Agency profile
smrs.co.uk
Manchester and London firm doing employer brand, attraction campaigns and media for global employers and universities.
Best for: Large employers and universities that want culture diagnostics and employer brand research first, then a global attraction campaign with media planned and bought by the same firm.
Unclaimed profile. Nobody at the agency has edited it.
Founded
People
Awards won
Clients named
Open roles
LinkedIn followers
Overview
Written from their own pages and the public record, checked 3 September 2026.
SMRS is an employer branding and recruitment marketing business. It is based in Manchester, United Kingdom, with a second office in London. Its size band is 51 to 200 (LinkedIn, read 2026-09-03). It is independent, held since October 2022 through a holding company owned by two individuals. It is listed here under employer branding and recruitment marketing.
Our take
Two things stand out in the work. The first is a genuine higher education practice sitting beside the employer brand one. A third of the case studies are universities and business schools, and the questions there are student recruitment and portfolio strategy rather than hiring, so check which team you would get. The second is scale of research. The LEGO Group work runs from a global brand platform down to five target value propositions and a careers site. Media planning and buying is a named service, which many employer brand firms of this size do not offer. Careers site build is not named as a service even though one was delivered for LEGO.
Services
Service lines named on their own site. We do not add a service an agency does not publish.
Fees, engagement model and the register sit in the company facts below.
Work
Published by the agency on its own site. We summarise them, and link to one.
The LEGO Group
Global employer brand for a toy maker better known as a consumer brand than an employer, built as a Just Imagine platform with six pillars, a new careers website, social video, candidate packs, an ambassador community, target value propositions for five audiences and a Behind the Bricks live event series.
Read it on smrs.co.ukRiver Island
Employer brand for a retailer, researched through interviews from the chief executive down to store staff, landing on This is Island life, with a video and photography campaign, a content playbook and training for employees making their own content.
IHG
Employer brand and attraction work for a global hotel group, listed on the SMRS work index.
Clients named on their own site, not confirmed with the client
Recognition
Read from each awarding body's own winner list. Named here, never linked.
Certified to Cyber Essentials, Disability Confident Leader.
Inside the agency
Leadership named on their own site, and the accounts they publish from. Follower counts are as each account showed them on the day we read it.
Leadership
Channels, read 3 September 2026
Third party
Scores as each site reported them on the day we read it. We do not verify them and we do not link to them.
Review sites
3.8 / 5
Glassdoor
from 22 employee reviews at the Manchester office, reported in a search result summary because the page could not be read directly
No profile found on Clutch, G2, Trustpilot and Google.
Press
Newsletter: Monthly insights mailing list. The site carries an insights section and an events section, and the footer offers a monthly insights mailing list.
Hiring
Counted on their own jobs page on the day we read it.
No named vacancies were listed on 3 September 2026. The page invites people to join a talent pool by email.
See the roles on smrs.co.ukThe record
From Companies House and their own site, not from a data broker.
Before you brief them
The gaps this profile cannot close for you.
Questions and answers
Facts from the sources at the foot of the page. No opinions here.
It is independent. Companies House shows S M R S Ltd held since 3 October 2022 by SMRS Group Limited, whose only people with significant control are Richard Noel Lewis and Toby Charles Windsor (Companies House, read 2026-09-03).
Its LinkedIn company page shows a size band of 51 to 200 employees, and its about page says more than 90 colleagues (LinkedIn and smrs.co.uk about us, read 2026-09-03).
Its case studies name The LEGO Group, IHG, Pandora, River Island, Fidelity, Taylor Wimpey, BT, Yodel, RWE and a set of universities including King's College London and the University of Liverpool (smrs.co.uk our work, read 2026-09-03).
Culture diagnostics and strategy, employer branding and brand measurement, target value propositions, advocacy programmes, global attraction campaign strategy, media planning and buying, content and talent insights (smrs.co.uk our services, read 2026-09-03).
Manchester, at 2 Express Networks, 3 George Leigh Street M4 6BD, which is also its Companies House registered office, with a second office at Fora, 201 Borough High Street, London (smrs.co.uk and Companies House, read 2026-09-03).
Yes, SMRS lists media buying on its own site (read 3 September 2026).
Yes, SMRS lists EVP research on its own site (read 3 September 2026).
No. SMRS does not publish programmatic advertising as a service (checked 3 September 2026).
No. SMRS does not publish recruitment video as a service (checked 3 September 2026).
Not published; SMRS quotes after scoping (checked 3 September 2026).
Yes. SMRS states that it delivers globally (read 3 September 2026).
We record 2 award entries for SMRS, the most recent in 2026, from RAD Awards. Read from each awarding body's own winner list (checked 3 September 2026).
Glassdoor reports 3.8 out of 5 from 22 employee reviews at the Manchester office, reported in a search result summary because the page could not be read directly. No profile was found on Clutch, G2, Trustpilot and Google. These are figures each site showed on the day we read it. We did not verify them and we do not turn them into a rating.
SMRS publishes a jobs page. It listed not-published roles (read 3 September 2026). No named vacancies were listed on 3 September 2026. The page invites people to join a talent pool by email.
Yes. SMRS is independently owned (read 3 September 2026). We read the ownership from the register, company number 03365804.
SMRS publishes The LEGO Group, "Just imagine the possibilities", River Island, "Life on the island" and IHG, "When only the very best will do" on its own site (read 3 September 2026). We summarise each one on this page.
SMRS is in Manchester, United Kingdom, 51 to 200 people, independent, and publishes evp research, employer brand creative, recruitment advertising campaigns and media buying. Havas People is in London, United Kingdom, 201 to 500 people, group owned, havas, through havas uk limited, and publishes evp research, employer brand creative, recruitment advertising campaigns and media buying. Facts only: we do not rank them.
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Added when the agency claims this profile
Also on record
Researched under employer branding agencies, on the same facts. Firms without a published profile carry no link yet.
| Agency | Head office | Size | Ownership | Publishes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Havas People | London, United Kingdom | 201 to 500 people | Group owned, Havas, through Havas UK Limited | EVP research, Employer brand creative, Recruitment advertising campaigns |
| Penna | London, United Kingdom | 201 to 500 people | Group owned, Adecco Group | Talent attraction strategy, Recruitment advertising campaigns, Employer brand creative |
| PeopleScout | Chicago, United States | 1,000 or more people | Group owned, TMP (Holdings) Limited, part of TrueBlue, Inc. | RPO, Project RPO, EVP research |
| Blackbridge Communications | London, United Kingdom | 11 to 50 people | Group owned, Blackbridge EOT Limited | EVP research, Employer brand creative, Recruitment advertising campaigns |
| Cielo | Wauwatosa, United States | 1,000 or more people | Group owned, Permira, through Talent Bidco Limited | RPO, Project RPO, EVP research |
| TMP Worldwide UK | London, United Kingdom | 201 to 500 people | Group owned, TMP (Holdings) Limited, part of TrueBlue, Inc. | EVP research, Employer brand creative, Recruitment advertising campaigns |
Cite this profile
RecruitmentAds, "SMRS", https://recruitmentads.com/agencies/smrs, last verified 3 September 2026.
Relationship with RecruitmentAds: none. It does not affect listing or order. How this directory works.
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