Welcome to our review of PR Pitches and mergers & acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch. Here we discuss the biggest pitch wins and mergers & acquisitions that the PR sector has seen in November 2024.

Andrew is the lead consultant - PR, Social, Content and Influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.

Andrew launched Andrew Bloch & Associates in 2020.

If you haven't heard already I’m pleased to say we’ve now launched our PR Masterclass: The Intersection of Data, Planning and Measurement event. Attend this PR Masterclass to hear from experts on the latest techniques, tools and case studies about the use of data in modern communications.

The other big news in public relations is that the PRmoment Awards 2025 are open.

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3 mins Andrew on the current state of the PR market. How does the golden quarter compare to previous years.

“Measurement is more critical than it ever has been.”

PITCHES

DFS appoint Red Consultancy and PR First. Teneo continues to work on financial comms.

“Everyone loves a retail client.”

Simply Business appoint Golin.

Danone appoint Freuds.

“This is a whopper… a fame making brief.”

“The best agencies have had very good years organically (growth.)”

Pret A Manger appoint Frank. Headland continues looks after corporate pr

Levis appoint Burson – corp reputation brief across the EU.

Stanley 1913 appoint The Romans – pr and influencer for drinkware brand (best known for Stanley cups – the quencher) UK, France, Germany, Netherlands. Product launches, brand partnerships. Apply creative with local relevance.

PG Tips appoint The Romans – retained pr and social- engaging tea lovers across UK. PG Tips now part of Liptons (formerly Unilever) Rebrand – new blends, packaging etc. previously a project client. Digital and social now a third of all biz for Romans.

Cayman Islands Tourism Dept appoint Allison.

Essity appoint PR Agency One. B2B comms brief to raise the profile of the group and reinforce position as industry and category leader across brands.

Fed Olsen Cruises appoint The Academy – consumer pr. Targeting new and existing passengers. Previously in-house.

Tui (First Choice/Marella Cruises) appoint Ogilvy for a long term comms strategy and earned first activation. First Choice merged with TUI in 2007.

Nest, the UK Government backed pension scheme, appoint H+K (now part of Burson) – Corporate reputational support services. Also work with Blurred to help promote purpose PR strategy.

Uni of Warwick appoint Shook

This month's round up of M&A activity:

“This has been a boom month for the PR M&A sector.”

Croud sell majority stake to ECI (PE) – Croud is a full service marketing company. Croud is estimated to be worth £180M+. Fee income of £23.5M.

“Croud is one to watch for sure.”

Coolr sell minority share to Growth Capital Partners (GCP.) Founded in 2017 by Adam Clyne. 120 full time employees (FTEs.) This acquisition will help deepen service offering and scale quicker including international expansion in the US. GCP has depth and expertise in the agency sector.

“Adam is a great leader and I’m excited to see what he’s going to do with that cash!”

Reply acquire Solirius – leader in digital transformation in the public sector. A significant deal – biggest in UK for Reply.

“This is the most significant deal I’ve ever done in my career.”

Consello – the advisory biz founded in 2022 by Teneo co-founder Declan Kelly - acquires 2 Irish comms agencies – Lanyon Group (public affairs biz) and Blue Lake High Performance Partners (corporate comms).

Cavendish Consulting acquire Kaizo PR – Kaizo went through MBO 13 yrs ago. Kaizo specialise in business tech, consumer tech and health tech.

Bully Pulpit Int acquires Seven Hills and Message House. Seven Hills is a corporate pr with specialism in tech. Message House research group specialising in message testing with influential stakeholders across the EU. Bully Pulpit also acquired Boldt last year.