Public relations (PR) is vital to boosting a brand’s reputation and garnering credibility. Many brands work with PR services to improve images or manage negative publicity. It is an area often overlooked or mistaken as something only large enterprises would need.
We’ve created a detailed review of the best companies specializing in public relations, as well as the key services and importance of this topic. This guide will help you decide whether you would need this service and, if so, choose the right fit that works for your brand!
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 1952
Location: HQ in New York, 60 offices in United States, Ireland, UK, France, Belgium, Germany, UAE, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Kenya and 14 other countries in Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
Number of Employees: 1001 – 5000
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WHY CHOOSE THEM?
Edelman is the largest independent public relations agency in the world. Businesses can take advantage of their global spread to enter new markets. With over 60 offices spread across the globe, they help their clients build impactful campaigns.
This PR agency has bagged numerous industry awards and offers expert services for crisis and reputation risk, public affairs, media relations, and data analytics.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 1953
Location: HQ in New York, United States with offices in Canada, South Africa, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Belgium, China, and 26 other countries in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the MENA region.
Number of Employees: 1001 – 5000
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WHY CHOOSE THEM?
BCW is a global firm formed through the merger of Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe. This is an award-winning agency with services ranging from corporate reputation and public affairs to government relations. They have a diverse team of PR specialists. BCW is part of the WPP Group, one of the world’s most comprehensive advertising service groups.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 1946
Location: HQ in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, with offices in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Germany,
Number of Employees: 1001 – 5000
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WHY CHOOSE THEM?
FleishmanHillard is a member of the Omnicom Group, an American global media, corporate communications holding, and marketing company. FleishmanHillard has worked with global brands, like Samsung and PepsiCo to develop effective PR campaigns that boost brand reputation and awareness. You can rely on this agency for expert financial and professional consulting services and PR campaigns that amplify your business.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded:1987
Location: HQ in London, UK with offices in the US, Europe, Asia Pacific and IMEA region.
Number of Employees: 1001 – 5000
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NOTEWORTHY CLIENTS
WHY CHOOSE THEM?
Brunswick Group is an advisory firm helping companies to build trusted relationships with all their stakeholders. Though they often refrain from publishing their clients’ details, they represent firms like British Airways, Marks & Spencer, the Bank of Scotland, and many more of the world’s biggest companies. They have experts in every PR-related vertical and provide specialized services for investor relations, financial and corporate communications, and opinion research. Brunswick Group has 23 offices in 14 countries.
Source: Brunswick
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 1923
Location: HQ New York, United States with 130+ offices and affiliates in over 70 countries.
Number of Employees: 1001 – 5000
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WHY CHOOSE THEM?
Ketchum is in 70+ countries across the globe and serves a wide range of industries. They offer services for PR campaigns and full-service communications consultancy. From this agency, you can expect financial communications, reputation management, crisis management, and public affairs.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2009
Location: HQ in Paris, France with 100 offices in 40 countries
Number of Employees: 1001 – 5000
KEY SERVICES
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WHY CHOOSE THEM?
MSL is an impressive PR marketing agency that is part of a network of companies specializing in strategic communications and engagement. This agency offers PR solutions for small businesses wanting to drive more targeted traction and enterprises aiming to secure valuable investors and solidify stakeholders. Unlike many PR marketing agencies on this list, MSL provides expert campaigns for experiential and influencer marketing. With an agency like MSL you can accelerate brand awareness and credibility from multiple channels.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 1927
Location: HQ in New York, USA with over 59 global offices in North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Number of Employees: 1001-5000
KEY SERVICES
NOTEWORTHY CLIENTS
WHY CHOOSE THEM?
Hill+Knowlton Strategies, known as H+K Strategies, is an international PR marketing agency. They have over 80 offices globally, serving over 40 markets. Their approach combines strategy, creativity, and data-driven PR marketing strategies. H+K Strategies has won the EMEA PR Network at the Campaign Agency of the Year Awards for the third time in three years. Working with Twitter to launch its Arabic (Feminine) language was one of this agency’s most notable campaigns. This campaign drove the #FeminineArabic campaign and is one of Hill+Knowlton Strategies’ many successful PR case studies.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2003
Location: HQ in New York City with offices in Miami, Florida, USA
Number of Employees: 201 – 500
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WHY CHOOSE THEM?
5WPR is known for cutting-edge PR campaigns, digital presence and practices across several B2C and B2B categories. This agency has won several awards and has worked with brands like L’Oréal and Newport Academy.
They helped The Green Beret Foundation secure over 200,000,000 media impressions. You can develop custom campaigns to drive awareness and visibility through SEO, digital marketing, online reputation management, event marketing, and PR.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 1993
Location: Berlin, Germany
Number of Employees: 1001 – 5000
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WHY CHOOSE THEM?
With more than 80 offices worldwide, MC Group is the only German-based marketing and communications agency with network branches in all 28 EU member states and all key business centers worldwide. They offer a one-stop shop with all the PR and marketing solutions you could need under one roof.
Founded in 1993, MC group is one of the youngest on our list. Nonetheless, they boast big names as part of their clientele, like Vodafone, Air Malta, and Bayer. MC group is currently the largest independent PR and advertising agency in Germany and Europe. They are also a market leader in corporate and national branding and communications, political communications, PR, and digital marketing.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 1994
Location: HQ in New York City, with additional offices in the US, South America, the Middle East & Africa, Europe, and Asia Pacific
Number of Employees: 10,001+
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WHY CHOOSE THEM?
With offices in 37+ countries, Havas PR’s client base consists of some of the biggest brand names in the world. This agency has a valuable range of services for large businesses and enterprises.
The Havas PR Global Collective is part of Havas – a top-five global advertising and communications group. In their leadership team. Havas PR has many award-winning PR and digital marketing specialists. What put’s this agency in its own league is the 360-degree services it offers. You can work with Havas PR to develop custom digital marketing, PR, media relations, social media marketing, content marketing, and brand marketing strategies. They rely on data-driven solutions for impactful PR campaigns, and Havas PR has a long list of impressive clients.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 1948
Location: Global with offices in over 90 countries
Number of Employees: 10,001+
KEY SERVICES
NOTEWORTHY CLIENTS
WHY CHOOSE THEM?
Ogilvy is a PR marketing agency that operates in many different countries around the globe. This agency has worked with a long list of well-known brands, including Pizza Hut, Turkish Airlines, Rolls Royce, and IKEA.
Ogilvy is based in New York City. They specialize in brand strategy, advertising, customer engagement, PR, influence marketing, digital transformation, and strategic partnerships. One of Ogilvy’s most impressive PR campaigns is its partnership with Dove. Ogilvy worked with Dove to create a movement provoking India to confront how beauty biases are amplified when finding a life partner.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2011
Location: HQ in New York, USA with office in Cardiff, UK, and 40 other offices around the world
Number of Employees: 1001 – 5000
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WHY CHOOSE THEM?
Teneo Holdings has countless offices around the globe and many well-known brands in its portfolio. Companies like FIFA and Facebook are on their client list.
You can work with this agency for effective PR marketing strategies centered around your brand, crisis management campaigns, financial communications, and investor relations. This is the agency you want to work with for high-level PR that involves attracting and securing investors and stakeholders.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 1982
Location: Washington DC, USA, with offices in 31 countries around the world
Number of Employees: 5001 – 10,000
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WHY CHOOSE THEM?
FTI Consulting is a successful agency offering high-level PR solutions for enterprises and large organizations. This agency can develop strategic communication channels and information governance and privacy frameworks. They rely on data-driven PR solutions to help your brand maintain and grow a positive public image.
FTI Consulting also offers business consulting and transformation, making this an ideal choice for businesses like Wells Fargo and Steinhoff Creditors. You can work with this agency for business transformation, data-driven campaigns, and security governance.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 1984
Location: Washington DC, USA, with another 27 offices across the world
Number of Employees: 1001 – 5000
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NOTEWORTHY CLIENTS
WHY CHOOSE THEM?
APCO is an independent and majority women-owned PR marketing agency. They have published media coverage in 38 languages across 147 countries and achieved over 7.6 billion social media impressions. This agency offers crisis management, research and analytics, organizational performance, and PR marketing.
Winning multiple awards, APCO develops expert PR campaigns to reflect your brand’s story and amplify your values. They have worked with eBay and MARS, among other world-renowned organizations, and there’s nothing APCO doesn’t offer for PR marketing.
PR is the practice of managing the image of an organization to influence the public’s perception of its brand – how people think about the business. You may be familiar with press releases and trade shows. But today’s tactics extend to all media and communications to maintain and grow your business reputation.
PR also covers practices like crisis management, which minimizes the effects of negative publicity and finds ways to turn it around. A sound strategy starts with a good understanding of what your audience thinks about your brand and how this changes based on your business and marketing decisions.
This area can also broadly cover government relations and public affairs, which can include relations with various trade, industry, non-profit, charities, etc.
Why is it important?
Source: Rachel Whynot
Market research is the key to unlocking the benefits of PR. It could be done in different ways, like surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Agencies may conduct research on media outlets, influencers, and media hosts focused on your target audience or business industry. This will help them understand your audience and then design an effective PR campaign for you.
After getting a good understanding of your target audience, the PR company proceeds to engage the most suitable media. They can handle the relationship between the media and your business. They pitch your brand to media outlets, journalists, and influencers to get media mentions and coverage. They also develop media content for you and respond to media queries.
PR companies organize events, tradeshows, and outreach as tools to increase brand awareness and reputation. They can help communicate with your audience and draw media outlets to cover your events.
Although not traditionally under the public relations umbrella, many PR companies offer these services. PR professionals serve as a medium between companies and governments, trade associations, non-profit groups, political organizations, etc., and make introductions and build relationships, often to influence policies or advocate for the company.
Organizations can encounter crises at any point in their existence. While it is often not hoped for, PR companies are equipped to confront crisis situations in a very professional manner. They typically have a ready crisis communication plan and could designate an official spokesperson who can adequately address tough and hostile questions professionally.
PR Marketing Agencies Services Breakdown
Market Research
Media Relations
Event Planning
Government Relations and Public Affairs
Crisis Management
There you go. A list of the best agencies to help you execute successful PR campaigns. They can propel your entire company towards expansion and success. Building a recognizable brand image requires conscious and effective effort and is a worthwhile investment. Get your PR where it needs to be with the help of these agencies!
It is the practice of managing a business's reputation and public perception. Excellent PR is imperative for increased credibility, brand awareness, increased web traffic and lead generation.
While the two are often confused, they are different. Marketing aims to increase sales more directly, whereas PR aims to boost brand or company image. The latter is sometimes part of the marketing department. Within the same newspaper, marketing could feature upcoming promotional events in a paid advertising spot, while PR could arrange a company executive interview to speak about upcoming new product launches.
Yes, they are worth it! They have the expertise and services to accelerate your brand image and authority. They have good connections and avenues that might not be easily accessible to you.
Almost anyone who needs to manage their public reputation for one reason or another. For example, an entrepreneur might need to find an effective way to communicate with and attract potential investors. A brand might need to manage a product recall and the resulting negative publicity. A non-profit organization might need to identify communication channels to reach potential donors.
Monthly retainers can go between $1,000-30,000, depending on the size of the agency. Certain small agencies could offer an hourly rate of $125, vs. mature, large agencies at >$500/hour.
Almost certainly. Similar to a brand or a business, celebrity publicists strategize and actively manage public image and media access to shine the best light on the celebrity.
Statista: Public relations (PR) market value worldwide from 2018 to 2023
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