THE ANNUAL TOP SPECIALIST PR AGENCIES BY SIZE THE FASTEST GROWING PR AGENCIES 2013

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IntroductionWelcome to the first Annual Top Specialist PR Agencies Report, and the fastest growing Agencies Report.

This report was created in response to reader feedback from last year’s Top 25 PR Agencies Report. As well as knowing who the big agencies are, people in the PR industry wanted to know who the biggest specialists, and fastest growing agencies are – this report helps tell that story. This report could be called “not the multi-nationals” – it is the Australian and specialist PR agencies that don’t make the Top 25 list by size (revenue). The criteria for inclusion in this report is that agencies must be independently owned; that is, owned by the Directors, and not by a large multinational. This excludes many agencies, who have full or part ownership by a global/overseas owned agency.

Thank you to the PR agencies who participated in this report; most did; however, some did not. The PRIA did not participate in this report, and neither did the Communications Council. In the absence of official data from an agency, a number of different methods were used to estimate revenue. The agreement with the agencies is that revenue figures won’t be published. Any mistakes are mine, and will be corrected immediately.

This report is the only independent survey ranking of specialist PR agencies in Australia.

We’ve split the report into two categories:• The Top 5 Fastest Growing PR agencies, based on percentage growth in revenue year-on-year and,

• The Top 25 Boutique or Specialist Agencies (split into categories), based on top line revenue. Note; agencies are listed in a particular category if they derive more than 50% of revenue from that category.

Thank you to our advertisersThank you to the advertisers in this year’s report: VIVA! Communications, SenateSHJ, MediaConnect and Radio Release. Your support enables this research to be undertaken, and ensures this remains a free report. Thank you.

If you have any suggestions or ideas for next year’s report, please contact me.

Kind regardsGlen

ContactTel: +61 (0)2 9489 9010Email: glen@theprreport.com Subscribe to our newsletter and industry reports here: www.theprreport.com

Glen FrostPublisher, The PR Report

+61 (2) 9968 3741

VIVACOMMUNICATIONS.COM.AU/DIGITAL

VIVA! COMMUNICATIONS

@VIVACOMMS

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At a glance: 2013Largest Independent PR agency

Rowland Largest Independent PR agency in Consumer/FMCG

Liquid Ideas

Largest Independent PR agency in Fin PR/IR

BlueChip CommunicationLargest Independent PR agency in Government Relations

Crosby TextorFastest growing Independent PR agency

F4 Consulting

Largest Independent PR agency in Health/wellbeing

Cube PR

GROUNDED IN SMART THINKING.

SenateSHJ is an award-winning independent consultancy tackling complex communication problems and delivering great outcomes for clients. We specialise in corporate, healthcare, change and government communications as well as advocacy, issues and reputation management.

We believe clear communications strategies, combined with smart thinking, compelling messaging and a little bit of creativity can play a major role in addressing all manner of issues and opportunities.

It is what we’re passionate about.

www.senateshj.com.au

+61 2 9256 9700 (Sydney) +61 3 8643 7900 (Melbourne) +64 4 471 5370 (Wellington) +64 9 353 6620 (Auckland)

Agency

Independents: Top 5 Independent PR agencies by size: 20132013

1 Rowland

2 Hausmann

3 n2n (incl Fuel)

4 SenateSHJ

5 Sefiani

Agency

Health/wellbeing: Top 5 Independent PR agencies by size: 20132013

1 Cube Public Relations

2 VIVA! Communications

3 Ethical Strategies

4 Crossman Communications

5 Palin Communications

Consumer/FMCG: Top 5 Independent PR agencies by size: 20132013 Agency

1 Liquid Ideas

2 Thrive PR + Communications

3 Undertow Media

4 Trish Nicol PR

5 Stellar Concepts

Fin PR/IR: Top 5 Independent PR agencies by size: 20132013 Agency

1 BlueChip Communications(*)

2 Magnus Investor Relations + Corporate Comms

3 FCR Communications

4 Honner Media

5 BBS Communications(* includes acquisition of PR clients from Evolution Media Group)

Govt Relations: Top 5 Independent PR agencies by size: 20132013 Agency

1 Crosby Textor

2 Cox Inall Communications

3 Royce Communications(*1)

4 Crook Group(*2)

5 Capital Hill Advisory *1 includes Royce’s work for client Catholic Church/Cardinal Pell as GR work

*2 includes Crook Group’s work for client Palmer United Party/Clive Palmer as GR work

High Growth: Top 5 Independent PR agencies by size: 20132013 Agency

1 F4 Consulting

2 GSG Counsel

3 Espresso Communications

4 Fifty Acres

5 Dawn ‘Till Dusk PR

www.radiorelease.com.au*Top PR Agencies 2012 & 2013 (The PR Report)

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Australia’s Top PR Agencies use Radio Release®

How to select a PR agency (that’s right for you)

Which agency should you pick? Due to the sensitive, and confidential, nature of PR agency work, it’s rarely (intentionally) discussed in public. PR agencies are chosen for a variety of reasons; some emotional, some logical; the intention of this report is to help move the decision making to the latter, and rely less on the former. However, never forget that a CEO who hasn’t worked in PR will often chose an agency based on a personal referral from a friend (or another CEO), or because they can name drop (“I chose XXX PR because they do the PR for Google”). Selecting a PR agency is like buying any other service (legal, accounting etc); prestige matters.

Managing reputation is a skillSelecting an agency that’s right for you should be a considered process. Hopefully this section offers a helpful guide as to how you can research the PR agency sector so that when you are asked to suggest an agency, you can counsel your CEO on the options available.

How you don’t want to select a PR agency... Sometimes a PR agency is selected because of a friendship, and without a competitive pitch. This can also happen when a company is at the start of a crisis. This is a dilemma for company CEOs who have limited experience in selecting PR agencies. At the time of a crisis, a CEO doesn’t have the time to make a (long) considered decision, and doesn’t want to be seen shopping around for PR help; discretion is key. Always handy to have a few names ready...

The Golden Rule: can the PR agency effectively service your business?If you are looking for a PR agency, write a brief and call a pitch. Think about these issues:

1. The key question is always: does the PR agency understand your business, and do they have the staff (skills and availability) to service your business?

2. What are you looking for from a PR agency? Specific expertise or full service?

3. The PR agency will ask a number of questions: “what are you trying to achieve?”, “what is your biggest problem” and “what are your business goals?” – best to have answers ready

4. Are you willing to use a monthly retainer? Do you know how your PR agency will spend this amount each month? (There are plenty of horror stories of agencies taking 50% of the monthly retainer in administration costs; scheduling meetings, writing weekly reports etc)

5. Has the agency won any Awards? Awards are subjective but indicative of great work by an agency, but check that the people who did the work are still in the agency.

6. Who are the staff working your account? You may have an Account Director who meets you ($450 per hour), but is the work being done by a media relations junior ($100 ph) or an intern ($20 ph)?

7. Has there been any legal action against the agency? This is usually an indicator of unethical practices or behaviour. You might be tainted by association.

8. High staff turnover within a PR agency is a warning that all is not well.

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Connect on LinkedIn: Glen Frosthttp://au.linkedin.com/in/glenfrost