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Public relations firms recorded a 3.8 percent increase in combined 2025 fee income to $4.8B, according to the 140 independent PR firms ranked by O’Dwyer’s. Total employment fell 3.3 percent to 21,556.
In the Top Ten group, financial firms ICR (+20.5 percent) and Prosek Partners (+17.6 percent) posted the biggest gains in fee income.
Zeno (-8.6 percent) charted the biggest declines. FINN Partners was flat.
Edelman Slips Below $1B Revenues Mark
Edelman reported a 3.6 percent decline in global revenues to $950M as the No. 1 firm’s flagship US region dropped 8.1 percent to $541M.
Richard Edelman’s firm also took hits in the healthcare (down 7.0 percent) and food & beverage (-10.7 percent) sectors.
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| Richard Edelman |
The technology group proved a winner as revenues rose 7.7 percent, following by financial services, which was up 5.0 percent.
The firm gained momentum as the year went on. During the second-half, Edelman chalked up more than 30 new global wins with combined revenues over $30M. That includes 17 wins in the US representing almost $25M in revenues.
On the new business front, Edelman added The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, AMD, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Seagate in the US, TD Bank in Canada, 3M in Latin America, and the West Kowloon Culture District Authority.
The Edelman Trust Barometer continues to be a successful piece of IP in the marketing services industry.
The 2025 Barometer identified “grievance” as a key concern, while the 2026 version rolled out in January, focused on “insularity,” a theme that helped shape the conversation in Davos.
The Edelman Trust Institute held summits in London and New York and had bylines in Nature, Harvard Business Review and TIME.
The key question: will Edelman once again crack the $1B in annual revenue mark in 2026, as it first did in 2023 when it racked up $1.1B in fee income?
‘Era of Unprecedented Human Potential’
Ruder Finn CEO Kathy Bloomgarden said a highlight of 2025 was moving into an era of unprecedented human potential, where AI and technology are expanding how we think, communicate, create, and connect like never before.
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| Kathy Bloomgarden |
“For integrated marketing and communications, this is redefining not just how we reach audiences, but how influence itself is built,” she said. “What excites me most about this shift is the scale of opportunity it is creating for all of us.”
Her firm approached the year with a clear mindset: adaptability as a strategy. It invested early in AI and emerging technologies, embedding innovation across the business, to elevate creativity, sharpen insights, and deliver more meaningful impact for our clients.
RF launched platforms like rf.StoryLab, rf.Voices, and rf.aio 2.0 to reflect how storytelling and engagement are evolving.
“Today brands are communicating not only with people, but with the systems that shape how information is discovered and decisions are made,” said Bloomgarden. “We brought this offering to life for our client AMD through Void Run, a fully AI-generated cinematic film resulting in record developer engagement, which was without a doubt a highlight for Ruder Finn in 2025.”
RF expanded its global footprint and deepened its ability to bring culturally intelligent, locally relevant solutions to clients worldwide.
“Taken together, 2025 represented a year where Ruder Finn didn’t just respond to change, it operationalized it, advancing its capabilities, empowering its people, and delivering new forms of impact for clients around the world,” said Bloomgarden.
RF posted a 7.2 percent jump in net income to $203M in 2025. That performance moved it ahead of Finn Partners for the No. 5 spot in O’Dwyer’s rankings.
G&S Navigates, Clarifies, Drives Impact
G&S Integrated Marketing Communications Group posted a 3.2 percent rise in net income to $31.3M, making it No. 25 on the O’Dwyer’s rankings list
In today’s competitive landscape, chief growth officer Steve Halsey said communications is less about amplification and more about helping organizations navigate, clarify and drive impact.
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| Steve Halsey |
The firm operates as a multi-agency platform, bringing together G&S Business Communications and MorganMyers, a G&S Agency, under a shared strategic direction, while maintaining distinct market focus.
“This structure enables both deep sector expertise and flexible team deployment, an increasingly critical advantage for clients facing multifaceted challenges,” said Halsey.
In 2025, GS IMCG achieved record revenue, surpassing continuing multiple consecutive years of growth driven by new client wins and organic expansion across priority sectors.
At the same time, it has sustained investment in new capabilities, strengthening its appeal to both Fortune 500 companies and high-growth innovators.
GS IMCG is also evolving beyond traditional agency models, expanding its role as a strategic growth partner. “The firm is increasing its focus on upstream advisory, integrated delivery and outcome-based engagement models aligned to business impact, reflecting how clients now define value,” said Halsey.
It continues to advance the integration of AI and data across its work and operations, alongside emerging disciplines such as Generative Engine Optimization, helping ensure client narratives remain visible and credible in an AI-driven ecosystem.
“With deep expertise in complex, regulated B2B and B2B2C sectors, GS IMCG is focused on helping organizations turn complexity into clarity and strategy into action,” said Halsey.
Real Chemistry Celebrates 25th Anniversary
Real Chemistry CEO Shankar Narayanan reported a 14 percent growth to $560M in 2025, which was the first full-year since the spinoff of Swoop.
“We’re entering our 25th anniversary year in one of our strongest positions yet, with every part of our business growing,” he said. “Our performance reflects a model built specifically for the healthcare and life sciences industry—integrating AI-powered data and insights, precision media strategy and creative, medical, influencer and communications execution at scale.”
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| Shankar Narayanan |
Real Chemistry continues to invest in talent and technology to help clients move faster and more efficiently with measurable impact for the providers, patients, and caregivers they serve.
During 2025, it acquired Spring & Bond and Greater Than One to bolster the ability to connect data, media, creativity and technology into fully integrated, end-to-end solutions for clients worldwide.
The San Francisco-based firm expanded its global footprint by opening hub offices in Munich, Zurich and Dubai.
Narayanan said Real Chemistry isn’t just growing, it’s growing stronger. “Our commitment to long-term partnerships and innovating alongside our clients to deliver what they need to thrive in an increasingly complex market ensures that we don’t just win business-we also keep it.”
Coyne Stresses Independence, Speed, Results
President John Gogarty said while much of the industry wrestled with uncertainly, Coyne PR “leaned into what has always set us apart: independence, speed and a relentless focus on results.”
The Jersey firm, which recorded $35.2M in 2025 revenues, hauled in high-profile brands such Arm & Hammer, Pret A Manger, OxiClean, Avis Budget Group and TheraBreath.
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| John Gogarty |
Its healthcare practice saw significant growth, supporting industry leaders such as Pacira BioSciences, Bausch Health, Labcorp Diagnostics and Otsuka. “These aren’t just wins on paper, they’re partnerships built on trust, performance and the ability to navigate complexity,” noted Gogarty.
For Coyne PR, it was perspective rather than performance that defined 2025. “We made strategic investments in artificial intelligence, analytics and Generative Engine Optimization because the rules of visibility have changed, he said. “It’s no longer enough to earn coverage. Brands now have to show up accurately in the answers machines generate.”
The future of communications isn’t about choosing between media or technology, according to Gogarty. “It’s about owning both. In 2025, Coyne didn’t just adapt to that reality, we helped define it.”
Values Drive Finn Partners
Now in its 15th year, Finn Partners remains unwavering in its commitment to be a values-driven firm for talented professionals driving value for clients, according to CEO Peter Finn.
In 2025, Finn Partners invested with discipline to meet the seismic changes in technology and client needs, demonstrating that independence, a united culture, and long-term thinking are competitive advantages in uncertain times.
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| Peter Finn |
The firm maintained revenues of nearly $200M with a balanced mix of long-term client partnerships and more than 200 new client engagements across all industry sectors.
“Our client retention rate stands among the industry’s highest at 88 percent, reflecting the trust built with clients,” noted Finn. “Our employee retention rate is 82 percent, which includes more than 250 colleagues with more than a decade at Finn Partners – many from our founding in 2011 – a testament to a culture where expertise is developed, valued and retained.”
Finn Partners enjoys strong positions in sectors that define today’s global economy: health, technology, travel, consumer marketing, financial services, legal and professional services, the arts, and education.
Its practices shape narratives, advance thought leadership and deliver measurable impact for clients operating at the intersection of innovation and societal need.
The New York-based firm accelerated investments in technologies and innovation.
AI was brought to every agency team member, along with a proprietary agency AI platform, AIristole, that equips client teams to enhance narrative development and audience impact as well as uncover and anticipate risk, interpret fast-moving information environments, and respond with precision.
“We unveiled CANARY for CRISIS, an immersive crisis platform that helps clients contemporize their approach and agility in addressing modern issues and crises,” said Finn. “The platform deepens the agency’s ability to pair audience insights with human expertise to enable better-informed decision-making in a high-speed, high-stakes communications landscape.”
Finn said his firm operates in 2026 with confidence, strengthened by its smart and collaborative culture, knowledge and ability to help clients lead in a rapidly evolving world.
ICR releases a report that says the SPAC IPO market has been trending upward—and is likely to stay on that track... Washington Women in PR is sponsoring an April 15 event that looks at how women can change the dynamics that often keep them in lower-visibility positions through strategic self-advocacy and organizational awareness... Life Science Cares Boston, an organization supported by LaVoieHeathScience, will convene leaders, employees and partners from across the life sciences industry for its annual Impact Breakfast on April 13 at the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport.
Bell Yard Communications and Kysen PR, London-based firms that focus on legal market and litigation PR, are merging. The combined firm will operate as Bell Yard Kysen Communications... FINN Partners launches Travel with Tastemakers, a global report that looks at more than 25 destinations through the eyes of the creatives who shape them... Baker Public Relations, a woman-owned agency based in Albany with offices in Pittsburgh, PA and St. Petersburg, FL, rebrands as The Baker Agency. 
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PAN consolidates its AI visibility research and best practices into the AI Credibility Hub... The Door, the integrated PR and marketing subsidiary of Dolphin, opens an office in Miami... Collins + Co., of Baltimore expands its operations with an office in Denver, led by chief of creative Carli Cohen and VP of marketing Melissa Novitski... The Global Risk Advisory Council is hosting an April 14 webinar that will look at how executives and organizations in the philanthropy sector can navigate this time of unprecedented risk. 
