PR lags on the client hard sell

In what was easily one of the most convincing results of the entire Agency of the Year survey, Ogilvy PR dominated the category, with 24% of all client respondents nominating Ogilvy PR as the preferred agency to manage their PR activities.

Ogilvy PR’s nearest rival, the privately-owned Edelman, drew second place with a 6.93% share of client recommendations, followed by Weber Shandwick, with 5.63% share.

In a top 10 list which saw financial PR group Citigate Dewe Rogerson take sixth position and advertising agency JWT in eighth position, the category also had some notable exemptions, none more so than WPP-owned Hill & Knowlton, which managed to secure less than 1% of client votes.

The result for Hill & Knowlton should serve as a strong warning to better engage senior client marketers in Hong Kong. In comparison Hill & Knowlton took first place in Marketing Magazine Singapore’s Agency of the Year survey.

Hill & Knowlton is not alone in failing to get on clients radars. Delving into number, on a client and agency split, the PR groups were successful at engaging their peers, but largely fell short of educating client marketers about their industry, with Ogilvy PR a notable exemption here.

While many PR agencies including Burson Marstellar, GolinHarris and Hill & Knowlton, rated relatively high among their agency peers, the agencies were seriously let down on client approval ratings.

Burson Marstellar with 8.4% of client recommendation from agencies, took only 2.16% of client recommendations. Again for Hill & Knowlton, while the agency ranked second in terms peer recognition, the agency only managed a mere 0.87% would consider the agency when appointing a PR agency.

On an industry split, again Ogilvy PR claimed leadership on the peer and client recognition. Respondents from creative agencies, media, events and market research agencies overwhelmingly ranked Ogilvy as preferred PR practitioner. Among clients markets, the agency dominated the consumer products category with 33.3% share as well financial services at 50%, as well as IT and telecommunications with 19.57% share and media and entertainment category with a leading 37.62% approval rating.
In total, 52 agencies were nominated by senior client managers.