Everything-PR M&A is a directory of investment banks and specialist advisory firms with documented experience in advertising, public relations, communications, marketing services and media transactions. The directory focuses on institutions and demonstrated deal activity, not on individual bankers or general investment-bank size, and does not publish a numbered ranking.
What is Everything-PR M&A?
Everything-PR M&A identifies the firms that actually advise the advertising, PR, communications, marketing and media industries when companies buy, sell, merge, recapitalize or raise capital. Most existing investment-banking rankings are built around generalist Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan or Morgan Stanley, which handle few of the deals that shape the PR and marketing agency world. This directory instead centers on the specialist and middle-market firms that live inside that ecosystem every day.
Entries are grouped by specialty area rather than ranked. That structure lets readers compare firms working the same corner of the market, such as marketing services M&A or PR and communications M&A, without Everything-PR asserting an arbitrary number-one advisor.
How are firms selected for this directory?
Firms are considered against eight criteria: documented relevant transactions, demonstrated sector specialization, recency of activity, institutional depth, buy-side and sell-side experience, middle-market relevance, geographic reach, and published industry research. Transaction evidence outweighs general reputation or overall firm size under this methodology.
A firm is only added to the featured roster after Everything-PR documents its actual relevant transaction record. Mergers, rebrands and team departures happen frequently in this segment of investment banking, so entries are re-verified shortly before publication rather than scheduled and left unchecked. Several candidate firms researched for this directory, including AdMedia Partners, Results International, Lincoln International and Generational Group, did not pass this verification and were excluded rather than published as weak entries.
Which firms are featured at launch?
Two firms are profiled at launch, both specialists in media and marketing M&A rather than generalist Wall Street banks. Ciesco's M&A advisory practice is a London-based specialist in technology, media and marketing deals, reporting 2,308 completed transactions in its core sectors during 2025. Berkery Noyes advisory firm is a New York-based independent investment bank with a dedicated Media & Marketing practice dating to 1983, whose advisory work includes the sale of PR firm Lambert Global to communications consultancy LLYC.
What firms are coming next?
New profiles are added to this directory roughly every four days. The confirmed schedule is: JEGI LEONIS (September 22), the media, marketing, software and technology advisory firm formed by the 2025 merger of JEGI CLARITY and Leonis Partners; SI Global, formerly SI Partners (September 26); Canaccord Genuity's Technology, Media, Marketing and Information Services group, descended from Petsky Prunier (September 30); Houlihan Lokey's Marketing Services team (October 4); Madison Alley (October 8); LUMA Partners (October 12); Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips (October 16); Progress Partners (October 20); Equiteq (October 24); and Drake Star (October 28).
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Does this directory rank firms numerically?
No, Everything-PR M&A does not publish a numbered ranking of firms. Firms are organized by specialty area instead, including advertising M&A, PR and communications M&A, marketing services M&A, media M&A, and MarTech and AdTech M&A. This structure keeps the directory an evidence-based reference rather than an arbitrary top-25 list, and it avoids implying that a larger, more generalist bank automatically outranks a smaller specialist with a deeper transaction record in this specific market.
Will this directory track individual M&A deals?
Not at launch. Everything-PR plans a companion transactions database, tracking specific advertising, marketing and PR deals by buyer, target, date, sector and advisor, once eight to ten firm profiles are live, which the current schedule reaches in mid-to-late October. Where deal value is not publicly disclosed, entries will say so rather than estimate a figure.
How does this directory relate to other Everything-PR coverage?
Everything-PR M&A sits alongside the publication's existing PR firms and agencies directory and its financial services coverage, connecting the agencies Everything-PR already covers to the firms that advise on their transactions. The Berkery Noyes profile's coverage of the Lambert Global sale is one example of that connection: a PR firm Everything-PR's audience would recognize, sold with the advice of a firm now profiled in this directory.
Who is this directory for?
This directory is built for agency founders and executives weighing a sale, private equity professionals sourcing deals in marketing services, and communications industry readers who want to understand which advisory firms actually work in their market rather than a generic list of the largest global banks. Readers can start with the two launch profiles above and check back roughly every four days as new firms are added.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
