The Prolific North Top 50 PR Agencies 2013

The Prolific North Top 50 PR Agencies 2013 compilation is the definitive list of the North’s leading PR agencies. Unlike most PR agency rankings which rely primarily on the agencies submitting information about the number of their fee earners or fee income, the Prolific North ranking is anchored on financial information taken from Companies House.

The initiative is published in association with theEword.

To go straight to the table, please scroll down the page.

(Update: 19/7/2013: Mere PR sold to BJL.)

Working together with Mustard Research, one of the UK’s leading independent research companies, and the financial reporting company fame BVD, we looked at the accounts of over 200 PR agencies which are either based in or have offices in the North.

These were ultimately whittled down to the 50 in this ranking.

We did not give agencies the option of being included or not.

In addition to the data we  took from Companies House, we also asked agencies to submit information on their turnover and pre-tax profits/losses over the past two years, however, as none of the companies on the list – excluding agencies which are subsidiaries of international groupings – file full accounts (i.e. sales of more than £6.5m) we agreed not to publish the financial data which many prefer to keep private.

Inclusion – or not – in the ranking was also dictated by whether the agencies were primarily PR or otherwise. Hence some PR offerings, such as those from Amaze in Manchester or McCanns in Prestbury weren’t included because although they do also offer independent PR services, they are largely included in a marketing mix by their parent operations. So too is MC2 which advised us it is these days a marketing services rather PR agency with the the majority of its income derived from non PR activities.

Because the ranking is determined primarily by historical Companies House data, companies who have been through financial restructuring, such as Paver Smith, will find their ranking appears not to recognise their current turnover but assuming they continue to progress, over the next two to thee years as they submit figures to Companies House, their ranking is likely to improve markedly.

Whilst undertaking this research, we were often surprised by just how profitable some of the agencies are, making chunky six figure profits while often employing just a few staff and these agencies’ high profitability typically propelled them up the rankings. The Public Affairs Company of Leeds and Triangle of Manchester are two such examples. It seems that many of the medium-sized agencies prefer to keep full time staff to a minimum and employ more freelancers where possible.

And keep their overheads as tight as possible.

The figures also reflect the realities of the economic climate in that some of the largest agencies in the North, Kenyon Fraser and Acceleris to name just two, who have previously generated the majority of their income by servicing the public sector, are perhaps not as highly placed as some might have expected.

It is also interesting to note that although Weber Shandwick (part of the NYSE-quoted Interpublic group) sits atop the ranking, the majority of the leading agencies are controlled by owner/managers based in the North.

We are planning to hold a special invitation-only event to celebrate this initiative in the autumn and we are delighted that Barclays Bank in Manchester has agreed to host the informal event. More details will be announced in due course and theEword, who have supported this initiative, will be managing the event on our, Mustard’s and Barclays’ behalf.

In the meantime, Mustard and Prolific North would like to thank the 200 or so agencies who we have been liaising with over the past four months for their time and patience supplying us with information and data and responding to our questions where required.

The Prolific North Top 50 PR Agencies initiative will become an annual initiative and in future years, as our historical database grows, we will be able to track ever more detailed information about this dynamic sector of the North’s marketing and media community.

The Prolific North Top 50 PR Agencies 2013