Advertising Age magazine named its top-10 agencies of the just-concluded decade, including three with offices in the DC area – AKQA (in fifth place), Edelman (in seventh place) and Weber Shandwick (in eighth place). The magazine offered the following reasons for its selections:
AKQA:
AKQA has managed to grow into one of the top digital agencies while keeping its creative prowess and independence. Not bad for a shop whose operations were confined to the U.K. at the decade's start. In 2001, consultancy Accenture invested in the company to bring now-CEO Tom Bedecarre's agency, as well as web developer Magnet Interactive and Singapore-based The AdInc into the family to establish the brand's global footprint in Europe, Asia and the U.S. Since then, the network has survived the dot-com bust and built itself up again to 750 people in six offices. Its roster has included Nike, McDonald's, BMW and Visa. AKQA has also made its mark by designing non-ad brand platforms for Microsoft (the user interface for Xbox 360) and Fiat's recent EcoDrive application that mines data and stores it on USB keys in cars.
EDELMAN:
Without holding-company backing, independent PR shop Edelman has not only come through two significant recessions this decade, but it has also managed to solidify itself as the leading agency and most recognizable name in the entire industry. Whether it's through the use of traditional PR tactics or the development and implementation of digital, blogger and social-media programs, the agency continually breaks new ground in the world of communications and has redefined the role PR agencies are playing in the marketing mix. Led by the PR industry's most influential voice, CEO Richard Edelman, the agency, whose client list includes some of the biggest brands in the world, such as Walmart, Starbucks, Burger King, Microsoft and Pfizer, will rack up nearly half a billion in worldwide revenue in 2009. The only major hiccup these past ten years was the Wal-Mart Across America blog snafu back in 2006.
(In a related item, Edelman was named PR Agency of the Decade by The Holmes Report. See below for more info)
WEBER SHANDWICK:
Not many agencies come out the other side of mergers with their health intact. Fewer still make the whole bigger than the sum of their parts. But Weber Shandwick, not even a full decade since it was incorporated in 2001 after a series of mergers between three shops, has successfully pulled off the complicated act of a major agency merger. Described by many as the most professional agency in the sector, the Interpublic Group of Cos. shop is the largest PR firm in the world, with offices in more than 70 markets globally. And its client list is a who's who of blue chip marketers including General Electric, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard, Microsoft and Verizon.
As noted above, The Holmes Report named Edelman as the PR Agency of the Decade. In part, the reason was:
"In a decade during which almost all of the world’s largest public relations agencies—nine out of the top 10—were owned by giant publicly-traded, advertising-dominated holding companies, Edelman’s performance demonstrated that independence was not a liability; that it could, properly leveraged, be turned into a significant source of competitive advantage.
"Edelman began the decade as the world’s sixth largest public relations firm, with fee income of $186 million. It ended it as one of the top three, having increased fees by more than 150 percent over a 10 year period, almost certainly the largest increase among any of the top tier agencies (it is difficult to be sure, because of the way most holding companies chose to respond to the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations that were introduced early in the decade.)
"But it is not only Edelman’s financial performance that earned it recognition as our Agency of the Decade.
"The firm, which at the beginning of the decade was probably best known for its work in the consumer and healthcare arenas, expanded its capabilities in the corporate and public affairs sectors, handling some of the decade’s most significant initiatives, from the launch of GE’s groundbreaking Eco-magination campaign to the petroleum industry’s public affairs efforts in Washington, D.C., to a wide range of reputation issues for retailer Wal-Mart."