Who we are

A leading PR consultancy founded and run by former national journalists

marco/richards was founded in Manchester in 2013 by former national newspaper journalists Martin Coutts and David Richards. Today, we have teams in both Manchester and London, with every consultant having extensive experience in journalism.

Between us, we have more than a hundred years of newsroom experience. We’ve written the stories, run news desks and decided which PR pitches made the cut and which went straight in the bin. That experience shapes how we work today. We know what makes a story, what journalists are looking for and what it takes to earn credible media coverage. It is also why we are confident enough to agree clear KPIs and guarantee the results we say we will deliver.

Our whole team works collaboratively across every account, sharing ideas and ensuring we maximise every opportunity for clients. And the people you meet at the start are the people who work on your account. We don’t win the work and then hand it down to a junior team.

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The people who will work on your account

Martin Coutts

Co-founder and director

Martin is the Mar-Co in marco/richards and co-founded the agency in 2013. A former news and showbiz journalist, he was staff at the Sunday Mirror newspaper and covered major stories across the UK and beyond. He has also written for most national newspapers as a freelance. Martin works closely with every client and leads our crisis communications work, advising businesses and high-profile individuals on getting through a media storm with their reputation intact.

David Richards

Co-founder and director

David spent his career as a staff photo-journalist at the News of the World, covering major domestic and international news stories. His pictures have appeared in every national newspaper in the UK. He put the Nikon down in 2013 to co-found the agency with Martin. He now runs new business, client onboarding and oversees the day to day operation of the consultancy.

Johnny Greaney

Head of PR

Johnny joined us in 2018 and now heads up our PR team. A former news and sports editor, he has worked for the Daily Mirror, Sunday Express and BBC Sport. He learned the trade in regional journalism at the Manchester Evening News as a breaking news reporter, court correspondent and football writer, and has decades of newspaper production experience including senior sub editing roles across national titles.

Charlotte Wareing

Senior PR consultant

Charlotte started out on local and regional newspapers in Lancashire, reporting on court proceedings, council meetings and the full range of human triumph and tragedy. After qualifying as a senior journalist she moved to the Daily Mirror's Manchester office covering news and showbiz before joining us in 2016. Charlotte works across our health, lifestyle and public sector clients.

Lucia Binding

Senior PR consultant

Lucia is a former news journalist and editor who joined us in 2023. She specialises in securing high impact coverage across national and international news, with a focus on health, lifestyle and consumer stories. Before PR she worked at Sky News and was a senior reporter at Newsweek Media Group, she has also written for the London Evening Standard, MailOnline and The Independent.

Amy Blyth

PR consultant

Amy has been with us since 2022, delivering national and regional coverage across the legal, lifestyle, health, property and leisure sectors. She holds a BA (Hons) in Journalism from the University of Central Lancashire and began writing for national and regional press while still studying. Before agency life she worked at UCLan coordinating projects and events and supporting the PR, media and marketing teams across print, digital, broadcast and social.

Catherine Shuttleworth

PR consultant

Catherine joined at the start of 2026 after more than six years as a journalist. She began as a freelance writer producing copy for publications, brands and small businesses including Metro, The Financial Diet and Deutsche Telekom, before joining The Independent as a staff writer. She then moved to Reach PLC, working on growing their under-35 audience across regional and national titles.

Paul Gallagher

PR consultant

Paul spent more than twenty years in UK national news, most recently as Health Correspondent at The i. He covered the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent inquiry, the NHS maternity scandals in Nottingham, Shropshire and Telford and East Kent, and the bereaved mothers' decade-long campaign that forced a public inquiry into up to 2,000 deaths from mental health failings at NHS units across Essex. He has previously reported for The Independent, Daily Mirror, The Observer and The Guardian, has advised AstraZeneca, Roche, Sanofi, Seqirus and Crohn's and Colitis UK on campaigns, and is a regular health commentator on LBC, Times Radio and the BBC.

Thinking about moving from journalism into PR?

We’re always keen to hear from experienced journalists thinking about a move into PR. If that sounds like you, send your CV to

hello@marcorichards.co.uk

Want to meet us in person?

Our head office is in Manchester and we also have a team in London. If you’d like to talk about a PR campaign, digital PR, reputation management or crisis communications, get in touch and we’ll arrange a conversation with the right person from the team..

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