Within the MARCOMS sector, education is a niche business. Many larger PR and advertising agencies claim to have some expertise, but in reality few of them do as education is not seen as an area worth investment. However, the lack of recognition by major agencies does not mean that there are not several well-known companies who seem to dominate the sector. The best-known players are:

• Mango Marketing

• Livewire PR

• EdComs

• Geronimo (part of the Tribal Group)

• Kids Connections

• Educational Connections

• The Campus Group (a subsidiary of the MAMA Group)

• NUS Services (an offshoot of the National Union of Students)

• BAM Student Marketing

This list does not include several agencies on the Education Roster of the Central Office of Information (COI). The reason is simple; while you have to be accredited to be on the roster, it does not mean that you are a player in the sector (and vice versa for those agencies who are not on this list).

While the majority of firms on our list are small independent companies, two are part of larger agency networks. EdComs have the largest affiliation via their links to Bartle Bogle and Hegarty (BBH). Nick Fuller, EdCOMS CEO, played down the benefits saying, ‘Being part of a network only helps with new business when someone (a client or agency) actually needs our expertise and so there is no guaranteed work. Quite the opposite!’. Conversely, Geronimo probably get more education-related work from their corporate affiliates within the Tribal Group.

What this shows is that educational MARCOMS is a tough and competitive market, where niche agencies have to compete with much larger companies who claim to have educational expertise. So how do these small firms compete against huge companies like Hill & Knowlton and Weber Shandwick? According to Richenda Wood, Managing Director of Livewire PR, ‘Our success is down to our in-depth knowledge of the market, curriculum, government agenda and media’.

Sue Murray of Mango Marketing has a slightly different strategy. ‘The education sector really is like no other, it has very specific requirements, linked to high-profile political goals. These require carefully tailored messaging, to ensure both relevance to the audience and successful communication of the client’s message. Because of this, all our staff have either been teachers or have an in-depth knowledge of the sector. Non-specialist agencies often make the mistake of looking at education as a single homogeneous market, when it’s not. Educating clients about the sensitivities of teachers, educationalists and parents is also key to developing effective strategy and tactics in this market’.

While understanding education seems part of each agency’s operational DNA, the companies we spoke to all said that their clients expected the same high-levels of professionalism, sophistication, and accountability from an educational agency as they do from any larger suppliers. Successful agencies seem happy to benchmark themselves against the mainstream MARCOMS community and those who think they can survive by claiming education is different and unique, are unlikely to prosper when faced with increasingly commercially astute competitors.

• www.bsumarketing.co.uk

• www.educationconnections.co.uk

• www.edcoms.com

• www.geronimocommunications.com

• www.kidsconnections.co.uk

• www.livewirepr.com

• www.mamagroup.co.uk

• www.mangomarketing.com