SANTA BARBARA, CA — After an expansive multimarket review, the smart speaker company Sonos has selected three new agency partners, with Edelman nabbing the largest piece of the lucrative business, the Holmes Report has learned.

As it ends its once robust relationship with Weber Shandwick, Sonos has named Edelman its global agency of record for tech PR, which runs the gamut of the company’s tech-related focus — strategy, long-term planning, media relations and thought leadership among them, according to Pete Pedersen, VP of global communications and sustainability.

Edelman also has been tapped to handle Sonos’ tech PR in the US. Additionally, the agency will act as Sonos’ agency of record in Canada — a remit that includes handling consumer, tech, corporate and culture (or lifestyle) PR, he said.

M&C Saatchi PR, meanwhile, has been awarded the same breadth of responsibilities in the UK and Italy, while one of its units, called Hidden Characters, has been named Sonos’ PR agency partner in Australia. 

Sonos has given its Swiss business to Zurich-based Farner Consulting, Pedersen said.

Awarding the briefs caps of a lengthy and exhaustive selection process that Sonos launched in late 2017.

It also puts an end to its relationship with Weber Shandwick, with which it has worked in various capacities since 2012, Pedersen said.

Although Sonos does not have a global agency of record (the company works with an array of agencies, and prefers home-grown firms in various regions), Weber did handle some global responsibilities and was Sonos' agency of record in the UK, Australia and Canada.

Pedersen, however, said changing and growing its agency roster has become increasingly key as the company expands globally, moves into new arenas like voice-activated technology and faces new competition from big-league companies like Google, which produces a smart speaker named Max.

“It’s the nature of our business. We have grown considerably the last few years as the dynamics of the industry have changed,” he said. “It’s all consistent with us finding partners who are willing and anxious to (capture) opportunity.”