Social purpose and sustainability: Mapping our newest subsector

With our first data update in June 2025, we will be adding a new subsector to our collection of Data Shots – Social purpose and sustainability. Ahead of the update, we decided to take a closer look at the agencies that make up our newest subsector with a report exclusive for our subscribers. But before we could write the report, we had to map the subsector. So how did we do it and what did we find?

It’s actually about people

You’d be forgiven for assuming that, as a data-driven company, Agency by Agency is purely here for the numbers: growth percentages, employee counts, turnover and all the other metrics upon which we build our reporting. But our mapping of the agency sector also throws light on the language, actions and values of agencies. And behind all of these agencies are people. People with differing intentions, motivations, goals and ways of measuring success.

Throughout the year we spent curating our lists of agencies across the different subsectors, we explored tens of thousands of agency websites and talked to hundreds of different people from across the sector, and one thing that really stood out was the sheer number of them who are out there trying to do some good in the world.

Purpose vs profitability?

The idea behind our newest subsector – Social purpose and sustainability – was born out of these stories, especially as we began mapping the agencies and realised that there were a good number of them that did not belong in any of the other 28 subsectors we have analysed up to now. Beyond the unique nature of the offer, some of the data that emerged also had us sit up and take notice.

One key takeaway from our Social purpose and sustainability report is that these 211 agencies as a cohort have a higher growth rate than any of the other 28 subsectors we have mapped. As anyone reading this probably knows, we are in a tricky economic climate right now, and the anecdotal evidence suggests that agencies are moving away from purpose as a primary driver of what they do. However, our data suggests that perhaps this move is misguided: the agencies we have mapped in our Social purpose and sustainability subsector are not only surviving, but thriving.

How we map agency subsectors

Mapping a list of companies that fit within any of our subsectors involves using a combination of machine-learning technology supported by The Data City’s Explorer platform, and human instruction and direction. The tools are guided by our team of industry experts by finding and showing the kinds of agencies we expect to see within the subsector.

This involves our team scrutinising thousands of agency websites, eliminating inaccurate results and promoting model companies, step-by-step perfecting the list. This then goes through a quality assurance process undertaken by a different member of the team, where any remaining unsuitable agencies are removed and data or URL mismatches are corrected before the subsector is analysed.

Mapping Social purpose and sustainability

So how did we decide if an agency was an ideal candidate for our Social purpose and sustainability subsector? We were deliberately and unashamedly selective. Having B Corp certification, an ESG policy or ethical company values were a good start, but an agency had to go beyond that to make the grade. Their primary focus has to be doing social and/or environmental good. 

Mindful of greenwashing, we dug beyond the homepage. Agencies were excluded if their client lists or campaigns did not reflect their “for good” narrative. We were cautious when analysing the language that was used. For example, ‘purpose-led’ or ‘values-driven’ don’t always mean what you might initially assume.

Our list includes agencies who only deliver environmentally or socially positive campaigns, sustainability and impact agencies, behaviour change agencies who run campaigns for social good, agencies who solely work for charities and not-for-profit organisations (not just as part of their offer), and agencies who have made a commitment to exclusively work with ethical clients.

The heart of the matter

We ran one final sense check before adding an agency to the list; if we were looking for a job in an ethical company, would this agency fit the bill?

One of the things we noticed during the work to map this subsector is that fact that although there are a number of awards out there for social purpose and ethical campaigns, it is noticeable that many of these awards go to large, networked agencies who have run a social purpose campaign but don’t have it at the core of what they do. This leaves smaller agencies, who work in this sphere day-in, day-out, without the recognition they deserve.

Our Agencies for good: Social purpose and sustainability report highlights the economic impact these agencies have, how many people they employ and shows that there are different ways to measure success.

Key findings from our Social purpose and sustainability report

Our Social purpose and sustainability report explores the subsector in detail, comparing it to other subsectors we have mapped and the agency sector as a whole. Some of the key findings include:

• Social purpose and sustainability agencies have a much higher proportion of women-founded and women-led agencies 
• The subsector has a much more even spread of agency sizes 
• Only four other subsectors (of 29) are more London-centric than Social purpose and sustainability agencies
• The subsector has the highest growth rate of any of the 29 subsectors we have mapped.
• The subsector has a much higher proportion of Innovate UK grant funding when compared to its size within the agency sector
• In key financials, such as average turnover, turnover-per-head and GVA-per-head, the subsector underperforms compared to the agency sector as a whole
• This speaks to the fact that within the Social purpose and sustainability subsector, success is measured in other ways than financial results, such as social impact

In the report we explore how Social purpose and sustainability agencies measure success as well as raise questions for all agencies who are interested in adding a greater emphasis on social purpose and sustainability to their own operations.

Find out more…

Get full access to our Agencies for good: Social purpose and sustainability report by subscribing to Agency by Agency here. We have a range of subscription options available including special rates for agencies with a headcount of 1-2 people.

Buy Agencies for good as a one-off report, without a subscription.

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.

You will find information about all our data points within the report. For an overview of our methodology, the work with our partners at The Data City, and a glossary of definitions for all our data points, please take a look at our FAQs page.