Grayling has been named in three categories in the 2021 PRovoke EMEA agencies of the year shortlist. The prestigious Agency of the Year honours are considered the ultimate benchmark of PR firm performance, and Grayling was selected following a process involving more than 200 submissions and meetings with the best PR firms across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Our public affairs offering across EMEA has made the shortlist for Public Affairs Consultancy of the Year, with judges citing significant public affairs hires, including Joey Jones, former Sky News political editor, as well as the bolstering of our Senior Advisory Board which provides high level corporate counsel. New Grayling-owned public affairs services were also recognised, including Metis, our media and political risk service which uses advances digital forensics and senior consultants to help businesses increase resilience, the launch of EngageOnline from our stakeholder engagement team and our public affairs team’s daily Covid and Brexit client briefings. Public affairs events in the past year have included a Brexit event with trade and competition expert Shanker Singham, whilst notable work also includes working with our client Badoo on the Online Harms Bill.

Our teams in Central and Eastern Europe have been named on the shortlist for the CEE Consultancy of the Year, following a year in which Grayling achieved 4.8% growth in EMEA-wide income and 11% growth in Central and Eastern Europe, with 30% growth in Poland alone. Judges noted that the region is a competitive one, but Grayling’s broad focus, from consumer to public affairs, stood out, noting significant client wins including Primark and TikTok in Poland. Judges also cited our collaboration with AstraZeneca as an example of our work in the region, noting how the project initially started as public affairs work in Russia and subsequently moved into an integrated communications client in the Czech Republic and Croatia.

Finally, our Russia and CIS teams were named in the Russia/CIS Consultancies of the Year category, after a year in which the Russia and Ukraine offices went from strength to strength. Judges noted that, whilst the focus in the region is on public affairs, corporate and consumer work, Russia also has a particularly strong healthcare offer, working with clients including Roche and AstraZeneca. We were also recognised for significant client wins, including S7, Russia’s largest domestic airline, and Russian search engine and internet firm Yandex.

All of our teams were recognised for our agency-wide cultural initiatives, with teams in all regions working to ensure that Grayling staff worldwide feel connected to each other and the business, and that best practice and local understanding is shared across markets. Similarly, all teams were praised for their commitment to employee wellbeing over the past 12 months, as well as for the rollout of a D&I taskforce and our continuing commitment to recruiting a more diverse taskforce and nurturing an inclusive culture.

The nominations follow the announcement of the finalists for the SABRE Awards EMEA 2021, in which we were shortlisted in four categories. The winners of both the SABRE Awards and the EMEA Agencies of the Year are to be announced at a virtual ceremony on June 9^th, with tickets due to go on sale soon.