San Francisco Agency appoints Sami Stormbom and Theo Salvesen as new partners
San Francisco welcomes Sami Stormbom and Theo Salvesen as new partners in the agency. The move follows a period of growth for the Helsinki tech PR agency, with a significant revenue increase and several new hires in the first months of 2026.
Helsinki, Finland (March 10, 2026) San Francisco Agency, one of the leading tech PR and communications agencies in the Nordics, has appointed directors Sami Stormbom and Theo Salvesen as new partners. These appointments follow a year of consistent growth in 2025 and a record-breaking start to 2026, with January marking the agency’s all-time highest monthly revenue.
Primary growth drivers for 2025 and beyond include a rising demand for earned media, strategic storytelling, and high-quality coverage, all of which serve as essential pillars for AI searchability. As the volume of automated and generic content on the internet increases, more companies are prioritizing high-authority media presence to increase credibility and get a competitive edge. Additionally, the agency has seen an influx of international clients, with growth peaking at 70% year-over-year in January.
"The market is moving back to the basics of trust," says Reetta Ilo Gilbert, CEO of San Francisco. "Our recent growth shows that companies are understanding the importance of earned media visibility in the age of AI search engines and times when it’s hard to trust what you read on the internet. Traditional media can still offer that trustworthy source of information and news. I am very excited to appoint Sami and Theo as partners, as they both bring invaluable insights into our operations and growth in Finland and in the Nordics."
Sami Stormbom has 15 years of agency experience across PR, communications, and thought leadership. He focuses especially on helping clients in the Finnish and English-speaking markets. Sami also leads the agency’s ongoing offering development. Theo Salvesen joined San Francisco Agency in 2022, with a specialization in English-language and Nordic market communications. In addition to client consulting, he leads the agency’s ongoing expansion into the Nordic markets.
San Francisco’s growth aligns with data from Gartner, which predicts that PR and earned media budgets will double by 2027. This shift is driven by the rise of large language models (LLMs) and generative engine optimization (GEO). As conversational AI increasingly replaces traditional search engines, brand visibility depends on being cited as a trusted source by AI models.
The agency’s expansion into the Nordic tech sector includes work with Chalmers Ventures, Adsorbi, and Ironic Biotech in Sweden, as well as several companies such as Salesscreen, Vev, and Casi in the Norwegian market.
In addition to the new partners, San Francisco has hired three communications specialists: Aino Keskitalo, Katja Mäenpää, and Erika Kuorikoski. In 2025, San Francisco Agency served 120 clients from 10 different countries, and they received more than 5,400 media hits in a year.
Reetta Ilo Gilbert, CEO
San Francisco Agency
reetta@sanfrancisco.fi
San Francisco Agency
San Francisco Agency is an international communications and PR agency headquartered in Helsinki. The agency also includes the software company Valosan. The company's values are honesty, curiosity, and positive impact, and its vision is to help its clients build trust and awareness through strong media relationships and work with people who share the agency's values.
In 2025, its over 120 clients from 10 different countries got more than 5,400 media hits. The agency currently maintains a Net Promoter Score of 76, according to recent client feedback. San Francisco Agency has also won multiple awards in the past three years, including Nordic PR Agency of the year, three years in a row the best B2B launch of the year in the Finnish Comms Awards, the best PR consultant of the year award[1][2], as well as Bronze Lion in Cannes, and Grand One awards with two honorary remarks.
For more information, visit www.sanfrancisco.fi.
