Times might be tough in media but the top players in the agency community are still more than happy to pay themselves juicy salaries, according to a new report.
Accountancy firm Kingston Smith's Financial Performance of Marketing Services Companies 2008 shows the top-paid director at Media Planning Ltd earned £1.4m in 2007, 72% up on the previous year. Mindshare UK's top earner took home over a million pounds as well (£1.02m).
In comparison, the top earners at MediaCom UK, Mediaedge:cia and ZenithOptimedia took home a relatively measly £245,000, £311,000 and £341,000 respectively - though the MediaCom figure was for 2006. However, MediaCom UK did pay the highest total amount of money to its directors, at £4.7m.
Aegis Media turned over £1.3bn in 2006, for pre-tax profits of £35.6m. It paid its directors £2.7m, with £608,000 going to its highest-earning director.
The smaller agencies don't necessarily pay lower wages. Specialist financial agency Ptarmigan Media, number 28 on the turnover chart, paid its highest earner a lip-smacking £843,000 in 2007 - presumably founder and managing director David Wiggin - though that comprised virtually all of its overall director payments. The top earner at Mediavest Manchester also kept the wolves from the door, with remuneration of £618,000 in the year to the end of February 2007.
Initiative paid its top earner £449,000, OMD Group £430,000, Kinetic Worldwide £418,000, MEC International £415,000 and Walker Media £363,000.
Of course, the really interesting question is: who exactly are these high earners at each agency...?
