Slater & Gordon in Australia: 75% consumer recognition
The work to develop the Slater & Gordon brand in the UK has made it one of the three best-known law firms in the UK, with one in 10 consumers recognising its name, the firm has told shareholders.
This “positions us well in our goal to become the leading consumer brand across the UK”, it said in its annual report, published last week.
The firm continued: “By drawing on our experience of brand development in Australia we have seen significant expansion of the Slater and Gordon brand across the UK market.
“Launch of the Slater and Gordon brand through a multifaceted approach which combined advertising, digital marketing, media/PR, sponsorship and business development campaigns delivered 11% prompted and unprompted brand awareness nationally.” This is leading to a “steady increase” in calls and cases.
In Australia the firm has a ‘prompted’ awareness level of 75%, but Slater & Gordon only entered the UK in early 2012.
The preliminary results, issued last month, showed how the UK operation is heavily reliant on personal injury, accounting for 77% of Slater & Gordon’s £100m UK revenue, but that it hopes to scale up the smaller consumer law practices.
Chairman John Skippen wrote in the annual report: “Slater & Gordon is now a leading consumer law firm in the UK, with the number one or two market share position in most consumer law practice areas. The acquisitions during the past year have added an estimated annual revenue base of £72.5 million, bringing UK revenues to just under half of the expected total revenue for the group in FY15.
“Slater and Gordon now has 1,300 employees in the UK, up from 425 when we made our initial acquisition of Russell Jones & Walker in 2012. We have now successfully achieved the scale we wanted to compete effectively in the UK market and expect to exploit this and continue to grow market share both organically and by acquisitions in the next few years.”
