Holly Alsop analyses trends and patterns found among the agency sector in this year’s B2B Agencies Benchmarking Report
B2B marketing has seen its fair share of peaks and troughs over the past year, but as marketers start to restore their faith in the economy we’re seeing the beginnings of marked trends in the industry.
The average gross income just tipped the £4 million mark in the B2B Agencies Benchmarking Report for 2014, up from last year’s £3.6 million. Things are set to remain on the up with 90 per cent of agencies confident the sector remains strong or good. This confidence is also evident in this year’s report as we bring you a list of the top 70 agencies in B2B marketing, who on average have experienced a 17 per cent growth in gross income.
Top five
Taking first place with an impressive gross income of £19.9 million is Bray Leino, who held the title back in 2012. Jostling for the top five respectively are Amaze, OgilvyOne DNX (who have joined forces in the past year) and Gravity Global. A new entrant this year to the top five is Oliver with an impressive growth of 89 per cent and jumping 10 places in the league table.
It seems everyone is feeling a little bolder as employees’ confidence in leaving their jobs for pastures new has increased. Employee turnover has risen (up from eight per cent to 11 per cent this year) with the highest seen in small- to medium-sized businesses. However, employee growth has also increased to 22 per cent overall.
For the top 10 fastest growers, Oliver took first place followed by JJ Marketing and Tomorrow People. Compared to 2013, things seem to be slowing down, with growth in income only half of last year’s and net profit margins seeing only a three per cent increase. It seems very few agencies have been able to achieve the 40 per cent growth that characterises the ‘fast growth’ our fastest growers have seen. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing as this slowdown means we’re expected to see more sustainable and stable growth prospects going forward.
Trends
The areas that have generated the most discussion this year have been content, big data and social but it seems the top revenue generating services are still in the marketing planning and strategy realm. In addition, website design, development and management came in high, along with general design and production services.
This year’s top 20 global agencies table sees an average of 43 per cent of projects having an international element. Some of these agencies have expanded operations to places such as Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires and Brisbane.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has also been on the agenda this year, with much discussion around the importance of environmental and social business practices. It seems a little more is to be done in this area with only 32 per cent of agencies actually having a CSR policy in place. Despite the disappointing figure for CSR, 89 per cent of agencies are involved in CSR or voluntary work in some way.
This past year has also been a hotbed of discussion around better working environments and employee benefits. Business cultures are changing and many of the big corporations are driving the change. Needless to say, employees are becoming empowered with the knowledge that a company that provides a trusting environment is in fact a better place To work.
With employee turnover on the rise, investing and nurturing talented staff has never been more of a priority for businesses. It seems there is a generation of professionals embracing freelance opportunities in order to attain a premium work-life balance. Interestingly, it is the top 10 fastest growing agencies that showed the most movement in workplace culture. It can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what drives their success, but there are four standout factors that our top 10 fastest growing agencies are doing more than others:
1. They utilise the flexibility offered by freelancers in order to satisfy the demands created by higher growth rates.
2. Their staff turnover is lower than the average (seven per cent versus 11 per cent), suggesting happier employees.
3. They focus on offering technology- and analysis-based services.
4. They are experts in IT and professional, financial, business services.
With these factors in mind, next year’s top spot could be anyone’s.
Full League Table data plus more analysis and indepth agency profiles can be found in this report, which is an invaluable to tool for clients seeking to find and evaluate new agencies to work with. The B2B Agencies Report is free to Premium Members of B2B Marketing, otherwise it can be purchased online and in hardcopy format.
