Almost half of the 30 consultancies who entered the 1999 PR Week
Agency Report are celebrating after scooping the top five-star
rating.
The report, which scores companies earning more than pounds 1 million in
fee income on the basis of their agency credentials and a survey of
their clients, yielded high marks all round this year.
The scoring system was tightened up this year to reflect growing
standards in the industry in the areas of staff development and
evaluation. The report showed that for many agencies evaluation still
relies on in-house media content and analysis and media reach, with
relatively low use of planning techniques or of external evaluation.
Clients rated relationships with their agency, in particular between
client and consultancy staff, as excellent. Client satisfaction overall
was high, with an average score of 17.6 points out of 20.
The highest scoring agency in the whole report was Cohn and Wolfe, which
bounced back from a two-star rating in the 1998 report to gain a
near-perfect score of 91 out of 100.
Leader, p8.
