Every brand has a story.

As marketers, the job falls to Zina Edwards Malcolm and Nikki Fagan to spin the yarn.

“For PR, we’re depending on a third party to tell this story that we want told and a good publicist is honest, is truthful, is imaginative,” Ms Edwards Malcolm said.

“A client would want me to say, ‘I sell bags of rice for $3.’ Nobody cares.

“So my main job is to make sure I figure out why somebody would care about anything.”

Their company, The Brand Lion, was recently awarded two Best of Bermuda Awards: for advertising/marketing and public relations. “We’re ferocious,” Ms Edwards Malcolm said.

“The brand is at the centre of what we do. PR is one thing, advertising is one thing, social media is one thing, but really it’s all about telling the story as a brand.

“PR is only one of many components.”

The company will turn two in February. It handles everything — from a client’s social media presence to their video advertising. A documentary-style commercial for Polaris Holding Company Ltd is a strong example of the range of their involvement.

“The way we consume information now is connecting with personalities,” Ms Edwards Malcolm said. “But sometimes you have to disconnect from personalities.

“We have a client that doesn’t like the limelight. I love to associate a personality with a brand, but if there’s a service that shifts and it’s not viable, you have to redirect what the story is.”

The pair met through a mutual friend in New York.

“I was the general manager of Gucci in Bermuda a million years ago and this American woman, she was a customer, was one of my introductions to New York City,” said Ms Edwards Malcolm who moved to the city after she landed a job with the Bermuda Department of Tourism.

The woman invited the two Bermudians to a party; they immediately clicked.

Ms Fagan, a graphic designer, moved back to Bermuda and started her own agency, Tego Creative.

She then called on Ms Edwards Malcolm to help her pull a pitch together.

“We had an amazing brainstorming session. We really clicked in the work,” Ms Edwards Malcolm recalled.

The pair won the bid but couldn’t follow through because their operation was too small. The contract went to a larger agency.

Ms Edwards Malcolm said it was then that she understood “the value of what our brain trust can produce and how it can impact the client”.

She moved to Jamaica to pursue advertising in 2007; Ms Fagan followed a few years later.

“I was tired of the ad grind here. We had probably about eight [advertising agencies] then,” said Ms Fagan, who had worked for nearly all of them.

“Every ad agency in Bermuda was white and male, so there was no room for a Zina and Nikki.”

The 41-year-old coaxed her friend to join the company she worked for in Kingston, “the most award-winning agency in Jamaica”.

“Six weeks in, Nikki comes into my office and says, ‘I’m quitting’.” Ms Edwards Malcolm said. She couldn’t believe it.

She remained without her friend, but a year later a call came from Ms Fagan. The time was right to start an agency in Bermuda.

“[I said] Places are shutting down. They’re downsizing. They’re ready for us. The market has shifted and entrepreneurs are really running things now. It’s amazing how many small businesses have popped up all over Bermuda and they’re thriving.”

www.thebrandlion.com