HR agency Mercer creates internal comms giant in UK

Human resource consultancy William M Mercer has created a 70-strong

internal communications practice in the UK through its merger with HR

consultancy Sedgwick Noble Lowndes (SNL).

Rival internal communications agency Smythe Dorward Lambert has 75 staff

in the UK, and six in Boston. The Marketing and Communications Agency

(MCA), another leader in the field, employs 75 in the sector

worldwide.

Management consultancies most active in this area include

PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Andersen Consulting in the UK and Shepherds

and Towers Perrin in the US, but these companies do not have separate

internal divisions.

Peter Harlow, UK organisational communication head at the merged

practice, said management consultants were better placed to take

advantage of the growing market for internal communications than people

from a PR background.