In a world of noise and distraction, the most powerful stories are the ones told in FIRST PERSON
In a world of noise and distraction, the most powerful stories are the ones told in FIRST PERSON
First Person Public Relations is a Seattle-based crisis communications and corporate storytelling firm founded by Will Ludlam, with the sole purpose of helping clients navigate the profound changes impacting public relations:
- Helping clients find and deliver brand voice through compelling stories that engage the audiences that matter the most.
- Providing agency-caliber PR counsel to healthcare, academic, and corporate clients — without the overhead of a big agency.
Services & Sectors
Healthcare
Corporate Narrative & Storytelling
Corporate Narrative & Storytelling
Helping healthcare organizations communicate structural and care-delivery change to patients, employees, and the community.
Corporate Narrative & Storytelling
Corporate Narrative & Storytelling
Corporate Narrative & Storytelling
Higher Education
Corporate Narrative & Storytelling
Crisis Communications & Preparedness
Crisis Communications & Preparedness
Crisis Communications & Preparedness
Crisis Communications & Preparedness
Incident command—based crisis planning, media training, and rapid-response messaging. Leading unified command crisis response, including managing UW Medicine's COVID-19 response.
Internal Engagement
Crisis Communications & Preparedness
Internal Engagement
Executive Coaching
Crisis Communications & Preparedness
Internal Engagement
Workshop Facilitation
Workshop Facilitation
Workshop Facilitation
Team Performance
Workshop Facilitation
Workshop Facilitation
Change Management
Workshop Facilitation
Change Management
Experienced
Leadership
Founding partner Will Ludlam advises Chief Communications Officers on team structure, crisis readiness, and executive messaging, drawing on senior leadership roles at Edelman, Omnicom, WPP, and IPG. As President of Weber Shandwick's West Region, he led a turnaround across Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, adding accounts including Amazon, LinkedIn, and Robinhood, and has led multi-year campaigns improving leadership, account team, and financial performance for more than 20 P&Ls.
Work
First Person's client work spans higher education, healthcare, government, and corporate brands:
- University of Washington: Developed transition messaging and constituency strategy for the UW Huskies' 2024 move to the Big Ten Conference, reaching employees, scholar athletes, students, donors, alumni, and civic leaders.
- Washington State University: Advised on institutional communications and reputation strategy.
- UW Medicine: Served as Public Information Officer for the COVID-19 Unified Command in March 2020, advising the executive team on crisis messaging during the region's outbreak. The response is cited as a model for other health systems.
- City of Seattle, Department of Education and Early Learning: Led messaging and positioning strategy..
- Allensworth Progressive Association: Led messaging and positioning strategy supporting the organization's community and economic development mission.
- PepperBall: Led brand protection and brand-building communications.
- Azira: Led brand protection and brand-building communications.
INSIGHTS
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