The thing with PR is that it seems to be changing all the time. If I compare your story with the story of my former boss and the story of a friend and my own story, it all seems different.
My ex boss hired a lawyer and put together a separate portfolio showcasing photos of all his contributions to Thai society. I did something similar and it was the first thing the IO threw into the bin.
My friend didn’t use any lawyer or agent, same as I didn’t. But his company had an experienced immigration person who helped him, and the name and reputation of his company may also have helped. Both my ex boss and my friend had to wait several years for their approval.
I didn’t use a lawyer or agent and my company’s HR lady suspected that this was the reason why the IO let me jump through hoops. Although she applied the exact checklist as per their website, she had very specific requests for many items on that list, many of which seem ridiculous, such as hand drawing the map of office and home; not having my gf in photos; having an arbitrary number of employees on the photos even though it was during Covid.
Other than this and the sheer amount of paperwork needed from my company, I thought my process was pretty easy and straightforward and my application got approved in less than a year or so.
