PR agents Kreps, DeMaria to split Coral Gables-based firm

Public relations executives Israel Kreps and Sissy DeMaria-Koehne will split their firm into two companies after working together for 26 years.

As first reported by the Miami Herald, Coral Gables-based Kreps DeMaria Public Relations & Marketing firm's staff and client roster will be divided effective Jan. 1.

Kreps DeMaria ranked No. 5 on the Business Journal's list of largest Public Relations Agencies in South Florida with $3.2 million in PR net fee income in 2019. It had 20 employees.

Cultivate PR, a Sissy DeMaria + Campbell + Acker Agency, will be led by CEO Sissy DeMaria-Koehne and include President Ansley Campbell, President of New York division Laura Acker, director of digital marketing Sofia Borges and social media director and partner Stephanie DeMaria Rosado. It moved into a new office at 300 Sevilla Ave. in Coral Gables and will keep a New York office.

Israel Kreps PR will be led by Kreps and include senior leaders Caroline Underwood, Melinda Sherwood and Veronica Villegas. The company will remain at 220 Alhambra Circle.

Kreps said the split occurred because Kreps DeMaria was approached several months ago by a South Florida-based marketing and digital services company with a merger offer. He declined to name the company, due to a non-disclosure agreement.

“After discussing the matter at length, Sissy felt that she wanted to move in a different direction, while I wanted to continue pursuing this venture,” Kreps said. “In order to facilitate both of our goals, we felt it best to bifurcate the entity and each move in our different directions. We are ending this in the most amicable of fashions, even sharing some strategic services.”

DeMaria said her new firm will focus not just on publicity, but on consulting, branding, digital marketing, social media and crisis management. It will focus on real estate, automotive, luxury retail, wealth management, and hospitality.

“The pandemic has become a punctuation mark and pivotal point in our lives. It accelerated our decision to forge new paths with a nod to the nostalgia of our great memories together at Kreps DeMaria,” DeMaria-Koehne said. “We are both committed and invested in our clients and to offering them a smooth and seamless transition.”

Related to the split of the company, Cindi Perantoni Rodgers, an 18-year employees of Kreps DeMaria and was executive VP and a minority partner, has launched her own firm, Perantoni Public Relations in Miami.

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