing the end result for the right media channel.

“My previous experience of excellent media relations mixed with the strategic became the platform for my career.

“Then I could specialise in different areas. I started off in consumer PR and I learned the many different aspects of the trade. And then I started to specialise in the luxury environment and then within the luxury travel environment.

“Ultimately I took all of my learnings from each of those companies and created what I wanted to do, which was the platform of Fox Communications.”

The company began to grow, and now has 20 employees in its Covent Garden office, alongside its New York and Milan bases. And after steering the ship through the choppy COVID waters, Fox is looking forward to the future and happy to pass on her hard-won guidance to the next generation of industry professionals.

“I’d stress the importance of work experience and internships because if you don’t know what you want to do – like I didn’t – it is vital to try different workplaces and experiences.”