TOP 20 GLOBAL EXHIBITION DESIGN GROUPS

Millennium work hasn’t really started to kick into the exhibition field. Next year’s charts are more likely to reflect effort in that direction. But it appears to have been a good year for the key players nonetheless, with most specialists showing an improved performance in fee-earning.

Firbank Kempster hangs on to the top slot, boosting its fee-income from last year’s 1.7m to 2.13m. Event, meanwhile, remains second, with fees up from 1.1m to 1.9m. In both cases, the income has been earned in the UK, though the work could be across the globe.

Others on the up include Barsby Prince & Partners, up from 0.7m to 0.8m, but others – such as Met Studio, down from 630 000 last year to 190 000 this – have declined.

Newcomers in the Top 10 this year include Conran Design Group, which appears to firing on all cylinders at present, and exhibition stalwarts The Button Communications Group and Haley Sharpe Associates.

But we’re also seeing the entry lower in the charts of groups noted for their creativity in graphics, such as Marsteller Giant and Carter Wong & Partners, whose diversification into exhibition work appears to be paying off.