The PR pitches and M&A highlights for May, with Andrew Bloch

In the May 2026 edition of the PRmoment Podcast, host Ben Smith sits down with new business maestro Andrew Bloch (AAR, PCB Partners) to dissect a shifting UK communications landscape. The overarching theme of the month highlights a widening divide between agencies riding massive waves of momentum and those experiencing localized, procurement-driven hesitation.

Before diving into the market data, Ben shares two critical industry diary dates for your radar:

• AI in PR Masterclass (July 2nd, 2026): Titled The Age of Algorithms, Predictive Analytics, and Risk, this event is a comprehensive guide to navigating future-facing tech. Secure your virtual or face-to-face London spot at PRmasterclasses.com.
• The Creative Moment Awards: The absolute final entry deadline is closing fast on Friday, 19th June 2026. Ensure your team's best creative work is in the running by submitting over at creativemomentawards.co.

Key Themes

1. The procurement squeeze and market polarization

Andrew Bloch defines the current climate as one of "cautious optimism" mixed with macro anxiety. Pipelines are active, but growth is unevenly distributed. Agencies with sharp specialisms—particularly in sports, consumer lifestyle, and social—are thriving, while others face gridlocked client sign-offs. Furthermore, clients are heavily relying on procurement to extract maximum commercial impact, shifting expectations entirely away from traditional "column inches."

2. The independent "David vs. Goliath" surge

A massive takeaway from May's pitch cycle is the clear dominance of independent agencies over legacy network holding companies. Clients are progressively prioritizing agile storytelling and pure earned media capabilities over sheer corporate scale.

3. M&A Strategy: earned media as strategic platform glue

While private equity (PE) and trade buyers are exercising strict valuation discipline, high-quality independents remain hot targets. Private equity is increasingly viewing standout consumer PR agencies as anchor platforms to bolt on smaller social, data, and AI-enabled services.

Major pitch wins & M&A Deals

• Notable Wins: Words and Pixels scooped the coveted UK/Ireland brief for tech giant Pinterest, beating out legacy networks. Newly launched Joe Public landed Sneak Energy, and The Romans expanded their sports footprint by securing Oakley’s global and North American remit. Other wins included Grayling taking the Croatian National Tourist Board and Hope and Glory onboarding Ask Italian.
• M&A Highlights: Publicis made a massive $2.2 billion bet on tech infrastructure by acquiring data collaboration platform LiveRamp at a 30% premium. Meanwhile, Havas snapped up Paris-based corporate influence firm Format, and Mike Worldwide acquired workplace communications agency Hudson Lake.

Quotes from Andrew Bloch

• On maintaining agency momentum:

• "In a market like this where budgets could disappear overnight, momentum is really the closest thing you can get to having security... You can't stand still in this market. Standing still is going backwards."

• On why private equity is hunting for PR firms:

• "What's really encouraging for the PR space is they're seeing earned media as actually the glue that ties together lots of different bits of the marketing mix."

• On the resurgence of pure storytelling:

• "A lot of agencies have almost forgotten the art of storytelling and the art of earned media... Let’s not forget how important earned media is. That’s where PR is."

Transcript

Speaker 0:02

Welcome to the PR Moment Podcast. Produced in association with the Marketers Network.

Ben Smith 0:16

Welcome to this May of our PR pitches, merchants, and acquisition scene in the UK. So we've seen in the last month or so, which is May. And as ever, we're recording this with uh our good friend Andrew Block. And Andrew, if you didn't already know, is Lead Consultant PR social content and influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR. And he's also a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on the buying and selling of marketing services agencies. And he also runs um the advisory firm Andrew Bloch and ssociates. Before we start, a couple of quick plugs from my good self, um, our next PR AI in PR, I should say, excuse me, the age of algorithms, predictive analytics and risk is coming up. Actually, it's your is in less than 30 days' time now. Um it's on the um 2nd of July. you can either attend face-to-face in London or virtually. Um, do take a look at the full programme, some fantastic speakers, some brilliant themes. Um, they're always a bit of a joy to put together. I really enjoy it. Um, but yeah, we've got some great testimonials there, and I would suggest it's the finest um AI in PR conference you're ever likely to see. Do check out PRmasterclasses.com. Um, and a very quick plug and a stroke reminder, actually, the final entry deadline for the Creative Moment Awards is on the 19th of June. So that's just in a couple of weeks' time, depending on when you're listening to this show. So the final entry deadline to the Creative Moment Awards um is on the 19th of June. Um, those awards go from strength to strength. There's an absolute shootout of uh the best creative firms, PR firms, I should say, in the UK. So uh really looking forward to seeing what uh what work people send in for that. Andrew, welcome back. Hello, Ben. How are you? I'm very good. I'm very good. It feels like a while since we've done one of these. I think we've both been uh on holiday, haven't we? But um yes, we have. Andrew, give us your roundup of um the the the PR pitch scene in May 2026. So the PR pitch scene, I would say that the mood across the market right now remains uh what I would call cautiously optimistic. You know, there are lots and lots of busy agencies. I think for most pipelines are pretty active as pitches going on. But I would say, and I'd temper it with the fact that there is a little bit of you know genuine anxiety out there around what's going on, global instability, clients taking forever to sign on the dotted line. Um, you know, growth's happening, especially for agencies that have sharp specialisms, really clear propositions, particularly in certain areas. Sport is an obvious one given we are pretty much in the summer of sport at the moment. Consumer is busy, social is busy, agencies with a strong um geo perspective and offering are busy, but it's it's uneven and everyone is feeling the squeeze on margins, and people are seeing, I think, more scrutiny than ever from procurement and the demand to prove commercial impact, not just sort of pump out the column inches. But the agencies winning right now are the ones that are moving fast, that are selling value aggressively, that are staying relentlessly visible. Because in a market like this where budgets could disappear overnight, momentum is really the closest thing you can get to to having security. Yeah, I mean, it's uh I find it it's been a difficult market to sum up for a while, isn't it? Because the um when I talk to people, they're busy, you know, they're pitching, um, and there's lots of stuff going on. Um, but at the same time, then you talk to other people, and you just you you you sense there's a little bit of hesitancy in the in the air. But and those those are two different people, it's you know, two different companies. There's a divide.

Andrew Bloch 4:14

Yeah, yeah.

Ben Smith 4:15

And I I sense that divide is getting broader, to be honest.

Speaker 1 4:18

Yeah, I think there has always been a bit of divide, but but it's interesting that you you think it's getting broader.

Andrew Bloch 4:23

Um maybe you notice it more in tougher times, I don't know.

Ben Smith 4:26

Yeah, maybe, maybe. Um but I would add, when you I I wouldn't want to be over overly negative because that when you talk to some, you know, it's bisector, really, isn't it? Yeah, and even by sector it's nuanced, but the consumers are pretty hot. Um lots of lots and lots of pitches going on. Um corporate's obviously doing all right, you hear less about what you know, the pitch market in that area, but it's um that they're they're busy out there.

Andrew Bloch 4:50

Yeah, I'm not negative at all. I mean, opportunity is everywhere. Um, you just got to work hard, hard for it. So, you know, I I feel like I use the phrase cautious optimism every time we speak, but maybe that's the pessimist in me. Like you can never take things for granted. But if you're out there, you're working hard, you're hustling there. The market is busy. There is a lot of work out there, some fantastic briefs being thrown around, and there's some great wins as we're about to sort of come on to talk about.

Ben Smith 5:16

Yeah, I mean, just to finish up on a summary, it it just as you you said that, it just made me think back in January, sort of pre-Trump um starting a war with Iran, it wasn't like that, was it? You felt momentum. Um, and now we're back into this quite gnarly, it's good, but you've got to work pretty hard.

Andrew Bloch 5:35

I mean, that's partly the time of the year. January is always a time for optimism. It's also always a time when agencies are sort of getting the briefs for the for the new year. I mean, if you look at it really, there hasn't been a stable market for a good five or six years since since COVID, really. I don't think there's been a sustained period of time where you can put your feet up and relax and know that we're in great times of boom. It's it's there's constant navigation to be done. Yeah. So really it's just about not standing still. You know, you you can't stand still in this market. Standing still is going backwards.

Ben Smith 6:07

Yeah. Um, hopefully those uh those times will return uh when we're all sitting in our armchairs again, Andrew. Um just give us your just give us your summary of the the mergers and acquisitions scene in in the UKPR over the last month or so in May.

Andrew Bloch 6:21

Yeah, the MA market at the moment it remains active. I would say that buyers are more selective than ever. There's probably more valuation discipline than there's been for a while. It's starting to show signs of tightening strategic acquirers, private equity. You know, they're continuing to target agencies that have differentiated capabilities and the areas that we're seeing sort of at the moment, much the same digital performance, data, influencer marketing, social, AI-enabled services, and PR that has a real sector specialism. That's that's what I'm seeing. So I would say potentially deal volumes have maybe moderated a little bit in line with the macroeconomic uncertainty we're just talking about. Um, but as ever, you know, high quality agencies with strong recurring revenues, strong client retention, scalable operating models are still out there, they're still getting significant interest. I would say that buyers are looking to balance these growth opportunities against what is probably a more cautious trading environment.

Ben Smith 7:31

Sure. Uh we've seen some micro deals, haven't we? I are the the the larger buyers, the PE buyers, I suppose, that they've been the most active in the last few years, are they looking to still target PR firms or is it a bit more marketing services y?

Andrew Bloch 7:46

Um it's a bit of everything. I think you know, if you're a PE firm, they work on a different model to trade organizations. They they need growth. And where we are at the moment with private actually, certainly in the area that I deal in, which is mid-market, is they want good platforms to build out from. And they need to be able to buy, not at bargain basement prices. They're not they're not looking to nick anything, but they're looking for realistic valuation. So certain areas of like, for example, influencer or data or pharma, um corporate reputation, there's the big agencies that are left, the big independents, almost have an unrealistic valuation. They're holding out for that, you know, mega deal, which may or may not come, but it's probably not going to come from private equity because they need to buy at a realistic level to make their model work. What's really encouraging for the PR space is they're seeing earned media as actually the glue that ties together lots of different bits of the marketing mix. So there's a lot of PE that is sniffing around big consumer agencies as platforms to then build on and bolt on slightly smaller social influencer, data, AI-enabled services, that because they're smaller, they have they have a more realistic valuation. And then that works for a for a PE model. But there's also you're seeing smaller agencies just using a bit of common sense. If they need to get to a level to sell, rather than just relying on organic growth, which is becoming tougher, they're looking at mergers, they're looking at how they can build their capabilities quicker, how they can de-risk slightly. So it's a really exciting market. I mean, I I think I say this every single month, but I'm busier than I've ever been. There's lots going on, but there's deals getting over the line. It's it's it's good times.

Ben Smith 9:43

Right. Um, go on, Andrew. Um, let's get straight into our rundown of uh of May's biggest pitch wins in the UK PR scene. Um there's news from Joe Public.

Andrew Bloch 9:56

Okay, so yes, we're gonna start off with Joe Public, and they have won Sneak, the energy drink. So um great, they're a new agency that's so they've already got their first win under their belt. They were the agency that launched about a month ago, I think, by Ruth Kieran, the Circle CEO. So this is their first client announcement. Trade, consumer, corporate PR, going to help them with brand building, influencer work, um, building an influence amongst retailers. Um, Sneak, for those that don't know, it's actually very nice. It's uh sugar-free energy drink. It's been around for a while. It started out sort of targeting the gaming culture, it's gone a bit more mainstream and lifestyle now. So congrats to Joe public and to Ruth Kieran. I'm sure it's the first of many wins.

Ben Smith 10:42

Yes, I've never had a glass of sneak, but perhaps that will change. Um, and a win from Brand Nation.

Andrew Bloch 10:48

Yeah, this is a nice one. They've won Science in Sport, which is the performance, nutrition, and sports supplement brand. They're a partner for lots of elite teams and athletes, everyone from the England football team to GB Athletics, um, my team, Tottenham Hotspurs, not sure it's done them much good. Um, Sir Chris Hoy. And it helps athletes with energy, hydration, recovery. So it's a it's a really nice one for brand nation. Their brief is goes across corporate comms, media relations, strategic storytelling, and it's all about turning scientific research into accessible narratives so that it appeals to both specialist and mainstream audiences. So, yeah, good win for them. They're you know, brand nation, as some people may know, it's an agency that I'm non-exec director of. They're growing fast, just posted 20% growth, and this is contributing towards that. So well done.

Ben Smith 11:41

And they and they won a PRmoment Award back in Manchester, didn't they? Um a month or so back, which was great to see. Yes, I mean, I hadn't thought about that. You got a we got a Tottenham fan and a Saints fan on the pod today, which particularly has there ever been a more depressing couple of months for for each um um set of fan bases?

Andrew Bloch 11:58

Um probably avoid talking about football for a while.

Ben Smith 12:01

Absolutely. Um Pretty Green, excuse me, Pretty Green have uh have got had a nice win.

Andrew Bloch 12:07

Yeah, staying in the sort of lifestyle health space. They've won Pure Gym and they're going to be helping them with a brand launch campaign, or maybe it's a relaunch campaign, which is all around inner well-being as well as outer strength. So it's called Feel Pure Gym Good. And this is PR influencer, experiential, social media. Um, and Pure Gym are big. I'm not sure if they're the biggest, but they've got 700 odd sites across the UK.

Ben Smith 12:34

There seems to be like they're they're cropping up everywhere, aren't they? Pure Gym. They're the sort of Starbucks of uh of today, if you know what I mean. There's always a new one coming launching.

Andrew Bloch 12:44

They've been busy, and it's a great one for Pretty Green, you know, Pretty Green continuing a very strong run.

Ben Smith 12:49

Um I mean, what a run they've had. A beautiful example of how how a campaign like Peppa Pig can win lots of awards, get momentum, and and um and away you go. So congratulations on them. They're having uh a fantastic 12, 18 months or so. Um, and Grayling have have won a um a tourist board, but which one, Andrew? Which one? God, this is you're like a teaser campaign, aren't you? Um, I can reveal that the tourist board that Grayling have won is the Croatian National Tourist Board. Massive. A European brief. It it crosses sort of UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia. Um, it's a three-year brief. Um sorry, two-year brief, I think. Um, and it's PR and influence all around positioning Croatia as a year-round destination and driving what they call high-value tourism to so it's communicating themes like cultural tourism, sustainability, um, the food and drink there, the active travel. Um, so this is this is really, really good. And Grayling are going to be producing and developing market-specific PR campaigns for different territories within market teams and then giving them on-ground support um from Grayling's Croatia office. I'm not sure how many agencies have on-the-ground offices in Croatia, but Grayling do, which I'm sure will have contributed to this win. They have worked with them previously a long time ago, about 10 years ago, and they're back. So, lovely place Dubrovnik. Went for our honeymoon in Dubrovnik. So um, very nice. Like Croatia very much. Uh, and Grayling on a bit of a role, haven't they? They've they've um they've picked out wins in recent months.

Andrew Bloch 14:32

Yeah, they're I think they've found their their pace, they know what they stand for, they're very good at it, and yeah, they are, they're on a good run.

Ben Smith 14:40

Yep. Um, news from 360, which is a really interesting win.

Andrew Bloch 14:44

Yeah, this is, they've um won Airbnb on the corporate side. Um Romans won the consumer bit of Airbnb, a year, 18 months ago. Um, the public affairs bit went out to pitch at the end of last year. I'm not sure if they've actually announced who the agency was that won that. Um, but 360 won the corporate bit. For those that don't know, 360 is part of Casbar Groove, which has exposure on the consumer side. They are also on a really, really good run. They won, if you remember, Superstructure Entertainment, which we announced last month and seem to be picking up lots of briefs. They're a really good agency, 360.

Ben Smith 15:24

Um and Weber shandwick, um, which is a really interesting win, that one.

Andrew Bloch 15:28

Yeah, this is a this is a big one as well. They won Rockwall, um, which is a global brief across Europe and America. Um, for those that don't know, I have to admit, I didn't know. But Rockwall Group is um they're global manufacturers of sustainable and non-combustible stone wool insulation, and they create far resilient and acoustic insulation products from important work. Yeah, really important work. So a nice brief for Weber. Good to see them get a win like this under their belt. It's obviously global, so it's relatively complex and relatively sizable.

Ben Smith 16:03

Yeah. And talking about um agencies on a bit of a role at the moment, Hope and Glory have had um uh another winner. They've seen the bad up, they've been they've they've come back onto this podcast in the last couple of months in in quite a in quite a um significant manner, it feels to me.

Andrew Bloch 16:16

Yeah, look, Hope and Glory are a brilliant agency, one of the best in-class consumer agencies out there, and consistently win great bits of business month in, month, month out, as you would hope, so to speak. Excuse the pun. Um, they've run Ask Italian and PR influencer, social, um, all around building greater cultural relevance and broadening the appeal and increasing the awareness of the brand and stuff like new menu launches and seasonal campaigns, all of that kind of stuff. Really nice win. Ask Italian, great brand. It's actually owned by a friend of mine, so I have a personal affinity to it. Um, 59 locations across the UK. So well done to Joe, James, and the crew.

Ben Smith 16:57

Well, next time we catch up, Andrew, we can go for a pizza. Um from Kindred.

Andrew Bloch 17:03

Yes, nice win for Kindred. They have won Book Trust, um, which is the children's reading charity. Uh really worthwhile and important work highlighting how reading transforms life chances.

Ben Smith 17:15

Yeah.

Andrew Bloch 17:16

And the initial focus of the agencies is on strategic planning and positioning around how to increase awareness of the charity's work amongst its network of professionals and supporters and delivery partners. So, right in Kindred's sweet spot. They're one of the hottest agencies out there when it comes to purpose-driven work like this. So great win for them.

Ben Smith 17:36

Absolutely. Um, and a very interesting win for words and pixels.

Andrew Bloch 17:40

Yes. This is a massive one for words and pixels, a coveted account. Um, everyone wants to work with a social media platform, and words and pixels have secured Pinterest um media relations across UK and Ireland, consumer B2B and corporate work. Um, this is all around focusing on strengthening the messaging around Pinterest visual search and their shopping offers and using trends and seasonal moments to help boost their relevance and secure coverage, all with a view to predominantly attracting advertisers. And they're going to be working alongside Weber, um, who do corporate policy work across the UK and Europe. And I mean, it's just a massive company, massive project. And it's I'm really looking forward to seeing what they come up with. Pinterest reported a billion in revenue in Q1 2026, nearly as much as you, Ben. And they reached a record 631 million monthly active users worldwide. This is a mega business. So for words and pixels, I don't know if game changing is is over egging it, but it is a massively significant win to them.

Ben Smith 18:51

And it's it's it is yeah, it is worth talking about, isn't it? Because it back in the day that would have been a holding company, probably not no certainty, but probably been a holding company account which was run globally. And it is interesting because we there's no, it's always always nuance these trends. There's plenty of exceptions, it's not one way. Um, but that it does seem to me that it would have been unlikely that 10 years ago an independent would have won that account. Um, and and they have. And it's we it's not there's not in isolation that trend. I think independents are having their day for sure.

Andrew Bloch 19:25

Um, but it's one of the things I love about this industry is that you gave these sort of David and Goliath battles. As you might know, you know, I'm involved in words and pictures, I'm an advisor. I know who pitched for that business, I know who they went up against. And I mean, fair play to them. But I think clients they just want the best. And they look at the work that's being done for other brands that they admire, they see who's behind it, and they don't worry too much about the size and scale. I see it was stacked, you know, they're winning bits of business that you just would couldn't have dreamt of, really, for like small startup businesses. We're about to talk about the earnings in a bit, and you know, they've only been going a couple of years and the clients they're attracting, it's phenomenal. It's it's one of the best things I think about this industry. I love it. But yes, independents are having their moment for sure.

Ben Smith 20:16

Won't last forever, but it but it's happening at the moment. Ready10 have also had a nice win.

Andrew Bloch 20:22

Yeah, talking of independents punching above their weights. Ready10, who are about to celebrate their 10th birthday, which I can't quite believe, um, have been appointed by NFL UK. So this is a great account for them. ConsumerComs basically promoting American football to UK audiences and overseeing these sort of key moments within the NFL calendar. So they're going to be supporting them on their London Games program throughout the year. So there's a load of events in October, two games at the Mighty Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, one at Wembley, um, but also NFL's increased investment in flag football, which is a sort of a non-contact version of the game, their inclusion in the 2028 Olympics. So this is good. And Ready 10 have been sort of, I would say, quietly and steadily building a bit of a sports portfolio. They've got now the IOC, the instance. They're doing work for PaddyPow, they've got world rugby. I mean, you know, they are doing really, really well in this space, which is good to see.

Ben Smith 21:27

Yeah, I mean, I've never, I must, I've never quite caught the uh the NFL American football bug, but but maybe Ready 10 are about to change all of that. Um I did used to wear um Oakley's back in the day, Andrew, and there's there's they have a new PR you see.

Andrew Bloch 21:42

Yeah, you see, you really damage their style credentials. They've had to bring in emergency support in the form of the Romans. Um, I mean, look, there isn't really um a month that goes past without an impressive announcement for the Romans, it doesn't seem. But this goes into their sports division. Which Chris Allen joined must be about six months ago now, I think. But not long. I mean, not that long, is it? They've had some wins. They've had some big wins. I mean, and I do, you know, you can't underestimate Chris's influence in doing that. Um, so this is a global and North American remit. The global bit is run out of the UK. It's all about helping Oakley connect with Gen Z and culture, you know, via sports and performance eyewear through product, through brand storytelling. Um, the global remit is all the kind of normal stuff you would expect: media and creator strategy, toolkits, measurement, blah, blah, blah. There's a North American remit, um, which is more around product and campaign press offices and using creators and amplifying them, events. Um, so it's good. I mean, a great win. Great, great win.

Ben Smith 22:50

Makes me laugh. My um my son was trying to find his oakleys the other , turns out my daughter had sold them on vintage. So brilliant.

Andrew Bloch 23:00

Brilliant, probably for about three quid or something.

Ben Smith 23:02

No, well, a bit more than that, apparently. But yeah, um he wasn't he wasn't best pleased. Um, and you were you mentioned the Ernie's earlier, and we've got a hat-trick, a hat-trick for they've got yeah, a hat-trick of of wins, really nice stuff, mainly project stuff.

Andrew Bloch 23:16

Um, one for John Lewis, which is a World Cup themed project around TVs and the summer of sport, one for Casio G Shock um campaign shot with um footballers around creative all around Greenwich Meantime, um, and how greatness means meets timing. And then the final one was children with cancer, um where they did a really nice campaign where they got mascots to walk out of Everton's um final home game of the season. So, yeah, I mean look, Ernest are they're on a great role.

Ben Smith 23:55

Could you could you not bring yourself to to to name the Arsenal footballer there? Um, Eze Everitti. Um, is that the that transparent?

Andrew Bloch 24:02

It's like if I mention him, I'm gonna go off on a tangent about penalties, and it's just like I just won't name him.

Ben Smith 24:09

But um yeah, but yeah, but interesting that yeah, I mean it tends to be quite they do their positioning uh unashamedly is very media relations focused, isn't it? I I really enjoy that because it's just really honest, and um and my goodness, it's worked for them, hasn't it?

Andrew Bloch 24:23

Um it has because I think a lot of agencies have almost forgotten the art of storytelling and the art of earned media. And if you look at agencies like Ernest, like Taylor Herring, like Stacked, like Words and Pixels, who put earned media right at the core of what they're doing, yeah. These are agencies that are having you know a moment in the sun. Because I think that's you know, as as much as we need the influencer work, the social work, the content creation and everything that comes with it, let's not forget how important earned media is. That's where PR's.

Ben Smith 24:58

Yeah, that's I mean, everything else is everything else is an add-on, isn't it? But don't forget.

Andrew Bloch 25:02

And weirdly, in a you know, in a huge market with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of agencies, finding agencies that are truly great at earned media is not so easy.

Ben Smith 25:13

No, um, no, there's and a whole podcast on we could um examine the reasons for that, um, but that is for another day. Uh, which moves us swiftly on to our MA roundup, Andrew.

Andrew Bloch 25:25

No, no, not yet, not yet.

Ben Smith 25:27

Oh no, you're right. I'm gonna have a look. Yeah, there we go. My apologies. I don't know quite what I did there. Um, but we have a um is it is it a hat-trick or is it another hat-trick or a quadruple for ambitious?

Andrew Bloch 25:38

It's a hat-trick. Okay, they did actually announce about six or seven wins, but I've narrowed it down to a hat-trick in the interests of time. Right. And Ambitious is an agency that's never appeared on the podcast before. They're Bristol based, they are on a good run, they've had a little bit over over two million pounds fee income income.

Ben Smith 25:56

So that is you know, that is going some, isn't it? Um, congratulations to them, because that's you know, I always think of it can be monopony money if you're not careful, but that's a lot of pitch wins, a lot of words. A lot of pitch wins.

Andrew Bloch 26:06

I pulled out a few that I thought were particularly interesting from a list that they have announced. But um, CGS, which is a Cambridge-based international education group, which operates a load of independent schools and colleges across not just the UK, but also America, China, Malaysia. They won a really nice strategic communication brief for BMP Parabar, and they won Kim Rise, which is around supporting the communication of the regeneration of um. I mean, three very different briefs, right? Really interesting. So I mean, it's good and it shows that you know regional agencies can punch well above their weight. And I think what I liked with that sort of hat trick of wins is you've got Cannons Wharf, which is on their doorstep in Bristol, CGS, completely different region of the country, and then BMP, which is a national account. I see it with agencies like folk as well, who are based in Wales. You know, yes, they win a lot of Welsh work, but they're also punching well above their weight, winning brilliant national briefs. Um, it's you know, London is no longer the epicentre of the world when it comes to comms.

Ben Smith 27:12

No, you see some lots of agencies, but you're right, they tend to have that that nice mix of of local clients and some national briefs as well. Um and uh yes, I I um I went too early, didn't I? Andrew, give us your your rundown on uh this month's um MA activity that you've seen in the UK PR scene.

Andrew Bloch 27:30

Okay, well I'm gonna we've got three to announce. I'll start with the whopper of the three, which is publicists. And again, I don't think we go through many months on this podcast without talking about acquisitions that publicists make. And they make acquisitions of all sizes and scales. Yeah. Um, but this is a big one. They have acquired LiveRamp, which is it's quite complex. I'll try and keep it simple. It's a global data collaboration platform that essentially what they do is they enable companies to manage, to unify, to activate data across the digital ecosystem.

Ben Smith 28:06

So I mean, just to come in, that is very, but they've it's the latest in a in a in a theme of these types of acquisitions from publishers, right? Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Bloch 28:15

Yeah, look, they are you know, they are they go big, they've gone big on data, they have done for a long time. I've had the privilege of helping buy data companies for them. This this is this is a massive one. It they connect um live ramp connect over 25,000 publisher domains and 500 or so technology and data partners across 14 different markets.

Ben Smith 28:40

And what does it actually do then? What what what what is the what I mean? I get that. That's some big numbers, but what in in for publishers out there.

Andrew Bloch 28:49

What it does is it enables brands, thousands of brands and retailers and media platforms and data providers to collaborate and connect this data in an effective way in a secure way. So it's sort of it's taking a load of fragmented and discon disconnected data into a unified enterprise grade asset build that will allow insight, activation, measurement. Um does that make sense? I mean, publishers are going to become this this puts publishers sort of firmly as leaders in data co-creation space and it gives them a very, very important capability in this sort of AI era. Um data one-stop shop. Yeah, you can call it that. So this business, just to put it into context of how big it is, um, the enterprise value of it, 2.2 billion. Um, and we know that because it's public information. They bought the shares at 38.5.

Ben Smith 29:56

And for listeners out there who aren't familiar with the term enterprise value, what what does that what does that mean? Is that is that enterprise value is the overall value of the deal.

Andrew Bloch 30:04

So that might have been broken down into so it's the capex, basically. Yeah, it's the total value of the deal. So it's they because it was a publicly traded company, what we can see from this is they paid just under 30% premium on their closing share price, um, which was the last trading day before the announcement. So, you know, it's a punt on the future. There, you know, that's quite a premium to pay. Oh, you always have to pay some premium, otherwise, it's not you can't get shareholders on board to agree to something, but to get to a 30% premium in this market for something of that scale, yeah. This is a big bet for them. This company, there's 1.3,000 employees, but it's a brilliant business. They've got high recurring revenue-based model, it's really deepening publishers' investment in tech, in data, in AI. You know, they are leading the way out of the big groups. Um, so it's an exciting acquisition there. Uh, but Havas have also been shopping. Yeah, they've acquired Format, which is a corporate influence consultancy. Um they're going to be joining forces with Havas Paris. Um, and it's part of the H Advisors build out, which is their global strategic advisory comms network. So, I mean, essentially, this is strengthening Havas in Paris, their digital influence expertise, and it's leveraging the agility that Format has and the innovation that they have, but also expanding their strategic consultancy, their media relations offering um to help them better serve scale-ups and SMEs and mid-sized companies, which are a big growth area. And it's going to enable for Format, it's going to help them basically be part of a network and give them access to broader expertise, new client opportunities.

Ben Smith 31:50

Right. Um, and news from Mike Worldwide. Um, if you haven't seen Mike, Michael Kemner was on the show a couple of um a couple of months back, wasn't he? But um he's uh he's uh also acquired a new firm.

Andrew Bloch 32:02

Yeah, he's acquired Hudson Lake, who are a workplace communications firm. So it's it's employee communications, organizational change, workforce strategy, that kind of stuff. So it's giving new capabilities to Mike Worldwide and it's helping them, yeah, they are continuing to expand their integrated offering. And Hudson Lake are a really decent company, great clients, Toyota 7 Eleven, American Airlines, Delta. Um, and it's really just part of Mike Worldwide's broader expansion strategy. You know, last year they bought BERT communications to build out sports and lifestyle. Um, for Hudson Lake, it's a lovely deal for them. They're going to get this greater scale, the addition of resources and tech capabilities that Mike Worldwide can bring them. So, yeah, it seems like a very sensible um good deal for both sides.

Ben Smith 32:53

Yeah, I mean, if if anyone hasn't listened to that podcast, I do suggest you you you go go back and look at the archive because um I'm doing this for memory, but yeah, yeah, Mike Worldwide are a lot bigger firm than most people in the UK think. Yes. Um about I think $80 million revenues. Um, and on that um show he did talk about one of his regrets was that he hadn't made more acquisitions over the years. Because I think that that now brings his total acquisition since he he founded that business um to two. So um so I don't think it will be the loss. Exactly right. Exactly right. So it's very phenomenal to get to that level of income almost entirely by organic growth. So an interesting detail. Yes. Um Andrew, I think that probably wraps things up. Does that any more to add? Nothing to add, Ben. Nothing to add. Thank you so much for coming on um this month's review of Biggest Pitch wins and MAs that we've seen in PR, and look forward to seeing you in June. See you next month. Thanks for listening to the PR Moment Podcast, produced in association with the Marketeers Network.

Speaker 34:03

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