2024 France PR Consultancies of the Year

2024 France Consultancies of the Year

The 2024 EMEA PR Consultancies of the Year are the result of an exhaustive research process involving more than 200 submissions and meetings with the best PR firms across the UK, Europe the Middle East and Africa. Analysis of each of the Winners and finalists across 20 geographic and specialist categories can be accessed via the navigation menu to the right or below. Winners wee unveiled at the 2024 EMEA SABRE Awards, which took place in London on 17 April.

You can find the 2024 SABRE Awards EMEA winners here.

Winner

Hopscotch Groupe (Independent)

Backstory

Unlike many French PR firms, Hopscotch’s focus has always been resolutely global, bolstered by an increasingly broad mix of digital, events, influence, PR, and marketing services. The firm’s 800 employees operate across the Hopscotch brand (events, PR, travel, Décideurs, Congrès, luxury, sport), and a number of specialized agencies, including Ad Crew, Alizeum, Heaven, Human To Human, Interface Tourism, Le Public Système Cinéma, Le Public Système PR, Sagarmatha, Sopexa, Sport&Co, and UniTeam.

Locations

Based in Paris, Hopscotch now operates almost 40 offices across five continents. The agency is well-established in Continental Europe, with operations in countries like France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. It is also active in the Middle East and Africa, specifically in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco.

Performance

Hopscotch reported significant financial performance in 2023, with total PR fee income rising to €93m, a 10% increase from 2022's €86m. This was partly driven by the acquisition of influencer talent agency AD Crew, and tourism shop Interface Tourism, which expended headcount to 685 focused on PR. The agency added numerous high-profile clients in 2023, including Google, Ingenico, Valrhona, and Guerlain, joining an existing roster that features Renault, Dacia, Samsung, Accor, Relais & Châteaux, Sanofi, Danone, META, Netflix and Orange.

People & Culture

Hopscotch Groupe is highly committed to diversity and inclusion, particularly in supporting individuals with disabilities. They have committed to hiring or supporting 12 employees with disabilities in France by the end of 2024. In addition, they initiated a solidarity day in 2023, demonstrating their commitment to fostering an inclusive and supportive work environment. Key leaders include Hopscotch Decideurs MD Patricia Chapelotte, Middle East director Pierrick Moizan, Sopexa EMEA MD Anne-Sophie Hottiaux, and Interface Tourism Spain MD Maria Sanchez.

Thought Leadership & Work

Hopscotch and its agencies have created impactful campaigns for clients like LATAM Airlines and European Mushrooms, managed complex campaigns for CNIEL, a French dairy association, and generated buzz and engagement for Shiseido WASO, a skincare brand, and Les Etoiles du Sport, a sports event. The firm’s collaboration with GIFAS, an aerospace industries group, showcased its expertise in handling high-stakes, industry-specific PR challenges. In terms of thought leadership, Hopscotch has stepped up investment in three core areas: tourism and F&B (bolsted by the earlier acquisition of Sopexa); sport (three acquisitions in 2022); and AI.

— Arun Sudhaman

Finalists

Jin (Independent)

Backstory

Founded in 2012 by Edouard Fillias, Alexandre Villeneuve and Romain Boudre, who recognised the opportunity to build a next generation agency focused on digital marketing, technology and influence, Jin has rapidly establishes itself as a leader in France—while developing its international reach and outlook. After raising €3 million in private equity funding in 2021, the firm made its first acquisition, buying Opinion Act—a community analysis and digital strategy specialist—in 2022. Jin works with clients in sectors including health, finance and food, is now structured around five divisions: corporate reputation; social media brand building; media relations, plus two new units focusing on data and insights, and digital strategy.

Locations

Jin has a presence in France, the UK, and Germany, employing 120 employees across four locations, and serving 200 clients. The Opinion Act merger created a digital influence consulting capability across the continent.

Performance

Jin’s leadership in areas such as data and analytics and artificial intelligence positioned it perfectly for a year in which clients wanted to see hard-core metrics and to understand the changing PR technology landscape, and fees increased from €12 million to €14.5 million. The expansion of Jin’s capabilities in community activation, reputation, and influence analysis also made a significant contribution, as did a new focus on “responsible influence” and the launch of Jin Health. The firm continued its work with high-profile clients such as Crédit Agricole, SNCF, Ferrero, Bouygues, Schneider Electric, Arkema, Lilly, and Getty Images, while new business came from EDF, RailEurope, De Longhi, ESET, DS Smith, Black & Decker, Lundbeck, and CILcare.

People & Culture

Edouard Filias, Jin founder and influence and reputation specialist, continues to lead the firm as CEO, alongside Opinion Act founder Caroline Faillet, now managing director. They were joined in 2023 by a series of senior hires, including new managing director Jonathan Bros, former CEO of of Agence Proches; general manager Anne Le Brouster; and deputy general manager of the social media team Thibaut Cherchar. Jin's culture is highly focused on diversity and inclusion, with specific policies supporting employees with parental responsibilities, and wellbeing initiatives like yoga classes, gym subsidies, and support for soft mobility.

Thought Leadership & Work

Jin has demonstrated thought leadership through the production of insightful materials such as the book “The 21st Century Leader: The War is Just Beginning” and the report “#Activ!st: Study of Trends in Online Associative Activism”. The agency also launched its AI by Jin offer in 2023, aimed at training communication departments in AI tools and processes. The firm partnered with Italian confectionery brand Ferrero on an influencer and social media campaign featuring tennis star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; produced “A very Bouygues Summer" campaign for the diversified services group; and helped healthcare laboratory Cerba communicate key messages to its stakeholders.

— Diana Marszalek

Monet + Associés (France/Independent)

Backstory

Our 2023 France Consultancy of the Year, Monet’s positioning reflects its focus on creating engagement, which has helped it develop into one of France’s leading PR firms, with 140 staffers providing corporate and consumer counsel to clients in the healthcare, kids/toys, food and tourism sectors—underpinned by particularly strong expertise in content, influencer marketing, social media, paid media, and data/analytics—the latter supplemented by newly-developed measurement capabilities, reflecting Monet’s 360-degree approach to communication.

Locations

Headquartered in Paris, the firm operates three further offices in Lyon, Nantes and Bordeaux.

Performance

On the heels of two remarkable years, Monet’s revenues were up by nearly 20% last year, to €16.5 million, enough for it to rank among the top independents in France, where local firms continue to outperform the vast majority of the multinational operations. It added an impressive list of new clients last year including Visa, Lime, Honor, HTC, Mars Petcare, Popeyes, Back Market, McIntosh and Heinz, while continuing robust relationships with the likes of Casio, Bosch, Danone, Siemens, Roche, Pilot, Vicat, Merck, Yamaha and New Balance.

People & Culture

Julian Monet took over as CEO in 2009, succeeding his mother Sophier, who founded the firm. The leadership team includes talent recruited from some of the market’s most successful agencies including associate Veronique Bourgeois, who joined from Publicis 13 years ago, and general manager Amaury Bataille, who previously spent more than a decade as commercial director at Dior Perfumes. A key new hire was brand manager Blandine de Roaldès, a media relations expert with expertise in the food sector.

Thought Leadership & Work

The launch this year of a network of independent group of comms agencies, Ceetadel, reflects Monet’s forward-thinking approach to maximizing service and opportunity. The firm’s notable 2023 work included its “Irrational Love” campaign for Heinz, which used food trucks, influencers and “a touch of craziness” to drive brand recognition. Monet supported the launch of Popeyes in France with a 100-day, multi-pronged effort that saw immediate results in the form of 1,800 customers per day.

— Diana Marszalek

Ogilvy PR (WPP)

Backstory

Ogilvy’s Paris office holds a rather special place in the firm’s heart, as the city was one of iconic founder David Ogilvy’s homes before he moved to the US and founded his agency in 1948, and he returned to France for his retirement. Ogilvy’s PR work in France has been nothing short of transformed over the past year, with a shift from the country’s traditional media relations approach to a focus on earned-first creativity and influence, under the leadership of Pierre-Hubert Meilhac, VP of Ogilvy Paris and director of PR & Influence, and deputy director Claire Mariat. The Paris office has become a continental earned creative hub for major European and global consumer and corporate clients, and is also a hotbed of innovation, including pioneering thought leadership and measurement tools on ‘responsible influence’ – showing the impact of influencers on communities, business and the environment – that will be rolled out across the EMEA network.

Locations

Ogilvy’s French office is based in Paris, and the team works with the wider EMEA network of 63 offices across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Performance

The overall PR business at Ogilvy Paris grew by high single digits, but growth of its work around influence is thought to be closer to 20%. The agency – which has around 30 PR consultants, plus strategists and a creative team – works with a wide range of clients, including Tinder, Ikea, Aldi, Electrolux, Ford and Tata Consulting Services. The growth of PR and influence work in France has contributed to Ogilvy PR across EMEA now making up something like 17% of total Ogilvy revenue in the region, up substantially on previous years.

People & Culture

At the start of this year, Ogilvy Paris promoted creative director Benjamin Bregeault to executive creative director, working across PR and influence, as well as brand advertising work. He will work alongside the firm’s other ECD, David Raichman, who leads on digital and AI in Paris and is also the experience creative lead for Ogilvy across EMEA. Across the EMEA network, Ogilvy prides itself on its inclusive culture. The core pillars of Ogilvy’s DEI strategy across EMEA are ensuring its people are collectively a reflection of the societies in which they live and work and talent management practices are experienced as fair, inclusive and demonstrate the agency’s commitment to diversity. This extends to client work: the team endeavours to ensure that casting and insights for creative output reflect a modern multicultural society, has banished stereotypes from all creative work, and is mindful that its work contributes to societal inclusion, celebration of diversity and empowering minorities and non-dominant groups and voices. These pillars inform an annual scorecard, which in 2023 showed 91% of people are proud to work at Ogilvy PR, 85% claim they can be their authentic self at work and 86% valued the agency’s diversity.

Thought Leadership & Work

Ogilvy's influence product suite expanded with iCommerce, harnessing social selling and ecommerce, and Business Influence, facilitating B2B influencer marketing. Ogilvy Paris also introduced the Influence Impact ScOre, assessing creators’ positive impact, aligning with growing demands for responsible influence. With France at the forefront of legislation around responsible influence, the Paris team is involved with the French government to develop this pioneering method to measure creators' commitment to performance, people and planet and ensuring creators and brands prioritise community empowerment, responsible consumption, and environmental commitment. France serves as a test market, with plans for regional expansion, solidifying Ogilvy's leadership in responsible influence. Ogilvy was shortlisted for six EMEA SABRE awards this year across EMEA. Its multi-award-winning PR work in Paris last year included the Van Life campaign for Ford.

— Maja Pawinska Sims

Weber Shandwick (Interpublic Group)

Backstory

Weber Shandwick’s story in France in recent years is one of impressive recovery and turnaround. Five years ago, the office was losing money and at the bottom of the network’s EMEA market list. But under the leadership of CEO Éloi Asseline, previously with Lewis and M&C Saatchi, the French operation has been transformed, bringing its new positioning as the go-to strategic and creative agency in the French market to life with strengths across corporate reputation management, digital, consumer PR, healthcare – where it now has one of the strongest client portfolios in the country – and technology, as well as an expanded public affairs capability. The results have been notable not just in business terms but in peer recognition: Weber Shandwick was the most awarded PR agency in France in 2023, and the only French PR agency to win a Cannes Lions as lead creative agency.

Locations

From its headquarters in Paris, Weber Shandwick France has access to the extensive regional and global resources of its parent company.

Performance

While smaller than Weber Shandwick’s flagship EMEA operations in the UK, Germany, and the Middle East, the French business has become a significant contributor, having grown revenues by around 35% over the past three years and with mid-single-digit growth in 2023. Health and corporate performed particularly strongly. The agency had an 80% pitch conversation rate in France, with new business won from Pinterest, Cooper Vision, Dyson, Weber BBQ, and Solina, joining a client roster that includes Purina, Iberdrola, Frida, Nestlé and Sanofi.

People & Culture

Weber Shandwick France introduced new inclusive policies around fertility and menstrual leave last year, and scored 89/100 on the European Institute for Gender Equality’s Index. After refreshing its approach to talent and its employee value proposition across EMEA in 2022, TWSC continued its focus on DE&I, with a new talent attraction model, hybrid working, a new listening strategy, the introduction of the Culture Amp employee experience app, the Access All Areas mobility programme, the EMEA ‘Sideboard’, which allows younger employees from across the region to bring the issues of the day to the main board, a region-wide celebration of Inclusion Week, and mental health programme Open Minds, alongside a partnership with mental health resource This Can Happen. The IPG Belong survey showed that 82% of the team across EMEA feel respected, 81% feel they can be themselves at work, and 75% feel cared about.

Thought Leadership & Work

The Weber Shandwick Collective’s biggest piece of thought leadership in EMEA for 2023 was The Earned Effect study, in partnership with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. The research showed campaigns that generate sustained coverage and conversation over the long term tend to achieve more significant business impact, and this led to the development of the Earned Impact Value measurement tool, which is being used across the EMEA network, including France. The agency’s innovative, multi-award-winning ‘Turnstile Turbines’ campaign for renewable energy company Iberdrola in 2022 – a takeover of a Paris Metro station where the team worked with engineers to turn ticket turnstiles into a renewable energy source – has continued momentum worldwide, leading to enquiries from the Premier League, Mall of America and Metro de Santiago and a patent application in progress. The agency’s work for maternity brand Frida to destigmatise breastfeeding in public, ‘The Uncover’ won the Gold AYA Inclusion Award at Cannes, and two creatives from Paris team also won the national Young PR Lions competition.

— Maja Pawinska Sims

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