Edelman’s brand work brings human insights to life

The world’s largest communication advisory firm charged ahead with a projected nearly $1.05 billion in revenue for 2023—more than half of that coming from brand marketing rather than corporate reputation work—some of which has earned it the ire of activists over its fossil fuel clients. See all of Ad Age’s 2024 Agency A-List winners here Perhaps Edelman’s best-known success last year was for Lululemon, whose status symbol leggings were losing ground as younger women began buying inexpensive knockoffs. Edelman’s “Dupe Swap,” which invited women to ditch their dupes for the real thing, drove 1.7 billion earned media impressions and helped Lululemon’s revenue jump 18% in the second quarter. In the U.K., the agency trolled McDonald’s for not offering mayonnaise by urging consumers to order the one menu item that contained the condiment—the Mayo Chicken burger—and deselect the chicken, lettuce and bun. The Mayo McHack delivered a more than eight-fold increase in social impressions for Edelman’s client, Hellmann’s, which saw purchase intent rise 9 percentage points. Ad Age A-List and Creativity Gala Buy your ticket to the in-person event Click here For Dove, Edelman introduced “Code My Crown,” allowing Black gamers to realistically customize the hairstyles on their avatars, drawing 431 million impressions. In Europe, the shop turned laundry lines into billboards to market Xbox’s EA FC24 game (formerly known as FIFA) by printing reward codes on laundry in an alley on the way to the Luton Stadium arena, as well as on the arena’s security guard jerseys and hot dog buns. And for Starbucks in India, Edelman created a touching campaign themed “It Starts With Your Name,” underscoring the importance of accepting one another. One video showed a father reluctant to accept his transgender daughter—until he orders her a coffee under her female name. The campaign reached 7.3 billion people and average daily transactions grew 5.5%. ~ ~ ~CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this story included an incorrect revenue figure provided by Edelman. See all of Ad Age’s 2024 Agency A-List winners here

Edelman’s brand work brings human insights to life

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