Marktlink is Europe’s largest independent M&A advisory practice by deal volume. As part of its international growth strategy, the Netherlands-headquartered firm identified the UK as a priority expansion market.
PR Agency One was appointed to support Marktlink’s UK market entry, delivering an integrated communications programme spanning the launch of its Manchester headquarters and subsequent office openings in London and Birmingham.
The brief required not only rapid brand establishment, but also the development of a sustained communications engine to support deal visibility, leadership profiling and commercial growth.
What We Did
To support Marktlink’s UK expansion, we developed a communications programme designed to build brand awareness, elevate senior leadership profiles and showcase the firm’s M&A advisory expertise across key UK regions and sectors.
The programme was built around a set of organisational and communications objectives focused on increasing visibility, strengthening reputation and generating consistent media coverage aligned with deal activity and market insight.
Organisational objectives
- Build brand awareness across priority UK regions and sectors
- Elevate the profile of Managing Partners
- Showcase Marktlink’s M&A advisory capabilities
- Position senior team members as authoritative commentators
Communications objectives
- Maximise earned media from an active deal pipeline
- Develop high impact media partnerships
- Deliver a consistent and engaging social content framework
- Contribute meaningful insight to regional and sector conversations
Our Campaign
To deliver these objectives, PR Agency One implemented a regionally nuanced, insight-led communications campaign combining media relations, leadership profiling and content development.
Key elements included:
- A flagship Manchester launch aligned with a leading regional business media partner
- Targeted media engagement programmes to build relationships with national, regional and sector journalists
- Proactive deal-led storytelling to convert transactions into media opportunities
- Strategic focus on high-growth sectors including technology and manufacturing
- A multi-channel social content programme supporting three UK offices
- Structured thought leadership pipeline positioning senior figures as M&A commentators
This integrated approach ensured alignment between earned, owned and executive visibility, while maintaining a consistent narrative around deal activity and sector expertise.
The results
Within the first 12 months, the campaign delivered strong, measurable impact across awareness, reputation and engagement metrics, while also contributing to commercial visibility and pipeline development.
- 120+ pieces of earned coverage across national, regional and trade media
- Coverage in tier-one titles including The Times, City AM, Insider Media and Business Desk
- 85% positive sentiment, with zero negative coverage
- Share of voice increased from 0% to 18% within key regional M&A conversations
- Successful delivery of three major office launches with strong regional cut-through
- 30+ deals leveraged into consistent media visibility
- 50+ pieces of thought leadership placed in target publications
- 140% year-on-year increase in social media engagement
- Significant uplift in senior leadership visibility and commentator positioning
Performance was measured using PR Agency One’s OneEval framework, enabling detailed analysis across brand awareness, reputation and commercial impact.
Impact, measurement and business contribution
The programme successfully transitioned Marktlink from a new market entrant to a recognised and credible player within the UK M&A landscape.
PR Agency One deployed its OneEval framework, aligned to the AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework and compliant with PRCA and CIPR standards, to deliver a robust, data-driven assessment of performance.
OneEval enabled multi-dimensional measurement across brand, reputation and commercial impact, including share of voice growth across the North West, Midlands and London, sentiment analysis and message pull-through linked to expertise and deal activity, and the quality and prominence of tier-one media coverage.
Measurement also identified correlations between media activity and inbound enquiry spikes, increased engagement from intermediaries and professional services networks, and the contribution of PR activity to pipeline conversations and early-stage deal discussions.
Advanced analytics and data modelling provided clear visibility of how communications activity influenced awareness, perception and commercial momentum, ensuring full accountability against business objectives.
Overall, the communications programme delivered measurable impact across awareness, reputation and commercial engagement, supporting Marktlink’s successful UK market entry and growth.
