8/6/2019 RO100 Overview

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Reputation Online Top 100 PR Age

he response to the launch of thefirst Reputation Online Top 100PR Agencies guide was bothencouraging and revealing.The aim of this guide is to

benchmark the industry in terms of fee income,and evaluate its size. The list, comprising full-service, digital specialists and social mediaagencies, is made up from 80 ranked agencies,10 that couldnt give out financial data due toSarbanes-Oxley, and 10 agencies we considerworth keeping an eye on. We specifically didntput entry criteria in place, since reputationmanagement and online PR have become soingrained in many aspects of marketing. Thelines have not only blurred, but customers haveeffectively torn them up and remodelled themarketing industry into something completelydifferent. So for this Top 100, all agencies thatperceive themselves to be offering online PR

services have been eligible t o enter.Youd be forgiven for expecting the guide tobe jam-packed with boutique agencies. Afterall, theres a perception that such outfits retainand attract the kind of specialist talent requiredto service clients properly. But in fact, almost90% of those included consider themselves tobe full-service agencies. There are clear gaps interms of vertical representation, in healthcareand finance largely, but our list is a strongreflection that many are integrating onlineactivity into a broader service set.

The last 20 of our 100 is divided betweenthose restricted from providing us with figuresand those to keep an eye on. To some extent,weve seen Sarbanes Oxley regulations skewour results and we dont feel that estimatingfees is an appropriate way to include thebigger players in the guide. Weve listed themost prominent agencies affected by this,which have strong digital capabilities and casestudies to boot, after those ranked by income.Weve flagged key clients and achievementsfrom the bigger players, and included some ofthe agencies we believe are producing fantasticwork that helps brands to grow online.

Additionally, weve asked four experts to addsome context to our findings and give theirviewpoints based on our motives for compilingthis guide, and some of its results.

As for those agencies that didnt enter, themost common reason given was that they felttheir billings were too small to accuratelyportray the quality of their work or that theirfees just werent at a level they were happy toshare. Although the barrier to entry is indeedlower than new media ages annual Top 100

tInteractive Agencies guide, thats a 12-year-old table. Its important to remember thatdigital PR is still a young industry. As such,Kerryn Dinsdale, senior PR manager atBarclaycard, discusses its maturity or not, asthe case may be on page 8.

The other response to our guide fromsome (although not as many as expected)was that agencies didnt split billing intotraditional versus digital. This was hearteningbecause we believe that an integratedapproach is the right one. Digital is, after all,

just another way to talk to consumers.Phillip Sheldrake provides his viewpoint on

page 9, talking about taking a more holisticapproach to communications strategy, usinghis own experience across engineering,marketing, PR and technology as a base.

This idea of learning from other disciplinesalso inspired our third contribution from Pete

Goold, managing director of PunchCommunications, who considers thechanging role of what a PR agency isexpected to be able to do for a brand.

Additionally, it was interesting to see thevarying approaches to staff that work ondigital. A large portion of Reputation Onlinesreadership is technically savvy andapproaches digital PR in a way thats usuallyahead of the curve. Thats why some of thelarger agencies in our guide were very clearabout the fact that, although they might havea handful of specialists, the ability to workonline was expected across the board. Wehave, however, asked every entrant toprovide a definite headcount for thoseworking on digital in the UK, which youll inthe table on pages 10-11.

The results of our questions about whichagencies and individual PRs entrants mostrespected revealed fascinating and surprisingresults (see right). Of the 49 agenciesnominated by entrants, 22 were integratedad agencies, which included Wieden+Kennedy (which tops our list alongside WeAre Social), AKQA, BBH, LBi and Poke. Thissuggests that creative campaigns still catchthe eye of PR professionals.

The other type of agency thats noticeablyrespected by our Top 100 entrants is thesocial media agency. Of these, ImmediateFuture, NixonMcInnes and We Are Social allsit within our top five most respected.

Hotwires digital arm, 33 Digital, fares wellall round, with the agency group at numberfour in the Top 100, and its MD by far cited asthe most respected industry figure.

In terms of individuals, StephenWaddington, winner of last years peer-votedGreatest Contribution from an Individualaward at the first Reputation OnlineEffectiveness Awards, came second. MarkBorokowski, a traditional PR man with 100%awareness of digital, according to those whosuggested him, sits in third, with StaniforthsRob Brown and Hill & Knowltons SallyCosterton at fourth and fifth respectively.

Browns involvement with the CIPR andCostertons work at the PRCA have inevitablyraised their profiles, but as we all know,without the nous and credibility to match,respect isnt something that automaticallygoes hand in hand with having a big platformfrom which to speak.

Costertons place as the only female in ourtop five most respected industry figures onceagain raises the issue that although the

number of women in senior PR roles is widelyaccepted to be lower than men, women faroutweigh men in PR as a general rule. This issomething weve covered briefly onReputation Online but will be looking at inmore details over the coming months as wego back to our Top 100 entrants to createsome research on gender split in PR.

Of course, this is an issue for everyindustry. But for PR, where there are so manywomen in grassroots roles being expected totake on more digital work, theres aresponsibility for those in senior roles to actas role models. Since shes not only PRCAchairman,but also CEO of Hill & KnowltonEMEA, we asked Costerton to discuss this inmore detail on page 9.

This is the first time weve created this Top100 PR Agencies list, and were doing so withan open-door policy. Weve ranked purelybased on digital fee income, and no, its not aperfect measure, but its an appropriate placeto start. The important thing to remember isthat shouting the loudest doesnt equate totrust, and it doesnt mean that an agency isgoing to run a strong campaign with goodresults. Avoiding those that are all mouth andno trousers has never been a moreappropriate warning label.

The inaugural Reputation Online Top 100PR Agencies guide was created with thecollaboration of the digital PR industry. Wedlike to thank everyone who took part andlook forward to watching the guide developas an essential companion to new mediaages Top 100 Interactive Agencies andMarketing Services Guide.b

1= Wieden+Kennedy

1= We Are Social

3= NixonMcInnes

3= Frank

5 Immediate Future

6 33 Digita l

7= Dare

7= LBi

MOST RESPECTEDAGENCIES

1 Drew Benvie, 33 Digital2 Stephen Waddington, Speed

3 Mark Borokowski

4 Rob Brown, Staniforth

5 Sally Costerton, Hill & Knowlto

MOST RESPECTEDINDIVIDUALS

DIGITALPR HASGROWN INSUBSTANCEBUT IS STILLGROWING

IN SIZE