Welcome - Nic Howell, Guide editor
When new media age launched the Marketing Services Guide five years ago,we did so with the aim of providing a comprehensive directory of top-level expertise that was distinct from our long established Top 100 Interactive Agencies guide. Fast forward to 2010 and,while digital marketing has come on in leaps and bounds, the distinction between specialists and generalists hasn't gone away.
Many sectors have changed radically. In what seems a lifetime ago, search agencies once rode high on media commission. Paid search is still just as valuable for advertisers but agencies now have to work harder for their fees. Mobile has become transformed by outsiders such as Apple and Google bringing a fresh approach to content and ads in what was a notoriously fragmented world. And the world of ad networks is being changed by real-time bidding in places like ad exchanges and demand-side platforms.
Then there's social media. At a time when every agency in town claims to be a social media expert, we thought long and hard about creating a new category. But is it really a separate discipline or more of a mindset that requires knowledge in a number of techniques, from search to PR? We'll be watching the market very closely to see whether a separate category of agency has emerged by the end of this year.
Many digital agencies have excellent departments to help marketers capitalise on all these changes. But this guide lists agencies that stand or fall on their expertise in a given specialism. Given the relentless pace of change in our sector, the era of specialists isn't over yet.
HOW THE GUIDE WAS COMPILED
As with previous editions, the fifth Marketing Services Guide lists leading specialists in the fields of affiliate marketing, online ad networks, web analytics and email, mobile and search marketing. We asked agencies to select their main area of business from:
Ad networks Companies that resell ad inventory from a range of websites to other companies and agencies
Affiliate networks Companies that develop or run affiliate marketing campaigns and related services
Analytics providers Specialists in helping companies measure their webmarketing
Email agencies Companies that develop or run email campaigns and related services
Mobile agencies Companies that develop or run mobile campaigns and related services
Search agencies Companies that develop search marketing campaigns, both natural and paid, and related services
Last year we made an important change by basing many of the financial rankings on the income, or gross profit, that companies earn from their given specialism. Our aim was to bring the Marketing Services Guide into line with its sister publication, the nma Top 100 Interactive Agencies guide, aswell as other tables published by Centaur and other publishing groups. We also believe that, as the industry matures, for certain sectors turnover is becoming less indicative of what a company earns for its expertise.
We've been pleased with the way the search sector in particular has responded to this change,with by far the majority of leading names making the effort to supply the figures requested. And as some search agencies move to a performance model where they buy media at their own risk, we believe it's even more evident that gross profit is the best basis for comparison, particularly for a table that includes paid and natural search specialists.
However, the picture is still complicated for businesses that buy or sell media in volume. The ad networks that sell inventory on behalf of publishing clients have healthy sales numbers, but they also have to pay commission to these publishers, plus other third-party costs such as ad serving. They argue their turnover from sales is the most valuable yardstick to judge them by. Likewise affiliate networks' turnover is made up of what they charge clients for agreed actions. Each of these sales incurs a cost, which is what the network pays its affiliates. While the argument is finely balanced, for the purposes of this year's guide we accept that turnover is still a useful guide to the size of an ad network or an affiliate network, but will keep the situation under review.
Many companies owned by international groups are unable to disclose any financial information - as with previous years, the high proportion of US-owned analytics providers means this table is ranked alphabetically.
As the Marketing Services Guide goes from strength to strength, we hope companies will continue to support new media age in our attempt to provide readers with a dependable and meaningful guide to the most successful specialists in their chosen field.
new media age would like to thank Green Square Partners, the marketing communications business advisory and M&A practice, for advice in compiling this guide. All editorial decisions are our own.