Riding the waves: Mapping the Class of 2015

What does a ten-year-old agency look like? Who has come through the last decade with all its challenges and out the other side? The agency sector has changed a lot over the past ten years, from the impact of a global pandemic to the rise of AI, so let’s explore the agencies that have made it this far: The Class of 2015

Through our mapping of the UK agency sector, we are able to take a look at different groups of agencies in different ways. We can explore all agencies in Scotland, for example. Or Direct marketing agencies with an annual growth rate of over 10%. Or women-led agencies with a turnover of over £3m.

With the publication of our first Agency by Agency Industry Report (preview here), it got us thinking about the developments and changes to the sector over the past ten years. And that led us, in turn, to think about those agencies in our sector who are reaching double figures this year. The Class of 2015. We thought we’d delve into the data for this cohort of agencies, the 1350 agencies in our sector mapping who were born exactly a decade ago. 

Here’s what we found…

Lower overall growth but higher proportion of fast growing agencies

When looked at as a whole, the Class of 2015 agencies are showing an average annual growth of 6%, which is lower than the agency sector average as published in our Industry Report (Spring 2025) of 7.3%. But as always when looking at growth rates in our mapping, the devil is in the detail.

With our ‘Growth Traffic Light’, we divide the Class of 2015 by their growth rate: Shrinking Fast, Shrinking, Stable, Growing, and Growing Fast. When looking at these percentages, we can see that while the cohort as a whole is growing slower than the sector average, there is a higher proportion of the Class of 2015 that are Growing or Growing Fast (22.45%) than across the agency sector as a whole (20.16%).

Higher proportion of smaller agencies but greater overall productivity 

When looking at the size of agencies that have been in business since 2015, we can see that of those turning ten this year, there is a higher proportion of smaller agencies than across the sector as a whole. Of all the agencies that we have mapped, 9.1% have a turnover of over £1m, a number that falls to 6.5% when we look solely at the Class of 2015.

Something similar can be observed when measuring the size of an agency by headcount. Out of all agencies, 8.4% of all agencies have a headcount of 21 or over, but only 6.5% of the Class of 2015.

One of the really interesting findings around the Class of 2015 is when it comes to the topic of productivity, and in particular the Gross-Value-Added of the agencies in the cohort. The UK agency sector as a whole has a GVA contribution to the wider economy of £20.5bn, which results in a GVA per-employee of £77,438. Within the cohort of agencies founded in 2015, however, the GVA per employee greatly outstrips the sector average at £90,064.

“The stand out result in this report is the GVA contribution per employee, showing the significant contribution being made by the Class of 2015. The findings on agency size and subsector are also interesting, as they pose significant questions about the types of agencies that made it through the past ten years and all the challenges of the decade.”

Chris Bantock, The Agency Adventure

Subsectors mirror all agencies but divergence when it comes to employees

As with our Data Shots for the agency sector as a whole, we can divide the Class of 2015 into subsectors based on services offered:

When looking at the number of agencies in any given subsector as a percentage of the whole, the Class of 2015 mirror quite closely the overall UK agency sector. However, when we mapped the number of employees working for Class of 2015 agencies within each subsector, we could see quite a divergence between the ten-year-old agencies and the sector as a whole.

The subsectors that have a notably higher proportion of total employees in the Class of 2015 agencies compared to the agency sector as a whole include:

• Conversion
  0.8% of Class of 2015 employees compared to 0.4% of all employees.
• Creative and advertising
  17.3% of Class of 2015 employees compared to 12.8% of all employees.
• Digital product design
  11.6% of Class of 2015 employees compared to 8.5% of all employees
• PR and communications
  16% of Class of 2015 employees compared to 11.3% of all employees

At the same time, there were a number of subsectors with a notably lower proportion of Class of 2015 employees compared to employees across all agencies:

• Amazon/Marketplace
  0.1% of Class of 2015 employees compared to 0.6% of all employees
• Customer experience
  0.3% of Class of 2015 employees compared to 2% of all employees
• Direct marketing
  0.9% of Class of 2015 employees compared to 2.7% of all employees
• Market research
  1.4% of Class of 2015 employees compared to 6.8% of all employees
• Search and performance 
  6.4% of Class of 2015 employees compared to 11.6% of all employees

When we delve deeper into the founding dates of the agencies we have mapped in each subsector, we can see that the divergence around the Class of 2015 is split between the subsectors where the majority of agencies were founded BEFORE 2015 (66% of Market research agencies, 60% of Direct marketing agencies, and 60% of Customer experience agencies) and those where the majority of agencies were founded AFTER 2015 (75% of Amazon/Marketplace agencies and 55% of Search and performance agencies).

More women-founded agencies but less variation in leadership roles

In our mapping of the agency sector, we define a women-founded agency as one with at least one woman director within the first two years after incorporation. A women-led agency is one that currently has more women directors than men.

Within the Class of 2015, 29.4% of agencies are regarded as women-founded, as compared to 26.9% across the agency sector as a whole. However, by the time we look at these agencies ten years later, we can see that the numbers more closely resemble sector-wide averages. The percentage of women-led agencies within the Class of 2015 is 19.9%, compared to 19.4% across the entire agency sector, and the overall number of women directors in Class of 2015 agencies is 30.7%, almost identical to the 30.8% across the sector as a whole.

What questions would you like answered?

As you can see with this dive into the data of agencies founded in 2015, we can map and explore the agency sector in a number of different ways. To access all our reports for the next year and our benchmarking Data Shots into 28 agency subsectors (updated quarterly), you can explore our subscription options here.

If you have specific questions you’d like answering, our commissioned reports and bespoke research can help, tailored to your needs and for your exclusive use. You can find out more about our bespoke research and all our products here.