Advertising Age has selected Weber Shandwick No. 7 on its annual “Agency A-List,” making WS the sole PR firm to crack the magazine’s Top Ten ranking of ad agencies.
The list, according to AA, represents “adland’s best.” Those are the agencies that “snagged the coveted accounts, hatched the brightest ideas and, most important, reaped real business results for clients.”
AA called 2014 a “year of change” at WS, as Andy Polansky took the helm and promoted consumer pro Gail Heimann to the president/chief strategy officer position.
The magazine cited WS’ launch of Mediaco among the major highlights of the past year. It noted that WS staffed that brand-publishing outfit with “brand planners, editors, user-experience designers, writers, SEO experts, media planners and producers.”
AA believes that new cadre of staffers is something that was “previously foreign to the PR world.
WS revenues jumped 10 percent in 2014. It added 16 new clients to the roster including Chobani, Kohl’s, PhRMa and Getty Images.
The PR firm, which is owned by Interpublic, called the AA designation “an extraordinary honor that reflects how we are leading the industry, defying the ‘status quo’ and bringing innovative thinking and business solutions” to clients.
Grey is the No. 1 A-List shop. Ad agencies from No. 2 to 10 are Mullen, 360i, Droga5, Anomaly, 72andSunny, WS, 180LA, LatinWorks and R/GA.
DJE Holdings, parent of Edelman and Zeno, launches RUTH as an independent shop named after Ruth Edelman, mental health advocate, wife and longtime business partner of Dan Edelman.
New York City PR firms make up the largest slice of O'Dwyer's 147 firm overall ranking with 33 of 40 in the New York/New Jersey area either calling Manhattan their home or having a presence there.
Subject Matter+Kivvit, which joined forces in May, has rebranded as Avoq, an integrated shop with more than 200 professionals in Washington, New York, Asbury Park (NJ), Miami and Chicago.
While PR pros stationed at in-house comms. teams and those working for agencies share many of the same objectives, they also have markedly different top priorities, according to a recent report.
Edelman is cutting 240 employees or about four percent of its workforce to cope with the cooling down of the PR sector, according to a memo from CEO Richard Edelman.
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