A big welcome to the 2015 edition of the Prolific North Top 50 Integrated Agencies, the definitive list of the North’s leading advertising, marketing, integrated, sales and communications agencies.
Once again, this initiative is published in association with Better Placed and is supported by Google and Mustard Research.
The Top 50 Integrated Agencies initiative complements Prolific North’s other definitive rankings of the region’s leading PR Agencies, Digital Agencies, Top 100 Brands, Prolific Northerners and Top In-house Communicators.
Unlike most agency rankings, the Prolific North ranking is wholly independent and is anchored on financial information taken from Companies House, supplemented by additional information provided by an overwhelming majority of the agencies contacted.
The ranking is predicated on a formula which examines a variety of factors including shareholder funds and/or balance sheets, turnover, pre-tax profits and headcount. Because roughly only one third of the agencies file full accounts (over £6.5m turnover), part of our agreement with companies providing confidential information is that we will not itemise or publicise their individual financials.
Agencies were not offered the option to be included or not.
This does mean that certain agencies may appear – usually – lower in the ranking than many observers might have expected but offering agencies the option to opt out rather than report on a one-off disappointing year would dilute the definitive nature of the list.
In total, we have engaged over 130 agencies and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the agencies – whether they are included or not – for their time and attention in helping to create this unique financial snapshot of Northern marketing services excellence.
Once again we would like to thank Better Placed for its support of this initiative.
Mustard Research managed and delivered the research, and we’d also like to thank the financial reporting company Fame BvD for providing a wealth of financial data to underpin the initiative. Any queries about the data used should be directed to Jo at jo.iaconianni@mustard-research.com.
And finally Google itself which is as keen as we are to see more original high quality content on the web and whose growing Manchester office looks after the North – and indeed beyond.
For the third year running, McCann Manchester come out on top, ahead of WRG once again, with Sheffield agency Jaywing this year taking the third spot.
Leeds-based Intermarketing Agency climbs five places to this year’s number seven, meaning the top 10 is again a pretty even split between agencies on both sides of the Pennines.
Take a look at the full list below:
The Prolific North Top 50 Integrated Agencies 2015
| # | Company name | North of England office locations | Staff Count 2015 | Key Clients 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McCann Manchester | Manchester | 368 | Aldi, nPower, Harveys, Shire Pharmaceuticals, CrossCountry Trains, Timberland, Warner Leisure |
| 2 | WRG | Manchester | 129 | HSBC, AstraZeneca, Peelports, HP, Shell |
| 3 | Jaywing | Sheffield, Leeds | 280 | PepsiCo (brands include Pepsi Max, 7Up, Doritos, Walkers, Naked Fruit Juices, Mountain Dew), Castrol BP, E.ON UK, first direct and Pets at Home |
| 4 | Havas Lynx | Manchester | 215 | Astra Zeneca, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Astellas, Eli Lilly & Co |
| 5 | Home | Leeds | 155 | Jet2, B&Q, ASDA, HiFX, JD Williams Group, Mira, Interflora |
| 6 | Brass | Leeds | 123 | GSK, Ribena, Yorkshire Building Society, Leeds Beckett University, Hammonds Furniture Ltd |
| 7 | Intermarketing | Leeds | 110 | adidas, Bupa Global, RSA, Parkdean, Virgin Trains East Coast |
| 8 | Momentum Instore | Tytherington | 99 | Boots, Sainsbury’s, L’Oreal, Homebase, B&Q |
| 9 | Fresh | Cheadle | 86 | The Co-operative, Dixons Carphone, DFS, Santander, Hyundai |
| 10 | CreativeRace | Leeds | 170 | ASDA, Greggs, DFS, Coral, Halfords |
| 11 | MB Advertising & Marketing Ltd | Sheffield | 68 | Pentagon Motor Group, Marshall Motor Group, Robins & Day Ltd (Peugeot Motor Company), Desira Motor Group, Drive Motor Group |
| 12 | TBWA\Manchester | Manchester | 85 | Sofaworks, Merlin Entertainments, Smyths, MBNA, rentalcars.com |
| 13 | Elmwood | Leeds | 64 | ASDA, Ann Summers, Seven Seas |
| 14 | BJL | Manchester | 80 | ASDA, Swinton Insurance, Ronseal, Subaru, Metrolink |
| 15 | Hangar Seven | Macclesfield, Leeds | 92 | Asda, DFS, Alliance Boots, Britvic, John Lewis Partnership |
| 16 | Media Agency Group | Manchester | 50 | Jelly Belly UK, Watchguard Technologies, St Pete/Clearwater, Saudia, Liverpool John Lennon Airport |
| 17 | Savvy | Leeds | 80 | Morrisons, Adidas, Britvic, Warburtons, Kerry Food |
| 18 | Refinery | Manchester | 97 | Magnet, The Co-operative, Manchester Arndale, JD Williams, Homebase |
| 19 | Propaganda | Leeds | 40 | Ann Summers, The Car People, Clipper Logistics |
| 20 | SteinIAS | Bollington | 65 | Juniper Networks, Ingredion, Trelleborg, BP Castrol, Merck |
| 21 | Principles | Leeds | 68 | First Direct/HSBC, Halfords, McCain, Vertu, Butterkist |
| 22 | Love Creative | Manchester | 50 | Johnnie Walker, General Mills, N Brown plc, Virgin Atlantic, Adidas |
| 23 | The Hub | Leeds | 43 | Weber Barbecues, HSL, Strachan Furniture, Somfy, Interflora |
| 24 | Delineo | Manchester | 55 | Aldermore Bank, Timberland, Tech Data, Gazprom Energy, Bako |
| 25 | Photolink | Manchester | 89 | John Lewis, Regis Salons, Tesco, Very, Littlewoods, Argos, Homebase, Marks & Spencer |
| 26 | Blue Chip | Manchester | 28 | Kellogg’s, O2, PZ Cussons |
| 27 | Live & Breathe | Leeds | 53 | World Duty Free Group, Morrisons, Wyevale Garden Centres, Peroni, Birds Eye |
| 28 | Gecko | Leeds | 40 | NFU Mutual, Peninsula, People’s Postcode Lottery, Eurocamp |
| 29 | Creative Marketing Services | Leeds | 19 | Adjustamatic, Braid, NHS, Network Rail, Arcadia |
| 30 | Drummond Central | Newcastle | 35 | Bet365, Newcastle City Council, Warmseal, Stoke City FC, DB Regio |
| 31 | Uber | Sheffield | 27 | Topman, ebuyer.com, tombola, The Perfume Shop, Harveys Furniture, BAFTA |
| 32 | FPP | Newcastle and Leeds | 30 | Kinder, P&G, Anchor |
| 33 | Cirrus | Wilmslow | 35 | Redrow, Provident Financial, Network Rail, 3 (Hutchison 3G), HSBC |
| 34 | Turn Key | Leeds | 50 | Hammerson, Accoya, BP, Cloud Nine, Johnson & Johnson, Great Lengths |
| 35 | driven | Wilmslow | 23 | Provident Financial Group, webuyanycar.com, Blue Diamond Almond Growers, Vimto Soft Drinks, Dr Wolff |
| 36 | Everything Different | Newcastle | 42 | Land Securities, Carpetright, Barker & Stonehouse, L’Oreal, University of Sunderland |
| 37 | A&P | Preston | 48 | Redrow Homes, DAF Trucks, Furness Building Society, Breville, Princes |
| 38 | MC2 | Manchester | 38 | Deloitte, NCC Group, Mondelez International, Bright Futures Educational Trust, Krispy Kreme |
| 39 | Uniform | Liverpool | 42 | Amtico, Linn, Canary Wharf Group, Unilever, Belling/Stoves |
| 40 | Foundry Communicaitons | Altrincham | 25 | Merseyrail, PGL Holidays, Albermarle Bond, Kumho Tyres, Casillero del Diablo, Crawford Healthcare |
| 41 | Bluestorm | Hull | 27 | Hopwood Hall College, Coachman Caravans, Hull City Council, Greenport, AAK, Turner Price |
| 42 | Parker Design | Northwich | 25 | AstraZeneca, Thomson Reuters, United Utilities, Sage, Silicon Valley Bank |
| 43 | USP Creative | Liverpool | 24 | Redrow, Unilever, Weightmans, DWF, HBF |
| 44 | One (formerly One Communications) | Manchester | 38 | United Utilities, Hoover, Euler Hermes, Knauf Insulation, Alstom |
| 45 | Bloom | Leeds | 32 | ITV, Sky, Virgin Delta, KPMG, Jewsons |
| 46 | Strawberry | Hull | 36 | Beal Homes, Qwiddle, Storetec, Hugh Rice, Siemens |
| 47 | Dinosaur | Manchester | 23 | The Co-operative Food, The Co-operative Bank, The Gym Group, Hobbycraft, Well |
| 48 | Cheetham Bell | Manchester | 42 | Magnet, John West, Siemens, Dreams, Jersey Telecom |
| 49 | Heckford Advertising | Preston | 28 | Nichols PLC, tomy, Lanchashire CC, Wainhomes, Sandcastle, Vanguard, Winfields Outdoors |
| 50 | Oakbase | Wilmslow | 26 | TJ Hughes, Bunzl Group, Wincanton, BASF, Lakeland |
If you’re an agency on this list, embed the below badge on your site to let your clients and other website visitors know (click the share icon in the top right for the embed code):
See our other research tables:
The Prolific North Top 50 PR Agencies
The Prolific North Top 50 Digital Agencies
The Prolific North Top 100 Brands
