Andy Shearer looked across the coffee shop table at his business partner and questioned their working relationship.
“Was it business love at first sight?” he said with a laugh.
Since meeting Brianne Halverson in 2012 at the Savannah College of Art and Design — where they directed the public relations department — he knew he wanted her alongside if he ever opened his own business.
Halverson also harbored a dream of someday working for herself.
So last November she left SCAD with Shearer and later that month they founded their first business, Orange PR & Marketing.
“We wear a lot of orange, and we’d say, ‘You look great in orange,’” Halverson said.
“Orange is a surprising color. Everyone looks good in orange and no one knows it until you wear it. It warms up the face.”
Because the color is born from mixing energetic red with happy yellow, they named their company after it.
“We want to be pleasant, smart, creative and easy to work with,” Halverson said. “It’s exciting to start something on your own.”
“It’s liberating to work within your own set of rules,” Shearer said. “I can think outside the box because we create the box.”
Well dressed
The duo serve a variety of clients, including authors, publishing houses and chefs.
They also have crowned their business plan with a colorful goal.
They intend to brand Savannah as a fashion destination and pull national consumers into local fashion retail shops.
“People are intrigued by that,” Halverson said. “Savannah is an incubator for talent and special innovations. People need to know there’s more depth to (the city). Savannahians should have their names out there.”
One of their first clients is “Savannah Fashion Week,” a collection of independent Savannah fashion retailers and designers promoting fashion within the Coastal Empire. It opens April 28.
Heather Burge, Savannah Fashion Week president, said a close friend referred the pair to her.
“I asked for insight on finding a local PR and marketing company who understood the heart and soul of fashion in our city and had our vision of highlighting the work of local entrepreneurs and establishing Savannah as a style destination in the South,” Burge said.
Burge said their spirited personalities, creativity and hard-won associations with important people in various industries won her during their first meeting.
“I could tell they understood our vision and could help me execute it and can find unique ways to work around our budget. We are a nonprofit,” she said.
“Because we have connections, we hope to tell fashionistas in New York and Boston that Savannah has a unique perspective in fashion, so come on down,” Shearer said.
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At 53, Shearer wondered whether he could have started a marketing firm fresh out of college.
He doubted it.
“It’s important to have hands-on experience under your belt,” he said. “We did the dirty work and came up the system.”
His resume stretches almost as far as Savannah to his native Long Island.
While working in Manhattan and San Francisco, Shearer helped coordinate such events at New Year’s Eve in Times Square, Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” gala and the 9/11 Memorial unveiling with President Bill Clinton.
Other clients included Lionsgate films; Rolling Stone and National Geographic magazines; the Metropolitan Opera and the “Larry the Cable Guy” film series. He said he also helped launch Madonna’s children’s books.
Early on, he focused on performing arts and promoted Stephen Sondheim, Sam Shepard and Arthur Miller.
He believes his background — along with Halverson’s similar experience — makes their business unique.
While living in Brooklyn, N.Y., Halverson’s publishing career included working in public relations and marketing for HarperCollins Publishers, one of the world’s top publishing companies.
She has handled accounts with best-selling authors Elmore Leonard (“Get Shorty”) and Dennis Lehane (“Mystic River”); celebrity chefs Emeril Lagasse and Guy Fieri; and NBA star Dwyane Wade.
At 34, the New Hampshire native encourages other new businesses to also lean on their past networking contacts.
After meeting at SCAD, the business partners realized they unknowingly were one degree from each other for years.
They had lived in New York City at the same time, they discovered they share a mutual friend and they suspect they attended the same parties.
“I knew immediately we had the same goals and values,” Shearer said. “It’s important we know we’ll run our business ethically.”