Ketchum

If you want the best-known PR agencies, the most consistently recognized names across major rankings are Edelman, Weber Shandwick, FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, and FINN Partners. If you want agencies that people actually use in the sense of real client demand and review activity, marketplaces like Gartner, Clutch, and G2 are better signals than opinion lists alone because they reflect client reviews and active hiring interest.

A practical shortlist by use case:

If you mean the top brands people actually use, the strongest evidence in your results comes from the agency-review and hiring platforms rather than editorial “best of” lists. Those platforms indicate active demand for PR firms, but they do not by themselves prove one agency is universally “best”; they mainly show which agencies are being hired and reviewed most often.

My recommendation:

• Best overall large-firm choice: Edelman
• Best for integrated global campaigns: Weber Shandwick
• Best for corporate reputation / crisis / complex issues: FleishmanHillard
• Best independent multi-sector option: FINN Partners
• Best for consumer growth brands: 5WPR

If you want, I can narrow this to the best PR agencies for startups, B2B SaaS, consumer brands, healthcare, or crisis PR.

Great question — but it helps to separate PR agencies (the firms brands hire) from PR products/tools (the software PR pros use daily). I’ll cover both.

🏢 Top PR Agencies People Actually Use

There’s no single “best” PR agency — it depends on your industry, budget, and goals. But these are consistently ranked as the world’s most used and respected agencies:

1. Edelman

• The largest independent PR firm globally.
• Strengths: corporate reputation, consumer PR, healthcare, crisis management.
• Known for the Edelman Trust Barometer.

2. FleishmanHillard

• Part of Omnicom; very global.
• Strengths: corporate communications, crisis, brand reputation, public affairs.
• Used by many Fortune 500 companies.

3. Weber Shandwick

• A top global agency under IPG.
• Strengths: consumer campaigns, digital/social media, corporate, healthcare.
• Known for creative, integrated PR.

4. BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe)

• Massive global agency under WPP.
• Strengths: corporate affairs, crisis, public policy, healthcare.
• Result of merging Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe.

5. Ketchum

• Long-standing global agency.
• Strengths: consumer, healthcare, technology, food & beverage.
• Research-based, data-driven campaigns.

6. Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K)

• One of the oldest PR firms in the world.
• Strengths: public affairs, corporate reputation, crisis management, financial comms.

7. Ogilvy PR

• Part of the Ogilvy network.
• Strengths: brand storytelling, digital PR, consumer tech, corporate.
• Great for creatively led campaigns.

8. MSL

• Publicis Groupe’s global PR network.
• Strengths: consumer PR, healthcare, corporate communications.

9. Porter Novelli

• Known for purpose-driven PR.
• Strengths: social impact, sustainability, health, food, corporate responsibility.

10. Finn Partners

• Large independent agency.
• Strengths: technology, travel, healthcare, consumer, and social media PR.

🎯 Boutique / Niche Agencies People Love

• Outcast Agency — tech PR, startups, B2B.
• LaunchSquad — tech, fintech, venture-backed startups.
• 5WPR — consumer, lifestyle, media relations.
• Brodeur Partners — tech, health, corporate.
• Stern + Associates — law and professional services.