From PRWeek Agency Business Report 2023, published May 2:
Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023, the Next Fifteen Communications agency had another successful year with growth of more than 9%.
“The only way to expand into other parts of the company is on the back of already great work. We put a premium on doing everything we can to earn those opportunities and grow with our clients.”
The creative communications agency is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its founding by Margaret Booth, who is now the firm’s active working chair.
To mark the milestone, M Booth is launching a new brand campaign this spring.
“It will take our DNA further by providing a future blueprint for the agency,” promises CEO Dale Bornstein, who marks 10 years at the Next 15 firm this year.
During her tenure, M Booth has increased revenue by nearly 300% to $63.3 million. “Over the past two years, we’ve actually grown over 40%,” she says.
Growing with courage
Year-over-year growth in 2022 was 9.1%. Bornstein says the agency continued to make courageous decisions about clients it pursued in 2022, seeking those that not only share its values but also share its goal of inspiring talent by providing challenges to do interesting, meaningful and creative work, thereby nourishing the agency’s people-first culture.
“That means working with clients who don’t want to keep climbing the same mountain, but are turning to us to answer their call to scale new mountains and help move culture forward,” explains Bornstein.
Initially hired to handle one product, M Booth was awarded the entire U.S. portfolio for Bic. Beiersdorf also selected the firm in a repitch for its skincare brands in the U.S., which include Nivea, Coppertone and Eucerin.
Several wins last year were in competitive pitches from different divisions of current clients, including Google and Ernst & Young.
And Kenvue, a consumer healthcare spinoff from Johnson & Johnson — a longstanding M Booth client — hired the agency for strategy and its launch.
“The only way to expand into other parts of the company is on the back of already great work,” says Bornstein. “We put a premium on doing everything we can to earn those opportunities and grow with our clients.”
As an example, Bornstein cites its Procter & Gamble Chore Gap work for the Dawn and Swiffer brands. The campaign tackles the gendered division of unpaid household labor that typically falls on women. In its second iteration this year, M Booth is working on raising awareness of P&G updating Home EC school curriculum to Home EQ[uity], with lessons addressing the chore gap.
More than one-third (41%) of M Booth’s growth last year was from existing clients.
Staff turnover was 23%, and the agency has not mandated RTO. In March, COO Joe Hamrahi departed M Booth after 19 years. His responsibilities were absorbed by the existing team.
Headcount rose slightly to 273 people, with 39% of new hires identifying as BIPOC.
On the diversity front, the firm launched the Influencer Equity Alliance in 2022, aimed at leveling the playing field for Black and brown creators not only when it comes to pay, but also access to events and inclusion in campaigns. It includes the creation of an Influencer Equity Alliance playbook.
“This is a detailed guide for the industry that examines the end-to-end process of influencer marketing from idea conception to influencer identification, negotiation, feedback and measurement and addresses how to combat bias at every step,” Bornstein explains.
Read the full PRWeek article here.
