PERTH’S ever-shrinking pool of big brands hasn’t held back the renewal of the advertising industry, with seven of the top 20 agencies 10 years old or younger, according to the data compiled for the WA Business News ‘Book of Lists.’
Four-year-old Red Meets Blue is the newest agency to make it into the top 20, closely followed by Concept Marketing, which opened its doors in 2005.
And despite the tough retail conditions and fierce competition for advertising work in Perth, half of the top 10 agencies have increased their staffing numbers, with Gatecrasher Advertising growing by one third from 30 to 40 employees.
This expansion has catapulted Gatecrasher up the rankings from eighth position to fourth, level pegging with Linc.
303 Group has also bolstered its team with the addition of 13 new employees, taking its total Perth staff to 73, and The Brand Agency has added five new staff members in the past year.
Marketforce Advertising remains the biggest agency by size and age, having started back in 1974, but it only added one new employee since the last survey.
The expansions are likely to reflect the industry’s big investment in digital capability in the past year as the pendulum swings back in favour of the full-service advertising agency.
The data has also pointed to the migration of the advertising industry away from its traditional heartland of West Perth to Subiaco.
Five of the top 10 agencies call Subiaco home compared with just three that are domiciled in West Perth. However, two of those three are the top two agencies by size – Marketforce and The Brand.