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Rick Guttridge
Founder & MD: helping brave brands with brains and balls to grow through ingenious communications
Rick Guttridge is the CEO and founder of Smoking Gun Agency, a PR firm based in Manchester, UK.13 He has over 20 years of experience in the public relations industry and has worked with some of the world's biggest brands.6 Rick co-founded Smoking Gun PR with his wife Vanessa in 2010.3
Rick is passionate about delivering integrated communications campaigns with impressive commercial outcomes.1 His agency, Smoking Gun, has won multiple awards, including being named agency of the year twice in 2024.2 The company has a revenue of £1.5 million and employs 15 people.3
Before founding Smoking Gun, Rick worked for other PR agencies such as Brazen and Connectpoint PR.3 Interestingly, he started his career as a procurement officer for the Royal Mail before transitioning into public relations.3
Rick is known for his commitment to corporate social responsibility. Smoking Gun donates at least 1% of its profits to charity annually, in addition to offering discounted rates to non-profit clients.7
On LinkedIn, Rick's username is rickguttridge, where he regularly shares updates about his agency's achievements and industry insights.245
