Marco

Spain, Portugal

Didier Lagae founded Marco (formerly Marco de Comunicación) in 2002, after a career that included senior roles at progressive icons Body Shop and Levi Strauss and global agencies Edelman and Weber Shandwick, and it is fair to say that his ambition was apparent from the new firm’s early days, when it was a scrappy newcomer disrupting Spain’s established market leaders. It now ranks among those market leaders, though the challenger culture remains and drives both its performance and its culture of innovation. 

The bulk of Marco’s business is in the Iberian region, with substantial offices in Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon, but the firm has been expanding its international footprint in recent years and now has operations in several European capitals as well as in Latin America. Last year was its best to date: revenues grew to €13.5 million despite the sale of its African operations to their previous owner, and profit margins were at record levels. Carmela, the video production house that Marco took a majority stake in two years ago, generated seven figure revenues, and Marco’s owned business media outlet, Ejecutivos, deliveredits fourth documentary El Boom, focused on talent and leadership.

New business in the consumer brand portfolio included expanded services for Canva (covering Europe and Latin Aerica), and wins such as Pringles, AirUp, Wikimedia, LIDL and Chilenut. The reputation division picked up assignments across MENA and sub-Saharan Africa from the European Investment Bank and added clients such as the European Banking Authority, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, European Securities and Markets Authority, Silbo Telco, Perplexity, the industry fair Vivatech, Amadeus, Kyndryl, the Marrakech Airshow, as well as adding crisis work and public affairs assignments from Peugeot for the Stellantis group.

The firm also continued to set the standard for thought leadership with the second season of the docuseries “New Communication Frontier,” now available on Amazon Prime Video, and the continuation of its annual “New Consumer Report,” surveying consumer trends in 11 key markets. The year also saw the launch of “Beyond Communication,” a monthly video podcast co-produced with Marketing Directo, the leading marketing media platform in Spain. And there was award-winning creative work for clients such as Iberdrola, Santander, Carrefour, Friends of Glass, the European Patent Office, Subway, Orlando, J&B, the World Avocado Organization and Barbie for Mattel.—PH