The February PR Pitch & MA Review

Ben Smith and Andrew Bloch reviewed the UK PR pitch and M&A market in February, noting that the pitch market was "steadier" with clients taking longer to decide, while agency M&A was "booming" with high demand and competition driving up prices for agencies around the £20 million enterprise value, especially those leveraging AI. PR pitch wise we saw significant client wins for Edelman, Words and Pixels, Brazen, W, and Hope&Glory, and key acquisitions included Resident acquiring Okay Cool, Future Group acquiring Alfred's assets, Kink acquiring Lobby PR, Havas acquiring a 51% stake in Acento, and Source Code acquiring Rally Point. WPP's strategy was discussed, as it shifts into four unified business units, including WPP Creative under which PR brands will sit.