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Top 150 PR consultancies

Many agencies saw double-digit growth, giving cause for optimism in 2011

T

he PR industry bounced back in 2010. The average growth rate of PRWeek’s Top 150 agencies in 2010 was 9.24 per cent, but a glance down the table reveals several agencies have comfortably surpassed this figure.

Once again, the Bell Pottinger Group scooped the top spot, adding £7.9m to its fee income in 2010, a growth of 13 per cent. The UK’s largest independent agency Edelman secured a similar growth rate of 12 per cent, while the Engine Group shot up the table, growing by over a third with an extra £6m in fee income.

Further down, PHA Media has grown by nearly half with 47 per cent growth, newer agency PrettyGreen rose by 145 per cent and Mischief PR, which won Agency of the Year at last year’s PRWeek Awards, increased fees by 39 per cent.

Of course, some agencies suffered in the tough economic climate. Agencies affected by the public sector saw declines. Kindred, for example, dropped by 50 per cent and Munro & Forster by 18.

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METHODOLOGY

  • All the figures supplied by agencies have been signed off by the agencies’ auditors or external accountants
  • Some agencies declined to enter figures for the league tables, citing the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We have estimated some of the larger agencies’ fee income. We use a formula agreed with the PRCA and accountants Kingston Smith W1, which has checked all the figures
  • We multiply the agency’s estimated number of fee-earning PR staff by an estimated per-head productivity figure for their sector, as follows:
    City – £280,000
    City and corporate – £165,000
    Healthcare – £110,000
    Generalist – £100,000
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Top 150
Digital
Consumer
Technology
Healthcare
Public Sector
Rank Company Fee income (£k)   Turnover (£k) PR Staff Clients Location
in Top 150   10 09 % change   2010  
1 1 Bell Pottinger Group* 67,818 59,937 13 137,715 440 907 London
2 Brunswick** 53,200 190 London
3 Weber Shandwick 31,800 318 London
4 FD 31,000 188 London
5 5 Edelman 28,777 25,734 12 44,776 298 London
6 Finsbury 25,000 89 London
7 Hill & Knowlton 24,000 240 London
8 8 Freud Communications 23,800 22,454 6 37,022 188 London
9 11 Engine Group 22,252 16,138 38 106,662 195 337 London
10 MS&L Group 20,000 200 - London
11 Ketchum Pleon 18,000 180 London
12 13 Grayling† 17,421 15,370 13 22,482 228 1,041 London
13 9 Citigate Dewe Rogerson 17,207 18,967 -9 21,237 111 341 London
14 16 College Hill 16,730 14,421 16 27,272 178 542 London
15 Fleishman-Hillard 14,000 140 London
16 Fishburn Hedges 13,000 130 London
17 18 The Red Consultancy 11,930 11,722 2 16,126 152 195 London
18 19 Chandler Chicco Companies 10,602 10,642 0 15,340 93 111 London
19 Ogilvy Health PR 10,000 91 London
20 Cohn & Wolfe 9,600 96 London
21 Maitland 9,200 33 London
22 23 Tonic Life Communications†† 9,105 8,503 7 18,985 84 130 London
23 Burson-Marsteller 9,000 90 London
24 25 Exposure 8,632 7,517 15 11,250 100 109 London
25 22 Lansons Communications 8,283 8,651 -4 9,138 83 180 London
26 Porter Novelli 7,900 79 London
27 28 Lexis Public Relations 7,126 7,034 1 11,028 84 77 London
28 35 Four Communications Group 7,037 5,846 20 16,720 124 366 London
29 32 Frank Public Relations 6,829 6,460 6 12,658 60 176 London
30 43 Portland 6,693 5,152 30 6,693 56 114 London
31 Buchanan 6,600 40 London
32 37 Hotwire Group 6,501 5,740 13 8,830 70 170 London
33 39 Brands2Life 6,386 5,587 14 7,934 67 90 London
34 30 The Big Partnership 6,266 6,890 -9 6,443 89 289 Glasgow
35 NE The Communications Store 6,228 4,508 38 5,310 58 109 London
36 Band & Brown 6,000 60 London
37 GolinHarris 5,700 57 London
38 45 Nelson Bostock Group††† 5,600 4,779 17 7,302 64 75 London
39 53 TVC Group 5,431 3,842 41 5,747 42 84 London
40 Euro RSCG Biss Lancaster 5,300 53 London
41 49 3 Monkeys Communications 5,187 4,227 23 7,149 54 54 London
42 41 Freshwater 4,945 5,447 -9 6,486 71 259 Cardiff
43 46 Red Door Communications 4,856 4,573 6 5,560 41 41 London
44 NE Bite Communications 4,732 3,439 38 5,453 53 54 London
45 50 Virgo Health 4,718 4,100 15 6,520 49 57 Surrey
46 Kreab Gavin Anderson 4,600 28 London
47 44 Camargue Group 4,553 4,882 -7 5,600 55 167 London
48 47 Consolidated PR 4,081 4,460 -8 5,776 55 60 London
49 52 Golley Slater Public Relations 4,054 3,930 3 4,533 49 150 Cardiff
50 Ogilvy PR 4,000 40 London
51 60 Octopus Communications Group 3,837 3,408 13 4,527 38 55 Windsor
52 57 Eulogy 3,815 3,622 5 3,815 37 60 London
53 61 PPS Group 3,717 3,373 10 4,192 45 140 London
54 58 Galliard Healthcare Communications 3,622 3,608 0 4,057 23 30 London
55 55 Smarts 3,535 3,778 -6 6,934 56 119 Edinburgh
56 48 Shine Communications 3,523 4,268 -17 6,123 50 34 London
57 29 Kindred Agency 3,496 7,047 -50 8,339 40 49 London
58 Clarion Communications 3,400 34 London
59 64 Hanover 3,388 3,129 8 3,848 38 71 London
60 66 Just::Health PR 3,357 3,005 12 4,878 25 12 London
61 72 Waggener Edstrom Worldwide 3,247 2,769 17 3,247 40 39 London
62 75 The Whiteoaks Consultancy 3,184 2,640 21 3,794 36 55 Surrey
63 84 PHA Media 3,131 2,126 47 3,227 30 126 London
64 63 Speed 3,108 3,157 -2 3,845 36 57 London
65 65 Publicasity 2,992 3,031 -1 4,362 32 72 London
66 81 Salt 2,897 2,296 26 3,324 33 37 London
67 54 The Communication Group 2,851 3,791 -25 2,422 30 55 London
68 67 Colman Getty 2,837 2,934 -3 2,987 35 117 London
69 74 London Communications Agency 2,807 2,664 5 2,864 20 64 London
70 69 Kazoo 2,774 2,876 -4 6,867 36 29 London
71 79 Pegasus Public Relations 2,751 2,421 14 3,610 37 50 Worthing
72 77 Citypress 2,751 2,531 9 2,909 35 50 Manchester
73 62 Munro & Forster Communications 2,717 3,334 -18 4,296 30 44 London
74 76 MC2 2,633 2,608 1 2,636 35 129 Manchester
75 73 Axon Communications 2,617 2,684 -2 3,609 25 47 Surrey
76 NE Purple Public Relations 2,605 2,198 19 3,273 41 92 London
77 88 Cirkle Communications 2,284 1,901 20 3,179 27 29 Beaconsfield
78 NE Interel Consulting UK 2,281 1,959 16 2,316 12 80 London
79 100 Mischief PR 2,269 1,631 39 4,526 34 33 London
80 94 Brazen 2,180 1,780 22 2,658 27 58 Manchester
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