In this week’s installment of the Women Leaders in PR series, we talk with Margery Kraus, who launched APCO Worldwide in 1984. Though the firm is now a well-established, international business, it was once a startup, like many of the organizations that Kraus had worked with before striking out on her own.

For Kraus, the most important factor in having a successful business is being a daring (though strategic) businesswoman. She tells us what exactly that means, and what you need to get your business started.

Tune in next week for the final (bonus!) installment of our Women Leaders in PR series.

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On February 15, we reported on APCO Worldwide‘s purchase of ad agency StrawberryFrog. On Friday, we had news that Bailey Gardiner, a PR and integrated marketing agency, and Fishtank Brand Advertising had come together to create i.d.e.a., a “full-service creative group.”

All across PR, advertising, and marketing, there’s been much talk about the “blurring” of marketing disciplines. Fleishman-Hillard‘s chief exec has talked with us about how their work is cutting across a variety of marketing areas. And firm leaders Richard Edelman (Edelman), Fred Cook (GolinHarris), and Rob Flaherty (Ketchum) all spoke at the last PRWeek NEXT conference about the competition between advertising and PR, and the client’s new openness for “big ideas” that come from the PR agency.

Increasingly, PR firms are tackling their work with this sort of boundary-free approach that opens doors for more business as well as greater integration. Indra Gardiner, founder and chief influence officer at i.d.e.a., says the relationship between BG and Fishtank started with eight months of joint pitching and business wins. Eventually, blending the two together “started making more and more sense.”

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Updated with the clip above and additional detail.

APCO Worldwide has acquired StrawberryFrog, an independent ad agency based in New York.

StrawberryFrog’s clients include P&G (also an APCO client) and Beam, Inc., the spirits company behind brands like Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark. According to the Wall Street Journal, StrawberryFrog has earned $10 million in revenue from its U.S. operations.

The story also notes the amount of cross over between advertising and PR these days, something that’s been illustrated in our twice-weekly Roll Call columns.

“Increasingly being charged with helping marketers manage their social media marketing, PR firms are now finding themselves having to make creative content for marketers,” the article says.

StrawberryFrog will continue with its own brand and management, including Scott Goodson, StrawberryFrog chairman and co-founder. Each company will continue working with its respective set of clients.

Terms of the deal were undisclosed.