Leontine Smith (53) once received a royal request. The Belgian royal family was visiting, and she was asked to act as press liaison. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde were speaking to the Belgian press about their visit to King Willem Alexander and Queen Máxima. Smith found herself on a bus full of Belgian journalists and, just before arrival, realised none of them spoke Dutch. Only French. Panic set in. She quickly called Tess, who was in the other bus and at the time worked at Smith Communicatie. With her help, Smith managed to get through the press briefings. When the bus stopped at the next location and everyone got out, one of the journalists said: “Well, you handled that well.” All the other journalists laughed along, revealing that they did in fact speak Flemish after all.

Golf on the beach

Looking back, Smith will soon mark thirty years in the communications industry. She sits in her office as founder and owner of Smith Communicatie. The agency has nine employees. Madelon leads the PR team, Nancy heads up events. “A fantastic team,” Smith says, one that has received several awards. Most recently the Dutch PR Award 2024 for a campaign for Milieu Centraal about behavioural change in clothing purchases, as well as an honourable mention from the Gouden Giraffe awards for the event Live Again!.

Leontine Smith with colleagues Madelon and Nancy.

Smith grew up in an entrepreneurial family. Her father ran a successful business and, after retiring, stepped into a jacuzzi in Canada in 1995. He realised these did not yet exist in the Netherlands and decided on the spot to import twelve containers full of them. Unknowingly, he extended his career by another 25 years. That spontaneity, having an idea and simply going for it, is something Smith clearly inherited.

At 27, while working at her first communications agency, she encountered the classic glass ceiling. “The company was mostly women,” she says, “except at management level.” She started Smith Communicatie on her own. “I came up with an idea for a beach pavilion that wanted more visitors in autumn: a golf event on the beach. We built eighteen holes and it became a huge success. People at the municipality of The Hague and in the business world thought: golf on the beach and it even makes the papers? What’s going on here? After that, many opportunities followed to create meaningful events for the city. My goal has always been to shine a spotlight on initiatives that matter.”

The Hague Women’s Days

“It’s hard to imagine now,” Smith says, shaking her head. “When I started, you sent a fax and then literally sat next to it waiting for a journalist to call back. Today, everything can be monitored. Data is available down to the smallest detail. We strongly believe in the combination of PR and live events. It’s a combination you rarely see within a single agency, even though events remain the most powerful way to draw attention to an initiative and generate media coverage.”

That formula proved itself once again with the organisation of the Hague Women’s Days. Smith Communicatie recently managed to generate a full week of attention for the position of women in the city. “When we first organised it in 2015, around nine hundred women attended, many from The Hague South West. We had to reach many of them individually and help bring them out of isolation. There were workshops, talks, food, music and press attention everywhere. It was a real goosebumps moment. That’s when you see why you do this work.”

Smith is also proud of the agency’s work for Stichting het Gehandicapte Kind. The team provided media training for the organisation’s child ambassadors. “I am very aware of how fortunate I am to have a healthy son,” Smith says. “We also support the Ronald McDonald House The Hague and the Hague Foundation for Sports Stimulation for People with Disabilities. In addition, we have been responsible for free publicity for the Circuit Day Racing Against Cancer in Assen for many years. From a young age, my son Max, now 22, has volunteered there. Together, we help raise funds for families with children affected by cancer.”

The clippings wall at Smith Communications shows an overview of projects, clients and moments from recent years.

Seeing opportunities

For an agency known for events, the Covid lockdown was a serious blow. “I had an idea,” Smith says. “Why not organise the first event in the Netherlands after lockdown, on 1 July 2020? For clients and fellow agencies alike.” Together with the teams from Fokker Terminal and Mood4Food, they made it happen, without any budget. Princess Laurentien attended for a short visit. She was so moved by the story of a catering employee and his struggles during the pandemic that she scrapped her prepared speech and instead put him in the spotlight. “It gave us all renewed energy that day. It felt meaningful to be part of that.”

Read also: Where do we like to walk around De Fred? The charm of De Fred: our favourite hotspots

The secret

So what is the secret behind Smith Communicatie’s success, particularly when pitching for government bodies or companies? “In the end, it’s simple,” Smith says. “Everything is about attention. We always speak with people from the target audience beforehand. You need to understand what’s going on, what matters to them and what to take into account. Only then can you create a unique event together, something that doesn’t feel the same every year.”

“Timing is crucial when it comes to media coverage. Journalists need to be approached at the right moment. We genuinely work with them to shape the story, which means understanding what else is happening at the same time. Recently, we organised a talk show for Verpact around the presentation of their public report. During the show, the host held up a newspaper featuring an article secured by our PR team. That’s when you know everything has come together perfectly.”

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