Loading page
Preview data: all rankings, scores, votes, refresh labels, methodology, testing and editorial-process statements in Top 49 are illustrative demo content, not live measurements or documented reviews.
Marketing · refreshed quarterly
Best PR & Communications Agencies
Media relationships and crisis discipline, judged separately from advertising creativity
Public relations and advertising are frequently discussed as one industry, but the actual skill sets are structurally distinct — media relationships, crisis response discipline and earned-media measurement matter more here than the award-driven creative metrics that dominate the advertising list. Every agency below has managed genuine reputational crises for real clients, which is the sharpest test of a PR firm’s actual value that exists, far more revealing than routine brand-building work. Billings and client-roster figures draw on public reporting and industry trade press rather than audited disclosures, since most agencies of this kind are privately held or embedded within larger holding companies.
16Entries ranked
240KReader votes
1 Jul 2026Data as of
The top three
Leading the list
Rank 01Editor’s pick
Edelman
Independent PR agency · Founded 1952
Edelman remains the largest independently owned PR firm in the world, and its long-running annual Trust Barometer study has become a genuinely influential piece of original industry research well beyond its own client work.
97.2/100 Top 49 score—No changeRank 02Editor’s pick
Weber Shandwick
Global network (IPG) · Founded 2001
Weber Shandwick was formed by merging the Weber Group and Shandwick into a single global network under Interpublic, combining two firms with deep, separately built healthcare and corporate-communications specialties.
95.0/100 Top 49 score—No changeRank 03Editor’s pick
FleishmanHillard
Global network (Omnicom) · Founded 1946
FleishmanHillard built its reputation from a St. Louis base into a genuinely global network under Omnicom, with a particularly deep public-affairs and government-relations practice that many peer firms treat as a smaller sideline.
93.7/100 Top 49 score2Down 2
Full ranking
All 16 ranked
Filter, re-sort or switch view — every combination is a shareable URL.
Showing 1–12 of 16 ranked entries.
- Rank 1. Edelman. Score 97.2 out of 100.—No change
Edelman
Independent PR agency · Founded 1952
Edelman remains the largest independently owned PR firm in the world, and its long-running annual Trust Barometer study has become a genuinely influential piece of original industry research well beyond its own client work.
- Founded
- 1952
- Headquarters
- Chicago, USA
- Structure
- Independent PR agency
97.2/100 Top 49 scoreThe largest independently owned PR agency on this list, unaffiliated with any advertising holding company.
- Rank 2. Weber Shandwick. Score 95 out of 100.—No change
Weber Shandwick
Global network (IPG) · Founded 2001
Weber Shandwick was formed by merging the Weber Group and Shandwick into a single global network under Interpublic, combining two firms with deep, separately built healthcare and corporate-communications specialties.
- Founded
- 2001
- Headquarters
- New York, USA
- Structure
- Global network
95.0/100 Top 49 score - Rank 3. FleishmanHillard. Score 93.7 out of 100.2Down 2
FleishmanHillard
Global network (Omnicom) · Founded 1946
FleishmanHillard built its reputation from a St. Louis base into a genuinely global network under Omnicom, with a particularly deep public-affairs and government-relations practice that many peer firms treat as a smaller sideline.
- Founded
- 1946
- Headquarters
- St. Louis, USA
- Structure
- Global network
93.7/100 Top 49 score - Rank 4. Ketchum. Score 91.1 out of 100.2Down 2
Ketchum
Global network (Omnicom) · Founded 1923
Ketchum has run one of the industry’s longer-standing dedicated food and nutrition communications practices, alongside a broad corporate and consumer PR business built over a century of continuous operation.
- Founded
- 1923
- Headquarters
- New York, USA
- Structure
- Global network
91.1/100 Top 49 score - Rank 5. BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe). Score 89.1 out of 100.1Up 1
BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe)
Global network (WPP) · Founded 2018
BCW was formed by merging Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe into a single WPP-owned network, combining Burson-Marsteller’s deep corporate and crisis-communications heritage with Cohn & Wolfe’s consumer and technology strengths.
- Founded
- 2018
- Headquarters
- New York, USA
- Structure
- Global network
89.1/100 Top 49 scoreFormed by merging two firms with genuinely deep, separately built crisis-communications heritages rather than growing that capability organically.
- Rank 6. Golin. Score 89 out of 100.—No change
Golin
Global network (IPG) · Founded 1956
Golin built an early and lasting reputation on the McDonald’s account, one of the longest continuously held client relationships in the PR industry, alongside a broader consumer and corporate communications practice.
- Founded
- 1956
- Headquarters
- Chicago, USA
- Structure
- Global network
89.0/100 Top 49 score - Rank 7. Zeno Group. Score 86.2 out of 100.4Down 4
Zeno Group
Global network (Daniel J. Edelman Holdings) · Founded 2001
Zeno built its identity around integrated, insight-driven storytelling across paid, earned and social channels from its founding, positioning itself explicitly as a more digitally native alternative to older, legacy-structured networks.
- Founded
- 2001
- Headquarters
- New York, USA
- Structure
- Global network
86.2/100 Top 49 score - Rank 8. Porter Novelli. Score 84.4 out of 100.2Up 2
Porter Novelli
Global network (Omnicom) · Founded 1972
Porter Novelli built a distinctive early specialty in public-health and social-impact communications, a focus area many general-purpose PR networks entered only much later in their history.
- Founded
- 1972
- Headquarters
- Washington, USA
- Structure
- Global network
84.4/100 Top 49 score - Rank 9. Hill+Knowlton Strategies. Score 83.2 out of 100.3Up 3
Hill+Knowlton Strategies
Global network (WPP) · Founded 1927
Hill+Knowlton has one of the longest and most eventful histories in the industry, including some of PR’s most heavily studied and debated corporate and public-affairs campaigns across nearly a century of continuous operation.
- Founded
- 1927
- Headquarters
- New York, USA
- Structure
- Global network
83.2/100 Top 49 score - Rank 10. APCO Worldwide. Score 80.6 out of 100.2Up 2
APCO Worldwide
Independent global network · Founded 1984
APCO remains independently owned despite operating at a genuinely global network scale, with a public-affairs and geopolitical-risk specialty that reflects its Washington, DC origins more than most peer firms.
- Founded
- 1984
- Headquarters
- Washington, USA
- Structure
- Independent global network
80.6/100 Top 49 scoreRemains independently owned despite operating at a genuinely global network scale — a rare structural position in this category.
- Rank 11. MSL. Score 80.5 out of 100.4Down 4
MSL
Global network (Publicis) · Founded 1972
MSL operates as Publicis Groupe’s dedicated PR and earned-media network, built to integrate closely with the holding company’s broader advertising and data capabilities rather than operating as a fully standalone PR firm.
- Founded
- 1972
- Headquarters
- Paris, France
- Structure
- Global network
80.5/100 Top 49 score - Rank 12. Ruder Finn. Score 78.3 out of 100.4Down 4
Ruder Finn
Independent PR agency · Founded 1948
Ruder Finn has remained independently and family-influenced in ownership for over seven decades, an unusually long run of independence at this scale, with a particular strength in arts, culture and healthcare communications.
- Founded
- 1948
- Headquarters
- New York, USA
- Structure
- Independent PR agency
78.3/100 Top 49 score
How this list is scored
Four criteria, weighted before the first entry
Crisis-management track record is weighted as a distinct, separate signal from routine brand-communications work, since it is the clearest real-world test of an agency’s actual capability under pressure.
- Media relationships 30%
- Depth and breadth of working relationships across major press and broadcast outlets.
- Crisis management 25%
- Track record managing genuine reputational crises for real clients under pressure.
- Client roster 25%
- Breadth and scale of the client roster based on public reporting.
- Measurement capability 20%
- Sophistication of earned-media measurement and reporting relative to industry norms.
Questions
About this ranking
How is PR agency work different from advertising agency work?
PR earns coverage through media relationships and story pitching rather than buying placement outright, and crisis response is a core, distinct discipline. The two industries share some holding-company owners but operate on different skills and different client expectations.
Why is crisis management weighted so heavily in this ranking?
Because it is the clearest, highest-stakes real-world test of an agency’s actual judgement under pressure, far more revealing than the routine brand-building and product-launch work that fills most of an agency’s billable time.
Do independent PR agencies compete fairly against holding-company networks here?
The criteria are scored the same way regardless of ownership structure. A smaller independent with deep, specific media relationships in one sector can outscore a larger generalist network on the criteria that matter most in this ranking.
How reliable is client-roster and billings data for PR agencies?
It draws on public reporting and trade press, not audited disclosures, since most PR agencies do not publish exact financial figures. Treat it as directional rather than precise.
Keep going
Related rankings
20 rankedTop 49 Advertising & Marketing Agencies
Creative reputation and scale, from the holding companies down to the independents
295K votesquarterly
20 rankedTrendingTop 49 Global Brands
The names that carry pricing power on reputation alone
301K votesquarterly
16 rankedBest PR & Communications Agencies
Media relationships and crisis discipline, judged separately from advertising creativity
240K votesquarterly
Explore more of Top 49
Top 49 rankings are editorial. Scores are produced from the published criteria on each list and are refreshed on the cadence stated there. Figures shown across this section are curated demonstration data.