Agency Business Report 2020: Allison+Partners
2019 seems like a decade ago, as we’re so immersed in all the challenges of this year, but we reference 2019 as the greatest year in company history. —Scott Allison
Rising 19% in the U.S. and almost 23% globally, record revenue last year gave Allison+Partners its 18th consecutive year of top-line growth. Even more impressive: None of the revenue surge came from new acquisitions.
About 66% of it was from expanded mandates from clients such as Deloitte, Denny’s, Samsung and medical genetic testing company Invitae.
“2019 seems like a decade ago, as we’re so immersed in all the challenges of this year, but we reference 2019 as the greatest year in company history,” says the firm’s cofounder, global chairman and CEO Scott Allison.
That is measured not just by growth, but touted work for Impossible Foods, including a video that spoofed the Center for Consumer Freedom’s 2020 Super Bowl ad mocking its plant-based meat; and an employee retention rate of 80%, which is impressive given the sheer size of the perennial PRWeek Best Places to Work winner.
While Allison had been pretty bullish about 2020, that was before the coronavirus and the impact it threatens to have on the economy. He is now guardedly optimistic after having also reflected back on agency history.
“The virus is a black swan — an event that no one could have predicted. We haven’t seen an impact on Q1, but as for Q2? We’ll have to wait and see,” he says.
