London's Advertising Sector - Major Players
London's advertising industry is worth £100bn a year to domestic GDP. Several major players in the advertising sector located in London contribute substantially to this vibrant industry.
There are four major advertising companies located in London: Aegis Group, M&C Saatchi, Chime Communications plc and Bartle Bogle Hegarty. The success of these companies relies on an adherence to best practice. Advertising companies help drive innovation and new product launches by informing consumers about the latest developments. The more informed an advertising firm is about its clients, the more the campaigns produced give accurate messages about the balance between the price of a client's product and the value the consumer receives for that price.
Aegis Group plc
This group launched one of the most famous advertising slogans ever written. The creation of "L'Oreal, because you're worth it", and associated celebrity endorsements, contained lots of hair-swishing moments, and a message about spoiling yourself with L'Oreal's high quality hair products. This corporate re-branding exercise was a runaway success, hitting the mark with the largely female target market. Aegis Group has its headquarters in London and its advertising and marketing arm generates £1.5 billion in revenue each year.
Being a major player in London's advertising sector gives Aegis Group plc the ability to offer additional services to advertising clients. These include analytics and big data investigations, multi-lingual customer support, back office services, technical support, content editing, proofreading and close-captioning services.
M&C Saatchi
Maurice and Charles (M&C) Saatchi created the most famous name in advertising in 1970 (Saatchi and Saatchi). With a pre-tax operating profit of around £25m in 2013, the Saatchi group have made a huge mark on London's advertising sector, representing big brands and names such as The Conservative Party (Labour: New Danger), Qantas, British Airways, and Reebok. The hallmark of the Saatchi brand is their willingness to explore and push the boundaries of creativity, presenting visual adverts that appeal, entertain, and are startlingly on-message. If ever a company can be said to be the go-to firm for an intensely creative experience, M&C Saatchi with its London headquarters is quite possibly advertising's most creative major player in the world.
For this reason, Saatchi was chosen to represent Carlsberg, the official beverage sponsor for the England team's World Cup 2010 campaign. Their television advert Carlsberg: Team Talk encapsulated the spirit of the English warrior, cultural iconography, masculine tough talk, the desire to conquer and claim victory, and the call to action cleverly drawn against a backdrop of cleverly placed Carlsberg signage and the tag-line; "If Carlsberg did team talks ...".
Chime Communications plc
This public relations firm specialises in representing telecommunications networks, which has supported the growth of broadband in the UK. Through advertising, consumers were convinced of a desire to gain access to broadband, which in turn stimulated demand. Chime Communications is one of London advertising's major players when it comes to whole campaign co-ordination. The creation, monitoring and management of a new brand demands a team-based approach, and Chime's international reach attracts big clients who want to launch new and innovative products.
Chime is also a major player in the sports advertising arena, with IndyCar, Eurasia Cup, Test Match England, and the Rugby Football League a sample of their extensive clientele list. Through the acquisition of agent and representation companies such as JMI (for the motorsports industry), Chime Communications takes charge of all PR, marketing and advertising programs for a raft of sports organisations around the globe.
Chime Communications plc is a classic example of a London headquartered advertising firm collaborating with London's world-class financial sector. Their most famous campaign to date is the London themed "Mind the Credit Gap", alerting UK credit consumers about the high-risks to avoid when making credit applications. With pre-tax profits of £25m in 2013, Chime remains one of London's advertising sectors major players.
Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH)
The last jewel in the London advertising crown is a co-operative global company formed by several British ad-men. Operating profits stand at £28m in 2013 with the company's estimated value at £300m. Famous clients include Johnnie Walker, Audi, Old El Paso, Dove, Clarkes and ChupaChups to name a few. Employing 1000 staff worldwide, the agency came to prominence with the much-adored Levi's "Launderette" campaign. BBH concentrates on making its clients' brands famous. A strong belief in creativity and innovation saw BBH win Agency of the Year at the Webby Awards 2012 for its digital work on Google and ASOS menswear.
The new BBH advert for Lynx brand "Peace" is a stunning piece of digital and creative film work, which manages to tug at the heartstrings and make the consumer feel positive about the product. Lynx and the associated company branding demonstrates one of the most successful new product campaigns this century. BBH is settling firmly into its top position in London's advertising sector.
London's advertising sector contains some heavyweight major players who continue to stimulate and invigorate the UK advertising industry, helping to showcase UK creativity around the world.