Brauch Owens on Ethical Growth in a Fierce PR Market

As technology progresses and the world becomes increasingly interconnected. Businesses face constant pressure from competitors to stay ahead in their respective industry or risk being left behind. This pressure sometimes leads companies to pursue unethical means of advancement, unfairly trampling others in the process. 

While some may view this cutthroat competitiveness as an unpleasant but inevitable symptom of doing business, Brauch Owens, Managing Partner at PR company Ascend Agency, stresses that collaboration and ethics provide a more sustainable foundation for success in PR than underhanded approaches to business ever could. His account of Ascend’s recent rise in the industry showcases how integrity and fairness can still lead to rapid growth.

Competition in the PR Industry

The PR market is a dense one, with brands often receiving a plethora of offers and pitches from countless PR agencies on a regular basis. This density, built on a $129 billion market value in 2025, drives fierce competition, forcing companies to make decisions that ensure they either sink or swim. Owens states that Ascend has been able to perform the latter due to its ethical approach to interacting with its competitors.

Rather than maintain rivalries with their competition, Owens explains that Ascend instead partners with them, developing mutually beneficial relationships that help all parties involved stand out in the industry. Their global partnerships with communication holding companies and major media have improved the agency’s access to diverse resources and clients, opening the business up to further growth. This methodology has boosted Ascend to the no. 2 fastest-growing company in the Pacific Region, serving as a testament to the value of collaboration over competition.

How Transparency Appeals to Clients

An important component of pursuing business ethically is maintaining operational transparency, especially with clients. When businesses fail to communicate with their clients, those clients may, understandably, feel left in the dark, leading to dissatisfaction and mistrust.

Owens notes that Ascend’s “a la carte” method of client relations has played a major role in the company’s 7,534% two-year growth rate as reported by Inc. Regionals 2024. By working closely with clients to provide them with carefully crafted and custom-tailored PR experiences, Ascend has excelled in terms of year-on-year client growth and retention, even attracting requests from other PR agencies to provide their services for their own clientele. It is likely that none of this would have been possible were it not for Ascend’s dedication to upholding the relationships it has with its clients.

Benefitting from Doing Business the Right Way

Today, Ascend remains one of the fastest-growing companies in America, ranking at #4 in 2025 according to a report from the Financial Times and Statista. Owens credits the agency’s passion for collaboration and integrity for its success, enabling the company to generate $20 million in revenue over the past two years. Its unique niche allows Ascend to stand out in an otherwise crowded market, emphasizing flexibility and personalization over a one-size-fits-all approach to PR.

Standing out in such an aggressive market can lead some businesses to consider less than tasteful means of outperforming their competitors. However, as Owens points out, if Ascend’s rise to success says anything, it is that maintaining strong ethics and positive relationships with customers and competitors alike can prove extraordinarily beneficial.