Jason Mandell, partner & and co-founder of 2009 PRWeek Boutique Agency of the Year LaunchSquad, told PRNewser when evaluating potential new hires, the agency doesn't want "publicists." "They are not well rounded enough," he said. Mandell said ten years ago "PR was a telephone schmoozing, pitch machine, basically. You could be an A-list employee with just that." However, "those days are gone," he stressed in an interview today.

Mandell stated that over the last ten years media relations activity at LaunchSquad has declined while "content development" has increased. "Firms that pick up content development are going to win," he said. LaunchSquad is ranked #76 on the O'Dwyer's Agency Rankings with 2008 net fees of $4,239,317.