The Romans backs new influencer agency, Painted Caves
The Romans Backs Creative Influencer Agency, Painted Caves, led by Founder Esme Rice.
Esme Rice, formerly of The Goat Agency and Vayner Media EMEA, has launched Painted Caves, a creative influencer agency. The venture is backed by The Romans but will operate independently.
Called Painted Caves, the new creative influencer agency will focus on “human storytelling that drives influence beyond social impressions”. Rice states the agency will "specialise in making brands and influencers better partners, through education, activation and access”
Judge at the Global Influencer Marketing Awards, public speaker and member of the Influencer Marketing Trade Body, Rice was previously named a top 30 trailblazing women in influence. Her brand experience has included working on global campaigns and education with Unilever, L’Oreal, Indeed, BP, Coach, American Eagle and NatWest.
Lucy McGettigan, UK Partner at The Romans, is an equity partner in the new agency and will oversee operations. McGettigan has led The Romans UK office since 2022, in which time the agency has grown exponentially, topping the PR Week New Business leagues and winning multiple Agency of the Year awards.
Rice and McGettigan join the agency’s board of directors, alongside The Romans Founder Joe Mackay-Sinclair.
“Humans have wanted to tell their stories since the beginning of time, since they started leaving their mark on the world through cave paintings. Social storytelling is the most powerful form of connection, and Painted Caves is here to unlock that power for brands and influencers.”
“The investment in working influencer spend is increasing greatly” states Rice, “yet the quality and creative impact of work is impacted across industry as people buy influencer instagram posts like an ad-buy”.
The creative influencer agency hopes to tackle this, through human-first influence strategy and education development for influencers and brand teams alike. “This industry has proven it’s here to stay, but a focus on ideas that last more than a 3 second scroll and creating systems for better partnership in influence will be the key to long term success”
McGettigan commented: “We would struggle to find a more credible name in influencer marketing than Esme. Not only does she have an incredible body of work to show for her decade in the industry, but she’s consistently vocal about the challenges and opportunities in the influencer space and how best brands and creators can best work together. She is a powerhouse of a founder and we can’t wait to work with her.”
As featured in PRWeek.