Taylor Herring joins Publicis Groupe UK.

Publicis Groupe UK has today announced the acquisition of Taylor Herring, one of the biggest names in the UK PR industry.

Taylor Herring will bring its unique brand of eye-catching creativity to Publicis Groupe UK, adding to the Groupe’s existing capabilities in earned and owned media.

Publicis Groupe UK has also acquired Taylor Herring’s in-house production company, St. Mark’s Studios.

The agency will join the UK Influence Practice, led by Chris McCafferty, alongside MSL, Publicis Groupe’s full service PR consultancy, and sustainability and ESG specialists, Salterbaxter.

Annette King, CEO of Publicis Groupe UK, said: “Clients are looking for transformative creativity that can spark anywhere – whether that’s through advertising, through experiences or in earned or owned media. By injecting a second agency that specialises in ‘earned first creativity’ into our business, we believe there’s a great opportunity to increase growth for our clients. Taylor Herring is the best in the business when it comes to innovative PR campaigns, and a great cultural fit.”

Chris McCafferty, CEO of Publicis Groupe UK’s Influence Practice, said: “Over the last two decades Cath, James and Pete have built an agency that’s helped define disruptive brand PR. Time after time, Taylor Herring’s powerful cultural moments and signature creativity dominate our social feeds and news pages.  It’s a truly special agency that I can’t wait to help grow.”

James Herring, CEO and Co-founder of Taylor Herring, said: “In our first decade we were the entertainment specialists, in our second we turned our attention to consumer brands. As we enter our third decade, we want to take Taylor Herring to the next level. The most progressive clients don’t ask for PR ideas or advertising ideas – they ask for brave creativity that delivers results. A lot of our work now is in owned and paid media so the opportunity to work closely with Publicis Groupe’s iconic agencies and have access to the Groupe’s capabilities is an incredible one. Taylor Herring turns 20 this year and I’m confident with this move, it’s going to be our best year yet.”

(Cath Taylor, James Herring, Chris McCafferty, Annette King and Peter Mountstevens)

Taylor Herring was founded in 2001 by wife and husband team Cath Taylor and James Herring. Peter Mountstevens joined in 2003.

Taylor Herring is one of the most famous agencies in the PR and social media industries in the UK and has won more PR Week awards in the last decade than any other agency.

The agency has won all the most prestigious awards including Cannes Lions, D&AD wood and yellow pencils, the Grand Prix at The Drum Marketing Awards, being named Campaign’s PR Agency of the Year twice in the past three years.

Taylor Herring clients include Samsung, Subway, Iceland, easyJet, Kellogg’s, Disney, Quorn, UKTV and YouTube.

As well as MSL and Salterbaxter, Taylor Herring will work closely with creative agencies Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Digitas, BBH and others and media agencies including Zenith and Starcom.

Taylor Herring engaged Tristan Rice from M&A consultancy SI Partners and law firm Osborne Clark to advise them on the acquisition.

About Publicis Groupe UK

Publicis Groupe UK is a marketing and digital transformation business, with 5,000 people working across 22 agencies. The agencies include Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Publicis Sapient, Zenith, Starcom, Digitas, MSL and Epsilon. Around the world, Publicis Groupe is present in more than 120 countries employing more than 83,000 people. Publicis Groupe is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.

About Taylor Herring

Taylor Herring is an award-winning, PR, Social Media and Influencer creative agency that delivers solid business outcomes for consumer brands through smart thinking, creativity and innovation. The agency is famous for its eye-catching, creative campaigns – which generate headlines, crash social media timelines, capture the imagination and inspire people to action. Commercially and creatively driven the agency delivers long-running PR programmes as well as high impact launch moments.