EDITORIAL: Independents now face tougher battle.(market share)(Editorial)

The interesting action in this year's Top 300 report is played out at the bottom half of the top 30 creative agency league.

Although the big money is shared between the UK's largest 15 agencies, there was little change in their rankings. However, pass the 15 mark and there are a lot of new agencies making their top 30 debut and turning in staggering percentage increases to their annual billings.

Welcome to Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest, which came in at 26th with almost pounds 50 million in billings. Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy moved from number 40 to 27 with a 62 per cent billings increase. Clemmow Hornby Inge debuts at 23rd and a healthy 139 per cent rise in output.

The performances of Delaney Lund Knox Warren & Partners and Mother, although they broke into the top 30 last year, are also worthy of note. Mother became London's 17th-biggest agency last year, with billings rising to almost pounds 100 million; DLKW, meanwhile, increased its billings by 41 per cent.

Between them these agencies have attracted advertisers including Coca-Cola, British Gas, Boots, O2 and Vauxhall from the likes of McCann-Erickson, Lowe, J. Walter Thompson, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and DDB London. There's a clear trend: large agencies losing large accounts to ...