Eleven Eleven Communications is a nimble and creative Vancouver-based consultancy that fuses media and influencer marketing with corporate expertise to offer brands tailored support. With over two decades of experience in mergers and acquisitions, public relations, brand management and influencer marketing, Eleven Eleven helps businesses and brands communicate what matters most. We spoke with Cindy Yu, Founder and Principal, to learn more.
What is your business called and what does it do?
Eleven Eleven Communications – a communications consultancy based in Vancouver, Canada. We’re experts in communications and PR related to mergers and acquisitions, brand experience and influencer marketing in various spaces, including hospitality, travel and tourism, technology, real estate, consumer goods, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
What made you want to do this work?
I spent over 30 years in communications, in senior roles in global technology, biotech and real estate firms and 10 years immersed in B2C hospitality branding and storytelling. I felt this was the natural next step to harness this deep knowledge and experience to support some of Canada’s best-known – and lesser-known – brands and help bring their stories to life.
What problem did you want to solve with the business?
PR is evolving extremely quickly. At the same time, businesses are struggling to keep up. There are so many factors at play, and most businesses are just trying to survive – let alone thrive. There’s no time for storytelling, no time to showcase what truly matters to a business and their core values. At Eleven Eleven, we know businesses deeply — we understand their KPIs and priorities because we come from the corporate world, not an agency one. We also understand media and influencer marketing — since that’s also been a world we’ve lived in for over two decades. This combination of understanding what businesses need and what the media wants is our secret sauce.
Who are your clientele/demographics?
B2B and B2C – small and large enterprises in hospitality, travel and tourism, consumer and luxury goods, technology companies, real estate firms, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
How does your business make money? How does it work?
There are many ways to engage with Eleven Eleven to support with PR and comms —this can be from a project basis to full retainer model and any mix in between. We usually will land on a specific model that works for the individual client following an initial conversation or two.
Where in the city can we find your profession?
We’re 100% remote and can work with clients across various time zones. In my 17 years of experience working in a global technology company, I’ve found this is the most agile model.
What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.
What makes Eleven Eleven different than all other agencies out there?
It goes back to our secret sauce. We know businesses deeply because, although we’re an agency, we actually don’t come from agency backgrounds, but corporate ones. That’s a PLUS. Having a deep understanding of business KPIs and priorities means we know what businesses need. And we live within the media and influencer world on a daily basis (as both my account director and I have been in the creator world for over two decades combined). We can leverage this intersection of knowing how to storytell in the way that will help businesses communicate what matters.
What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?
The best: Bringing delight to our media guests when they go through a brand experience.
The worst: not being able to shut off my brain. As a business owner, I’m always thinking about the business.
What is your favourite joke about your own profession?
That it’s easy to do. Or that all we do is send out press releases.
Where can we follow you?
Instagram | LinkedIn | Website
PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?
CETTEC Digital Printing. The small yet mighty team at CETTEC have been doing digital printing for over 20 years in Vancouver. They do a lot of print work for the government and the legal profession, but they also do lots of work with small businesses across the Lower Mainland – from marketing materials to food labels, bound documents, posters and stationery.
