The “Golden Hundred of Russian Digital” rating is the top of all segments of the digital agency industry: web development, SEO, contextual advertising, PR, SMM, mobile development, comprehensive digital services. The rating was topped by the Grape agency.
The CPU publishes the top ten list and the main industry trends noted by project representatives. The full list of 100 agencies is on the project website.
Grape moved up one position - last year the first place was occupied by iConText, which this year lost five positions at once.
The following agencies dropped out of the top ten: Red Keds (from fourth place in 2014 to 16th place in 2015), iMedia (from fifth place to 12th), Digital BBDO / Proximity (from sixth place to 12th), Ashmanov and Partners (from eighth place at 19).
The greatest rise among the agencies included in the top 10 list was shown by Artics Internet Solutions - last year it took 48th place, and this year it immediately rose to seventh position.
Assessment of the market situation
Based on its market research, analytical data and interviews with major agency executives, Ruward has identified several trends impacting the industry in 2015:
- Sharp changes in the currency and stock markets, foreign economic and foreign policy risks create a high level of uncertainty in the digital communications market. The percentage of clients “refusing” work under current and new, just signed contracts is increasing, budgets are flowing from one client industry to another, and agencies often themselves aggravate the situation on an emotional level.
- Most agencies show stagnation or slight growth in turnover, although they describe the prospects for the development of their business quite optimistically (at the same time, a number of agencies have already faced really serious financial problems). Almost all agency representatives noted the rapid growth of accounts receivable for work already completed.
- The key trend is “measurability”. Measurability of metrics by channel, ROI and other KPIs, the entire process of interaction between the agency and the client.
- The development of the Performance Based Marketing ideology has become noticeable. The attention of large agencies to CRM/eCRM tools and the building up of competencies in this area has also increased, as well as the active development of RTB tools and the Programmatic Buying ideology.
- The active process of mergers and acquisitions, which actively manifested itself last year, continues. The crisis contributes to the unification of complementary agencies (due to possible cost reduction), and the multidirectional vectors for growth and decline among various agencies only fuel the attractiveness of takeovers and acquisitions of smaller agencies by large players.
- Just like last year, SaaS services are intensifying pressure on the segment of small agencies operating in the low price range.
- For several years in a row, due to the constant rotation of personnel from agencies to clients, the level of competence of the end customer has been increasing.
The list of the most pressing problems of the agency market, according to the creators of the top, remains almost unchanged: low barrier to entry into the market, large rotation of “one-day agencies”, finely dispersed distribution of players (more than 10 thousand operating agencies in Russia), low average level of customer service and support, a weak level of strategic expertise, and a frequent lack of competence in the agencies’ own marketing aspect. The shortage of personnel and the general level of overheated wages are gradually declining.
The rating is based on 56 different local tops published during 2014 by various market analytical structures. The calculation of points is based on two parameters - the agency’s place in ratings for all market segments and the assessment of these ratings by the Ruward project team (its representativeness, popularity, independence). Methodology details
Digital technologies have long since become firmly established in the life of modern people - this is what explains the emergence of numerous digital agencies offering services in a wide variety of areas of human activity.
Digital agencies develop all kinds of Internet resources and actively promote them, organize exciting advertising campaigns, are not afraid to work with narrow categories of clients, and constantly research and improve both their work skills and modern Internet technologies. However, not all of them can boast of the same productivity and success - some agencies quickly break into the top of the most popular, while others remain known only to a small circle of clients. What does the rating of popular digital agencies look like?
Digital agencies for contextual advertising
- ADLABS. This agency works with leaders of various industries and with medium-sized businesses, as well as with fast-growing companies, offering them effective contextual advertising aimed at brand recognition and sales growth. Having chosen the most effective channels for attracting clients, agency specialists immediately develop a further strategy, gradually expanding the acquisition channels used and increasing the growth of conversions. Within the company's walls, a whole range of important analytical studies are constantly carried out, aimed at increasing the effectiveness of not only the advertising campaigns themselves, but also acting as the most important tool for website sales.
- Beavers Brothers. The scope of activity of this digital agency is very extensive: they will not only help you create and post any content (in the form of a wide variety of videos: product videos, advertising videos, viral videos, story films or popular explainers), but also develop the necessary web or graphic design, all kinds of mobile applications, games or websites. The agency’s specialists also successfully promote contextual advertising and UX analytics: they will definitely help you create a working unit economics model, a marketer’s dashboard or a roadmap of changes, and will also give valuable recommendations in any of the above areas.
- ArrowMedia. Performance marketing, online advertising and analytics are the three pillars on which the activities of the ArrowMedia agency are based. They have been involved in contextual advertising since 2004, so the company can always offer effective solutions to improve the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Accurate identification of the most popular queries, keywords and the most profitable advertising sources allows you to quickly achieve good conversion and increase business profitability.
WEB development agencies
- SCAID. The SKAID agency creates all kinds of websites (promotional websites, corporate websites, etc.), interactive systems and multimedia, for which they develop their own unique corporate style and design. At SKAID, progressive consulting expertise is harmoniously combined with the broadest technological competencies and incredibly rich experience of employees in the field of usability and design. They also offer clients a comprehensive promotion program that allows them to attract maximum attention to their products and brand. By the way, it was the SKAID agency that gained fame as the golden partner of 1C-Bitrix, since every single employee of the company successfully passed the appropriate certification!
- VBI. This agency is developing modern functional websites based on advanced 1C-Bitrix technologies, which guarantee clients not only a developed reporting system and e-mail marketing, but also convenient product management, as well as a sales personalization system. And our own end-to-end analytics system allows us to achieve the most positive results. Dozens of successfully implemented projects combined with many years of experience have allowed the VBI agency to become one of the best agencies in the Russian performance sector.
- AGIMA. The activities of the digital agency AGIMA are based on complex development and subsequent integration for the media, e-commerce and financial companies. They are not afraid of high loads and large corporate implementations, and currently this is the only full digital production agency in Russia that has managed to obtain the status of a certified Google Analytics partner. The company's programmers, planners and designers have extensive experience in the digital field, which allows them to offer each client only the most optimal solutions. And constantly conducted quantitative and qualitative research helps specialists not only better understand the essence of the client’s business, but also develop effective solutions for the long term.
Digital design agencies
- BINN. Creation and design of various web services, online stores, corporate websites and high-load sites designed for a huge number of visits - these are the working priorities of the BINN digital agency. The company’s specialists will always help you publish the necessary content, as well as offer high-quality hosting and set up advanced Internet marketing and web analytics systems on client sites, allowing the latter to understand whether their sites need modernization.
- CreativePeople. They are actively involved in branding, creating websites, interfaces and advertising, as well as developing numerous promising projects in the digital sphere. Another progressive area of activity of the CreativePeople agency is the creation of advertising illustrations, or rather, entire series of advertising illustrations. Clients really like the unusual advertising images offered to their attention, and therefore the agency constantly receives large orders for interesting special projects. That is why key rating agencies have been giving the status of leader in web development, advertising and design to the digital agency CreativePeople for five years in a row!
- AIC + QSOFT. The work of this first Russian service design agency, created back in 1998, is based on modern approaches to design, design and analytics. Currently, the portfolio of the digital agency AIC + QSOFT includes over two hundred successfully implemented projects and more than sixty honorary awards in both major Russian competitions and international nominations. They are not afraid of complex technological solutions and always take into account the preferences and wishes of customers.
Agencies specializing in the sale of advertising on social networks
Agencies for developing effective business strategies
- Isobar Russia. The company's specialists will certainly help you create effective and fundamental business strategies that contribute to achieving the best business results, while they assume responsibility for the entire chain of this process, from the inception of the idea to the very moment of production or media coverage. The company is no stranger to analytical activities - quite solid databases are constantly processed here. And the digital agency Isobar Russia develops websites and helps clients integrate their brand into cartoons using a wide variety of digital tools!
- RTA. To build and subsequently implement full-scale business strategies, the RTA agency successfully uses the entire range of existing advertising tools. Launching new products, constant growth of brand metrics, competitive analysis, creating seamless advertising campaigns and increasing sales - with RTA, all this becomes a more than achievable goal. This agency is trusted by more than a hundred major companies, and this is a serious indicator of the effectiveness of its work. Currently, the RTA agency positions itself as a full-service digital agency, in which performance marketing is organically combined with creativity.
- Artics Internet Solutions. Here they develop and implement comprehensive business and marketing strategies that can significantly increase any measurable and objective business indicators. Strategic planning of advertising campaigns, search engine marketing and constant analytics make it possible to build the most optimal business models and achieve the best results when promoting client products. And achieving such results is greatly helped by the proprietary development of Artics Internet Solutions - a unique AdTrack system that allows you to manage the progress of advertising campaigns, as well as optimize them and evaluate their effectiveness.
Respondents selected from among marketing department specialists were asked to complete an online survey.
The questionnaire consists of a presentation block, general questions on the use of digital tools, determining the level of knowledge (with a hint)/cooperation and a qualitative assessment of specific contractors in 12 segments.
FIRST BLOCK provides for obtaining necessary and sufficient identification information, as well as clarifying the level and profile of a specialist’s activity, social demographic characteristics and education received:
- Last name, first name
- Company name
- Field of activity
- Age
- Position
- Education
On SECOND STAGE Followed by questions on the use of digital tools in the marketing budget in the dynamics of 2016-2017.
In order for respondents to act within a single conceptual field, formulations are given of what is meant by this or that type of service.
BASIC DEFINITIONS ADOPTED IN THE STUDY
Planning and purchasing banner placement. Includes display advertising (media), text and graphic blocks and media-contextual banners.
Services for website promotion in search engines
· Creativity and strategy
Development of an idea for an Internet campaign, as well as proposals for its implementation
· Web Production & Support
Design, design and development of Internet projects and services, including corporate and promotional websites, e-commerce, landing pages. Services for the support and development of Internet projects: operational support, functionality improvements, content marketing.
· Mobile Marketing
· Mobile Production
Design, design and development of projects in the mobile environment, mobile applications, services, etc.
· Digital PR/SMM
Services for working with groups, applications on social networks, creating and seeding viral content, working with bloggers and opinion leaders on the network.
· Lead generation
Services for organizing direct contact with potential buyers or providing information about consumers (demographic, contact, behavioral). Companies in the rating are divided into agencies and specialized services (technologies).
· Programmatic Buying
Technologies for automated media placements that use big data from users, mathematical algorithms for purchasing audiences, predictors for predicting conversion and the auction principle of forming bids for advertising impressions (RTB). Companies in the rating are divided into agencies and specialized services (technologies).
· Direct Marketing/CRM
Development, design and support of customer relationship management systems, including specialized solutions in the field of email marketing: E-mail Sending Platform, Marketing Platform and Telecom / SMS Platform.
On THIRD STAGE knowledge (induced) of agent brands in all examined examinations is determined, as well as experience and share of cooperation (market share).
Knowledge with a hint(induced) was clarified on the basis of pre-compiled lists. The pool of participants was based on the results of the 2015 study. Respondents reserve the right to include up to five companies outside the proposed list in the ranking.
Cooperation experience over the past two to three years, in addition to the formation of the corresponding rating, is the starting point for constructing a further scenario for a qualitative survey.
The “Golden Hundred of Russian Digital” rating is the top of all segments of the digital agency industry: web development, SEO, contextual advertising, PR, SMM, mobile development, comprehensive digital services. The rating was topped by the Grape agency.
The CPU publishes the top ten list and the main industry trends noted by project representatives. The full list of 100 agencies is on the project website.
Grape moved up one position - last year the first place was occupied by iConText, which this year lost five positions at once.
The following agencies dropped out of the top ten: Red Keds (from fourth place in 2014 to 16th place in 2015), iMedia (from fifth place to 12th), Digital BBDO / Proximity (from sixth place to 12th), Ashmanov and Partners (from eighth place at 19).
The greatest rise among the agencies included in the top 10 list was shown by Artics Internet Solutions - last year it took 48th place, and this year it immediately rose to seventh position.
Assessment of the market situation
Based on its market research, analytical data and interviews with major agency executives, Ruward has identified several trends impacting the industry in 2015:
- Sharp changes in the currency and stock markets, foreign economic and foreign policy risks create a high level of uncertainty in the digital communications market. The percentage of clients “refusing” work under current and new, just signed contracts is increasing, budgets are flowing from one client industry to another, and agencies often themselves aggravate the situation on an emotional level.
- Most agencies show stagnation or slight growth in turnover, although they describe the prospects for the development of their business quite optimistically (at the same time, a number of agencies have already faced really serious financial problems). Almost all agency representatives noted the rapid growth of accounts receivable for work already completed.
- The key trend is “measurability”. Measurability of metrics by channel, ROI and other KPIs, the entire process of interaction between the agency and the client.
- The development of the Performance Based Marketing ideology has become noticeable. The attention of large agencies to CRM/eCRM tools and the building up of competencies in this area has also increased, as well as the active development of RTB tools and the Programmatic Buying ideology.
- The active process of mergers and acquisitions, which actively manifested itself last year, continues. The crisis contributes to the unification of complementary agencies (due to possible cost reduction), and the multidirectional vectors for growth and decline among various agencies only fuel the attractiveness of takeovers and acquisitions of smaller agencies by large players.
- Just like last year, SaaS services are intensifying pressure on the segment of small agencies operating in the low price range.
- For several years in a row, due to the constant rotation of personnel from agencies to clients, the level of competence of the end customer has been increasing.
The list of the most pressing problems of the agency market, according to the creators of the top, remains almost unchanged: low barrier to entry into the market, large rotation of “one-day agencies”, finely dispersed distribution of players (more than 10 thousand operating agencies in Russia), low average level of customer service and support, a weak level of strategic expertise, and a frequent lack of competence in the agencies’ own marketing aspect. The shortage of personnel and the general level of overheated wages are gradually declining.
The rating is based on 56 different local tops published during 2014 by various market analytical structures. The calculation of points is based on two parameters - the agency’s place in ratings for all market segments and the assessment of these ratings by the Ruward project team (its representativeness, popularity, independence). Methodology details
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