Natalia Kholod

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the agency has not stopped working for a single day (according to SASSES, in March 2022, about 40% of companies in the creative industries market stopped working). In 2022, the number of WARTO employees increased by 45%. The team is actively expanding.

“My experience as an entrepreneur and PR strategist convinced me that losses can turn into growth. When something is destroyed, you can build something new,” says Natalia Kholod.

In 2022, WARTO became a finalist for the Effie Awards Europe.

In early March 2022, as part of its social responsibility strategy, the agency announced its readiness to provide pro bono communication assistance to businesses: 24 Ukrainian and international brands contacted WARTO in 55 days. The agency’s team placed more than 370 materials about clients’ brands in the media, Facebook communities, Telegram channels and news publics, which resulted in more than 40 million total coverage.

In 2023, the WARTO team became an ambassador of Ukraine at the annual conference of the Association of Independent Agencies AMIN EMEA and presented the creative business of Ukraine and Ukraine to advertising and communication agencies from 12 European countries.

“During the war, the mission of business is to keep the economy going, to be an example and support. To do this, we need to communicate. The axiom “doing what has always worked” has lost its relevance, so we decided to help those who are working for the home front and the frontline to adjust their PR strategies to new challenges,” comments Natalia Kholod.

Together with UNIDO, the WARTO team has developed a training program “Communications in Time of War” for government agencies and business associations. This is a set of online webinars on how the war has affected communications, work with the media and social networks, and practical advice on how to change communications. For each institution that joined the program, the agency’s experts prepared personalized checklists with tips on external and internal PR.

Natalia Kholod is an ambassador of women’s leadership in Ukrainian business and a guest speaker at Superwoman conferences.

“Drastic actions should always be taken quickly, but in a balanced manner. For Ukrainian businesses, this is a window of opportunity to open up and take a place in the domestic market that seemed unattainable for them. It is difficult for large international mastodon companies to quickly reconfigure, while Ukrainian companies can adapt to changes more quickly. This is the moment when the flexibility of decision-making determines whether a company will survive the war or not.”

“When I realized that I should now be guided not by the indicators I had before the war, but by the ambitions I have now, it became much easier to make management decisions.”

“For a business to be successful, the owner must allow himself and others the right to make mistakes.”

“Employees are the main capital of a business, so internal communications play a particularly important role today. Attention to employees and their mental health is a priority in the current situation.” In 2022, the agency hired a psychological coach. Natalia says that this was an important decision for the team, which helped them respond to any stressful situations in a timely manner.