Mexico PR Consultancies of the Year 2023

2023 Mexico PR Consultancies of the Year

The 2023 LatAm PR Consultancies of the Year are the result of an exhaustive research process involving numerous submissions and meetings with the best PR firms across the region.

Consultancy of the Year winners are honoured at the 2023 LatAm SABRE Awards, taking place on 11 October as part of the Mexican PRORP’s annual RADICAL conference. Analysis of all Finalists and Winners can be accessed via the navigation menu or below:

Finalists

Addvox (Independent)

Backstory

After serving as Golin Mexico’s GM, Jaime Flores launched Addvox in the throes of the pandemic with a really big client — Amazon Prime Video and Music — and the gumption it takes to make that kind of move when the odds are stacked against it. Three years later, Addvox is very much a player in the market, with 47-person team servicing clients in the tech, consumer, financial, automotive and healthcare sectors, while expanding operations throughout Latin America.

Locations

Addvox is headquartered in Mexico City and does business in Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Perú, Panama, Ecuador and Brazil as well.

Performance

In 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, Addvox opened for business with 15 employees and the goal of crafting and executing communications that drive lasting relationships with stakeholders — customers, media and influencers among them. Following through on that mission has led to Addvox being the robust business it is today, with a 47-person staff working with clients in the gamut of industries including tech, consumer, financial automotive and healthcare. Among them are Amazon Music, Prime Video, MG Motor, Bupa Latin America, Pepsico, Doritos, TC Energy, Free Fire, Sinovac and Distroller. The firm also serves clients throughout Latin America (Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Perú, Panama, Ecuador and Brazil in addition to Mexico) and is actively working on expanding regional operations.

People & Culture

Jaime Flores started Addvox after a five-year run as general manager of Golin Mexico (he opened that office, too) and continues to lead the agency’s daily operations, with a focus on regional operations. Flores has grown the firm by adhering to his commitment to creating communications strategies that matter — i.e., impacting people in positive ways. Flores is supported by Felipe Aranzeta, who also has been at Addvox from start. His success leading Mexico PR for Amazon Prime Video resulted in Addvox now handling PR for the streaming service across Latin America. Other key people include media relations head Ernesto Olmos and Fernando Noriega, who leads client relations.

Thought Leadership & Work

With a top-notch tech team, Addvox developed tools last year that have enabled the firm to expand service offerings, Among them: voice amplifiers that optimize content strategies, and an executive influence tool, that allows Addvox to position clients’ c-suite executives as experts in their fields. But the biggest initiative of the year was the premiere celebration of the Amazon Prime TV series The Rings of Power set thousands of years before J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. With Mexico City one of the premiere s, Addox went all-in supporting the event with three days of activities including 12 guest speakers attended by 93 media outlets from across Latin America.

— Diana Marszalek

Another (SEC Newgate)

Backstory

In November 2022, Jaspar Eyears and Rodrigo Peñafiel sold a 70% stake of another, the agency they co-founded 18 years earlier, to SEC Newgate with an eye on using the Milan-based communications group’s support to accelerate growth. Less than a year later, another continues to flourish under the watch of Eyears as CEO and Peñafiel as president. Another permeates Latin America with operations in 18 countries from Peru and Argentina to Guatemala and Costa Rica. The firm is motivated by the notion that powerful communications lead to change, facilitated with a mix of research, analytics, and creativity. In 2014, the forward-looking firm was the first in the region to launch an influencer marketing offering.

Locations

Another has operations throughout Latin America including Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Performance

SEC Newgate buying a majority stake in another last November led to near-instant growth, largely due to the firm absorbing a Columbian firm owned by the Milan-based communications group. The consolidation resulted in another capping 2022 as a $30.9 million company, up from $11.7 million in 2021 — a 164% year-over-year lift. Over its 18 years in business, another has expanded its footprint with recent moves into Ecuador, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia and Uruguay, while continuing long-established operations in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Panama and Argentina. That regional infrastructure, coupled with another’s expertise in consumer, tech, pharma, tourism and corporate comms, resulted in impressive list of clients such as Samsung, Pinterest, Casa Dragones, Selina Hotels and Mercado Libre. Another’s work with beauty, consumer, entertainment, retail and technology clients was particularly robust, with those practices growing by double digits.

People & Culture

Another continues to operate independently under the watch of Eyears as CEO and Peñafiel as president. In recent months, however, the agency created a regional leadership team to foster synergies between key Latin American markets and SEC hubs in Europe, MENA and APAC — leveraging local expertise and ending the practice of leading all of another’s operations out of Mexico City. Last year, another also reviewed roles and responsibilities around value creation (client services, business development and expertise) and resource planning (HR, finance and operations), bringing more clarity about what each job entails and what is expected of employees. Key hires included São Paulo-based chief strategy officer Karina Barcellos, who previously spent 16 years at Smart PR.

Thought Leadership & Work

Another regularly publishes cultural insight reports that analyze consumer behaviors and trends, leveraging expertise and insights of company leaders such as Eyears (a member of the LatAm board for the PRCA Americas committee) and regional general manager Xochitl Bonilla, a public supporter of women’s issues such as gender equity. One of another’s goals as it grows across the region is developing and sharing best practices to advance the comms industry. The agency also has developed influencer content pieces to advise influencers and brands on how best to monetize their content, the importance of CSR for brands to connect with their audiences and how to get the metaverse right.

— Diana Marszalek

Weber Shandwick (IPG Dxtra)

Backstory

It’s always a little strange to make the case that a giant global behemoth like Weber Shandwick—the world’s second largest public relations agency—can be a disruptor. But in the case of the Mexican market at least, it’s a valid claim. In the eight short years since Weber Shandwick Mexico opened its doors with a five-person team, the firm has built itself into a 100-person operation that combines the ability to handle high-stakes corporate reputation and public affairs assignments with highly-creative consumer and digital work, that is praised by clients for both its robust data and analytics capabilities and its agile problem-solving.

Locations

Weber Shandwick now has 125 people in its Mexico City headquarters, and is part of Weber Shandwick’s vast global network, with a regional footprint that includes branded operations in Brazil and Colombia, and affiliates in Argentina, Chile and Peru.

Performance

While Weber Shandwick has perhaps outgrown the “start up” culture that enabled it to grow so rapidly in its first few years, it continues to demonstrate a hunger that fueled 12% growth in fee income last year, cementing its status as a top five firm in a market where multinationals have generally struggled. The firm represents several of Mexico´s top companies and employers such as Wal-Mart, Liverpool and Grupo Herdez among a client list that also includes multinationals such as ExxonMobil, Novartis, GM, Nintendo, Mattel, OPPO, and Nespresso. It has positioned itself as the the Latin American hub for clients such as Nintendo, Tik Tok, IBM, Oppo and Mattel. New business, meanwhile, came from the likes of PriceWaterhouse Cooper, Scotiabank, Roche, Pfizer, Nu Bank, Casa Madero, AXE (Unilever), Nivea, Movado, and Hershey´s internal comms.

People & Culture

Amanda Berenstein, who launched Weber Shandwick in Mexico seven years ago, is one of the agency’s rising stars and has been rewarded with a promotion to oversee all the company’s agencies in Mexico (Weber, Golin and Current Global). She is supported by a strong local leadership team. New hires strengthened measurement (David Pimienta) and creativity (Jan García) as well as the firm’s healthcare practice. Weber Shandwick’s global “Juice” approach to flexible working has set the bar high for other agencies during the return to the office after the pandemic lockdowns ended, and in Mexico it has been backed up with local market initiatives. And this year the firm introduced an app called “culture amp” that allows it to better gauge the team´s individual objectives, development goals and growth opportunities.

Thought Leadership & Work

United Minds, Weber Shandwick’s global management consultancy, has quickly established itself in Mexico, helping C-suite executives deliver change with a focus on internal communications and issues such as health and new work protocols. A highlight of the firm’s thought leadership work is a new Wellness Working Group, designed to expand access to mental health resources and galvanize the business community to actively support mental health. As far as award-winning work is concerned, a standout is “The Gallery of Lies” campaign, an initiative intended to empower Animal Politico, Mexico´s leading independent news platform, to authenticate news and combat misinformation, which has been recognized in global competitions. In addition, the office has handled Mattel’s Barbie “Role Models” campaign and the “All-Inclusive Runway” for Cambiando Modelos.

— Paul Holmes

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