MADRID: The top ten Spanish PR agencies grew by an average of 19.8
per cent last year, highlighting another buoyant year of growth for the
country’s PR industry.
All top ten agencies experienced sustained growth, creating an average
fee income for 1998 of pounds 1,630,363. The strongest growth came from
the lower agencies as opposed to the big two - Burson-Marsteller and
Shandwick Iberica.
A noticeable new entry was Llorente y Cuenca. The three-year-old firm
won a large amount of new business, including global brands such as
Reuters, Pepsi Cola and Gillette. It also opened offices in Barcelona
and Lima, Peru, to supplement its Madrid headquarters. Former
vice-president of Burson-Marsteller Pablo Llorens was named president of
the Barcelona office.
B-M maintained its position at the top of the table, but with
disappointing growth of just 11.7 per cent. The agency also encountered
difficulties when Barcelona MD Llorens and corporate communications
director Alejandro Daroca left. The agency lost several national
clients, including payment card company Quatro B and pharmacists’
association Colegio de Farmaceuticos de Madrid.
Just outside the top ten, Edelman PR Worldwide had a successful year in
Spain, opening a Barcelona office to complement its three-year-old,
23-strong Madrid operation. Major contract wins for the company included
financial PR for the Spanish government’s largest ever sale of state
assets, electricity company Endesa.
TOP SPANISH AGENCIES
RANK AGENCY 98 fee 97 fee percentage
income (pounds) income (pounds) increase
1 Burson-Marsteller 3,615,079 3,236,243 11.7
2 Shandwick Iberica 2,840,356 2,661,268 6.6
3 Sanchis y Asociados 2,357,001 1,829,325 28.8
4 Llorente y Cuenca 1,278,136 - -
5 SEIS 1,254,525 1,085,089 15.6
6 Com Empresarial 1,222,151 946,806 29
7 Grupo Asesores 2000 1,080,283 860,813 25
8 ACH y Asociados 931,229 760,006 22.3
9 Hill and Knowlton 881,312 694,169 27
10 Inforpress 843,558 641,252 31.5
Published by ADECEC.
