Surveys should reflect a changing industry scene

Those familiar with the submission form for The Top 100 Consultancy Survey will be aware that it asks consultancies to split their design fee-income from their fee-income from strategic consultancy.

Some 28 per cent (£2.4m) of Corporate Edge’s fee-income is from strategic work. This figure is included in the overall table, but is not reflected in the tables for particular disciplines.

If our true figures were taken into account, our placing in the corporate identity and print and literature tables would be higher.

Similarly, we were unable to include the fee-income from our corporate responsibility offer, as this discipline is not reflected in the survey.

Surveys are a useful way to benchmark one consultancy’s performance against its peers, but they need to reflect the changing nature of the industry.

As design work increasingly involves a strategic element, shouldn’t this be taken into account?

Simon Lake, Chairman, Corporate Edge, London W14

As in previous years, we have based the chart on design fee-income. This allows a year-on-year comparison. Were we to base it on earnings from strategic work, it would paint a different picture and could open the survey to strategic consultancies that do not offer design. We strive to keep abreast of changes in the industry and will introduce a strategy chart if appropriate – Ed