THE AGENCY HOLMES RANKINGS REPORT IN2 SABRE AWARDS THE 2017 THE SABRE HOLMES AWARDS REPORT EMEA 2017 The Best Agencies, Campaigns, Influencers and Stories of the Year AGENCY OF THE YEAR IN2 INNOVATION SUMMIT 2017 THE THE INFLUENCE INNOVATOR 100 25 2017 2017 THE GLOBAL EDITION GLOBAL PR SUMMIT 2017 THE “Proving and improving the value of HOLMES public relations” REPORT Paul Holmes The Holmes Group is dedicated to Paul Holmes North America proving and improving the value of Founder & Chair The Holmes Group public relations, by providing [email protected] 271 West 47th Street insight, knowledge and recognition Suite 23-A Arun Sudhaman to public relations professionals. New York, NY 10036 CEO & Editor-in-Chief +1 212 333 2300 The Holmes Group was founded in +852 96187774 2000 by Paul Holmes, publisher and [email protected] Europe CEO, who has more than two decades The Holmes Group Aarti Shah of experience writing about and 6 Sussex Mews West Head of Strategic Partnerships evaluating the public relations W2 2SE & Operations United Kingdom Holmes Report’s delivers — not only +1 510 808 5855 +44 (0)203 238 2048 the most sophisticated reporting and [email protected] analysis on PR trends and issues — Diana Marszalek but also the industry’s most sought- Senior Reporter (New York) The Holmes Report 2017 book after awards and events around the +1 914 450 3462 was designed by 05creative* world. [email protected] Celeste Picco Administrative +1 212 333 2300 [email protected] Patrick Drury Event Manager +1 732 299 1847 [email protected] Annabel Davis +44 (0) 203 238 2048 [email protected] 2 Contents Foreword by Paul Holmes 4 2017 Agencies of the Year - Global 6 2017 Agencies of the Year - North America 23 2017 Agencies of the Year - EMEA 55 2017 Agencies of the Year - Asia-Pacific 95 The Global SABRE Awards 119 The SABRE Awards North America 121 The IN2 SABRE Awards North America 124 The SABRE Awards EMEA 127 The IN2 SABRE Awards EMEA 131 The SABRE Awards Asia-Pacific 133 The IN2 SABRE Awards Asia-Pacific 136 The SABRE Awards South Asia 138 The SABRE Awards Latin America 140 The SABRE Awards Africa 142 2017 Global Creative Index 145 The Influence 100 149 The Influence 100 Insights 155 The Crossover Stars 168 The Rising Stars 170 The Innovator 25 - North America 172 The Innovator 25 - EMEA 175 The Innovator 25 - Asia-Pacific 178 Global Top 250 PR Firms 181 The Events 190 3 Foreword by Paul Holmes The public relations industry found And yet, all of this is happening at a about media relations, opportunities itself at the center of a storm in 2017, time when demand for public for growth will be limited. a year that saw geopolitical chaos relations should be at an all-time This is a critical inflection point for (from the election of Donald Trump to high. The rise of social media has our industry, but the way forward can Brexit, from increased tension on the given rise to new reputational be found in the profession’s past-it’s Korean peninsula to new turmoil in challenges: damaging stories-think earliest days, when public relations the Middle East); a crisis of confidence back to United Airlines and Pepsi at really was about building in the media (from the manipulation the start of the year-create an relationships between an of social media by foreign immediate and potentially organization and its public, and not governments to ubiquitous claims overwhelming online backlash. The about generating news coverage. that traditional media were producing crisis of confidence in major Because relationships are critical to “fake news”); and increased institutions clearly extends to business success today, and the competition in the communications corporations (a trend likely to ability to build, nurture, protect and business (with ad agencies and digital accelerate next year as the leverage stakeholder relationships specialists expanding into the public fundamental iniquity of the US ought to be a unique advantage for relations realm). corporate tax cuts become reality) PR as it competes for budget share and means that trust is more The resulting turmoil clearly took its with other adjacent disciplines. valuable than ever. toll on publicly-traded public There are other issues-not particularly relations businesses. The major The question must then be asked, new issues-that need to be addressed: holding companies, which grew by whether public relations is equipped increased gender and ethnic diversity, 3.8% in 2016, saw that growth stall in to handle these new challenges, to enhanced metrics, improved ethical 2017-while the fourth quarter results respond in real-time to reputational performance (particularly in light of have not yet been announced, it is crises, to build trust based on this year’s Bell Pottinger scandal), and doubtful whether the largest holding transparency and authenticity, to tell new skill sets (from data and analytics company agencies will contribute the kind of brand stories that build to visual storytelling and content anything at all to industry growth this genuine engagement with consumers. creation). But at the end of the day, year. And while one would expect the And the answer, it seems, is no-or at the focus on relationships will be key independent sector to sustain its least not yet. The industry is struggling to see the industry bounce back in recent ability to outperform publicly- to keep up with the pace of change. 2018 and beyond. traded agencies, it’s unlikely that The larger agencies in particular are smaller firms can make up for the challenged by the need for rapid decline at the top. transformation. And as long as many clients continue to see PR as primarily 4 766,000,000 gallons of water saved in drought-stricken California. You’re welcome. We helped Niagara Conservation attack the drought in California by changing the way consumers look at the old porcelain throne. Sometimes talking toilets can be incredibly purposeful. What the flush? See the story at PadillaCo.com 5 2017 Global PR Agencies of the Year The 2017 Global PR Agencies of the Year are the result of The winners were announced at the 2017 Global SABRE an exhaustive research process involving more than 400 Awards, which took place at the PRovoke17 Global PR submissions and face-to-face meetings with the best PR Summit in Miami on 25 October. firms across North America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. Global PR Agencies of the Year Winner and Unicef, while clients such as double-digit return in 2016. Much of Bayer, Ericsson, GSK, Mastercard and that is the by-product of a stable WEBER SHANDWICK Verizon all grew—Weber Shandwick leadership team and impressive (INTERPUBLIC GROUP) now works for almost half of the growth in both multimarket accounts There’s an impressive restlessness Fortune 100. and Asia-based clients. — PH/AS about Weber Shandwick, despite the fact that the world’s second largest EMEA revenues were up by close to Finalists public relations firm continues to 7% (on top of 11% growth the outperform all of its immediate rivals previous year) to around $125 COHN & WOLFE (WPP) in terms of growth—up 6.5% last year million. New business came from Global growth of 12% last year to $825 million (the strongest growth Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, British cemented Cohn & Wolfe as the best among the top 8). An evolving Gas, Ericsson, Forever 21, HSBC, performing of the WPP-owned organizational structure builds on the MasterCard, Pearson, Philips, agencies, and the fastest-growing PR firm’s existing strengths with the Qualcomm, UNICEF, Unilever, and firm in the world’s top 12, with every creation of internal “value-based Virgin Atlantic. The flagship UK region making a contribution. The communities” dedicated to client operation turned in solid growth; the most interesting development, experience, insights, integrated Middle East and Africa both though, is an effort to go beyond media and content, while reinforcing continued their impressive “integration” to use the full range of a collaborative culture that is clearly expansion; and six markets reported paid, earned, shared and owned one of the firm’s major competitive double-digit growth, including Spain, channels in order to create what advantages. And, lest we forget, the for the second consecutive year. Imperato calls an “immersive brand experience.” agency this became the first to sweep And in Asia it is easy to forget that our regional Agency of the Year just a decade ago the firm’s presence The US led the way, up 15% thanks to honors this year in North America, often registered as less than the sum a number of major global EMEA and Asia-Pacific. of its parts. Since then a cohesive assignments from clients such as North America fees were up 11% last regional strategy has added Barclaycard, Bayer, and Colgate. New year, with 7% organic growth considerable geographic breadth and business came from Applebees, supplemented by the ReviveHealth specialist depth across the region, Newell Brands, Novo Nordisk, 20th acquisition, with new business from with the agency tripling in size over Century Fox, and a host of others. Chevrolet, Kellogg’s, the Los Angeles the past seven years, to around Just as impressive, the majority of 2024 Olympic bid, Monsanto, Takeda, $110m in fee income after another C&W’s assignments are now AGENCIES OF THE YEAR 6 genuinely integrated—typically record assignments from KFC, PayPal, pace among the world’s top 10, and a traditional PR blended with digital, and the American Optometric new leadership team: Jonathan social, and a heavy dose of Association; digital work from the Hughes, Matt Neale and Gary Rudnick experiential; less than 10% of the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau sharing the CEO role.