Report by Donna Imperato, chief executive officer
Donna Imperato, chief executive officer
2014 was a record year for Cohn & Wolfe. We achieved top- and bottom-line double-digit growth, won multiple awards for our integrated work, launched a truly global thought-leadership platform that drove interest from top CEOs and beat our biggest and fiercest competitors in numerous high-profile new business pitches.
Cohn & Wolfe’s evolution into an integrated communications agency is driving our growth. Our bold move in mobile made headlines with the launch of a new Mobile Engagement unit, ME-24, in partnership with global mobile marketer Joule, a tenthavenue company. We strengthened our research and insights group, formalized our Paid Media approach and advanced our Digital Healthcare offering to build fully-integrated programming for clients across all practices.
To harness the unique way that Cohn & Wolfe fuels the synergy between left- and right-brain thinking, we introduced a proprietary Dig Deeper. Imagine More.™ Process. This approach marries science and creativity and has led to more inspired, effective and creative programming for clients and prospects. Our global Authentic Brands study led to unprecedented buzz and visibility in the C-suite, which resulted in significant new business opportunities in multiple markets around the world. The study examined corporate behaviors that are valued in an authentic brand, which informed our new service that helps clients build their own authentic brands.
And the industry took notice of our achievements. Our groundbreaking work received major recognition, including two Health Lions at Cannes, two WPPED Cream awards, a Global SABRE and PRWeek’s Consumer Launch Campaign of the Year. For the second year, we were one of only three large agencies named a PRWeek Best Place to Work.
All of this great momentum secured invitations to some of the industry’s most lucrative pitches. We had a record year of winning new clients including Sanofi, Alcon, Novartis, Tourism Fiji, Twinings, United Airlines and more.
We continue to grow our presence in high-growth geographic regions, raising our Asia Pacific footprint to 10 markets with the opening of a wholly-owned office in Thailand and we’re aggressively exploring new expansion opportunities for 2015. Our global specialty companies, GCI Health and AxiCom, also performed well with significant new wins and strong organic growth.
We expect to deliver another fantastic year in 2015, as we continue to add outstanding talent, deepen our integrated offerings and build our global reputation.