NEW YORK — IPG Dxtra’s PR agencies reported “solid single-digit” growth on an organic basis in Q3, continuing a pattern of improved quarter-by-quarter performance that re-started in 2021 after the division’s income dropped through the first year of the pandemic.

Parent Interpublic Group said the lift in business for the PR agencies — Weber Shandwick, Golin, Current Global and Rogers & Cowan PMK — helped fuel the 7.8% organic growth registered by the holding company’s larger marketing and communications segment.

Among Q3 highlights for the public relations firms include Golin winning new business from West Monroe, a Chicago-headquartered digital services firm, and Specsavers, an optical retail chain in the UK. Weber Shandwick’s new business wins included SpotHero in North America.

In addition, a fully-integrated, multi-agency Dxtra Health team, including talent from Weber Shandwick, Future Brand an Jack Health, was awarded a “significant “brand launch by life-sciences company Perkin Elmer, IPG said.


Growth in the larger segment was led overall by double-digit increases from Dxtra’s experiential and live events specialists including Jack Morton, Octagon and Momentum as consumer demand for live experiences returned post-pandemic.

“The industry is seeing budgets shift from more traditional marketing to the kinds of engaging experiences that allow consumers to build emotional connections and lasting relationships with brands, often connecting the physical and digital space. Having three of the industry’s premier global sports and brand experience companies within our organization is a point of differentiation for IPG,” IPG said in a statement.

IPG as a whole reported Q3 revenue rising 5.6% on an organic basis to $2.3 billion. Revenue for the first nine months of the year was up 8.2% on an organic basis to $6.9 billion.

“Embedding digital across the portfolio and adding a layer of data and tech to our offerings have been important parts of our playbook, as has our commitment to strong agency brands and industry-leading talent,” said CEO Philippe Krakowsky. “Our people are delivering marketing and media solutions that bring together creativity, technology and data in ways that drive growth for our clients and as we look to the future, an important area of focus will continue to be commerce and business transformation work. “

Friday’s earnings report was the second from IPG since Andy Polansky retired in June after a 38-year career with Interpublic Group and Weber Shandwick. Polansky spent the last three years of his career as chair and CEO of IPG’s Dxtra group, overseeing the holding group's PR, event and sports marketing agencies.

The group now reports to Krakowsky. There are no plans to replace Polansky at this time, IPG has said.